January 30, 2025
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Please tell our readers a little about yourself.
I am a writer, educator, and author of three books; The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Forgotten Times of Baseball Legend Pete Browning (2024), Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival (2019), and Bluegrass in Baltimore: The Hard Drivin' Sound & its Legacy (2015).
The Original Louisville Slugger is a Finalist for the prestigious CASEY award, given to the book that provides the greatest contribution to baseball literature that year. In 2016 Bluegrass in Baltimore was awarded a Certificate of Merit from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections for excellence in Best Research in Recorded Country Music. In January 2017 it was named one of the thirty best books about bluegrass music by About Great Books.
I have also contributed to the Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band & Their Music (2004), One-Win Wonders (2024), and The 1964 Buffalo Bills: Profiles of the AFL Champions (2025).
My work has also appeared in a variety of publications including Bluegrass Unlimited, Paste, Relix, AmericanaUK, Inside Lacrosse, and Honest Tune.
I live in Baltimore, Maryland with my wife and daughter.
What do you most enjoy about writing?
Telling stories. Especially stories of overlooked, underrated, or forgotten subjects.
Do you have any current writing projects you are working on? Can you tell us about them?
I am currently working on a book about Baltimore’s music scene in the early part of the 21st century. It was a dynamic scene that was the heartbeat of the indie/ alternative rock universe that was in the midst of a golden age. With bands and musicians like Dan Deacon, Beach House, Future Islands, Wye Oak, Ponytail, and countless others, Baltimore was at the forefront of musical innovation and excellence. This collection of talent that called the city home in the early 2000s would help define an era and sound. This culminated with Rolling Stone magazine naming Baltimore the best music scene in the country in 2008.
Why are people so drawn to baseball and its stories, legends, and people?
It's a game with characters and stories that we all can relate to. The game has evolved as the country has evolved and we can see that reflected in the stories and players from different eras. Those legends and their stories provide a glimpse of life at the time.
What is your favorite baseball book?
You mean besides mine (ha!). It's hard to narrow it down to just one. I was always a fan of George Plimpton’s The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. Also need to mention Michael Lewis Moneyball, Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, and Jonathan Eig’s Luckiest Man.
Outside of baseball, what is your favorite book and/or who is your favorite author? (You can list as many as you wish.)
My all time favorite book and author is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. Should also mention my love for Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
I love to talk about the Baseball Hall of Fame. Which former Yankee most deserves to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
I love to talk about the Baseball Hall of Fame as well. As an Orioles fan I can not physically bring myself to talk about the Yankees and the Hall of Fame. As for non-Yankee’s who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, at the top of my list is Dale Murphy. One of the greatest players (and my all time favorite) more than deserves to be enshrined. I also believe Pete Browning (the subject of my latest book) and a number of his contemporaries need to be added to the Hall as well.
What is the greatest baseball movie of all time? (Yes, you can list a few!)
Easy, Bull Durham.
What is your favorite baseball memory?
My final year of organized baseball was in 9th (I discovered that I could not hit a curveball and that my athletic skill set was better suited for lacrosse.) My final season, my team won the United Kingdom championship for youth teams on Air Force Bases in England. (my father was career Air Force and I grew up on a small base in England). What made it even more special was our base was one of the smallest (if not the smallest) bases in England. We went undefeated that season beating teams from bases that were much, much bigger than ours.
Thank you, Tim. This was great. Good luck with your books!
Makes sense that an author of baseball books would like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. After all, bats feature prominently in both.
Thank you Tim!