SSTN Interviews Phil Coffin

By Paul Semendinger

May 1, 2025

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Here, today, is my interview with author Phil Coffin author of the new book, A Baseball Book of Days.

Please tell our readers a little about yourself and your new book.

I’ve been a baseball fan since I was 6, led into the game by my two older brothers. I wanted nothing more in life than to be a good baseball player; I had to settle for being a good baseball fan. A career in journalism – including nearly three decades at The New York Times – helped prepare me to turn my passion into prose.

What do you most enjoy about writing?

The research is fascinating, stumbling across stories and facts I did not know (even with a pretty good knowledge of baseball history). Turning that into readable tales is a reward.

Are there any new projects you are working on?  

Another book of baseball history, about innovations and innovators. Deep dives into the people who gave us webbed baseball gloves, batting helmets, padded walls, bases that weren’t effectively pillows, balls with figure-8 stitching, AstroTurf, maple bats. And more.

Why are people so drawn to baseball and its stories, legends, and people?

Baseball’s pace – over a game, over a season – allows you to contemplate and absorb in a way that most other sports do not. The players also seem more like real people (who identifies with a 300-pound lineman, a 6-10 power forward, a 120-pound marathoner?), so their stories resonate.

What is your favorite baseball book? (You can list as many as you wish.)

Ball Four, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, The Baseball 100, Only the Ball Was White, K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches, The Boys of Summer, any book by Roger Angell. Also: You can’t beat The Great American Baseball Cart Trading, Flipping and Bubble Gum Book for fun.

Outside of baseball, what is your favorite book and/or who is your favorite author?  (You can list as many as you wish.)

I am a sucker for mysteries by Robert B. Parker and Tony Hillerman and have an enduring fascination for a book I read in a sociology class as a college freshman, Ishi: Man of Two Worlds.

There's a lot of talk about baseball needing to be "fixed."  Is baseball broken?  If you were the Commissioner of Baseball what change(s) (if any) would you make to the current game?

I don’t have the fix, but the game needs more action. The Three True Outcomes have robbed the game of the excitement we grew up on: base running and great defense, elements that involve multiple players in the play.

I love to talk about the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Which former Yankee most deserves to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

He may not quite deserve the Hall, but I wonder if in another 10 or 20 years, Bernie Williams will become a favored “How is he not in the Hall of Fame?” subject for fans who did not see him play. If Don Mattingly had had two more excellent seasons, he would be in the Hall; sadly, he had only half a Hall-worthy career before back injuries robbed him of greatness.

What is the greatest baseball movie of all time?  (Yes, you can list a few!)

Field of Dreams, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, Sandlot, Bull Durham, Major League. The Natural is a good watch, too, but if you’ve read the book. …

What is your favorite baseball memory?

It changes! Lately, two of them: a September 1992 game at Fenway involving the Mariners in which a fan ran onto the infield, was handed a glove by Red Sox second baseman Jody Reed and took a ground ball between innings; and a mid-90s game at new Comiskey Park, where my best friend, the world’s biggest White Sox fan, and I talked our way into the stadium without a ticket and saw a victory over the Royals (Robin Ventura home run, Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye).

Please share anything else you'd like with our audience.

Harry Caray used to say, “You can’t beat fun at the ol’ ballpark.” He was right. You also can’t beat fun thinking about the ol’ ballpark. It’s a magical game.      

Thank you, Phil. See you soon - maybe at the BBQ place or on a run!