Did you see the small article in the paper about all the old Kerouac papers the family has donated to a museum? The Sacramento Bee only mentioned in passing that the papers included a complicated baseball game he invented, but the Eureka paper (I was up there meeting my grandaughter) had a full story. Kerouac was an immigrant who like many others in the 30’s became a big baseball fan as a way to enter mainstream American culture. He invented a very complicated baseball league, a predecessor to Stratomatic and others. Cards for each of hundreds pf players; teams named after cars (Pittsburgh Pontiacs, Boston Buicks, etc). He played detailed games and schedules, with each pitch determined by throwing dice and other items; kept box scores

over several years. Just fascinating stuff. Somebody from SABR [Society of American Baseball Research] should be all over this.

-John Moist