Just Started This Novel That Was A Christmas Gift. And This Version Of STONER Comes With A Thomas Eakins

Ted declines Harvard’s offer

Exclusive excerpt from Ben Bradlee, Jr.’s “The Kid”: Unlike many professional ballplayers—probably most of them—Ted was embarrassed that he never went to college, or had no formal education beyond high school. In 1991, on the 50th anniversary of his .406 year, Harvard University wanted to give him an honorary degree, but he turned it down, feeling that he would have been out of place among the intelligentsia in Harvard Yard.

(PHOTO: Ted Williams at Boston’s Back Bay station, April 1939, arriving in the city for the first time. Boston Globe photograph.)

When your friends' #books are on the same shelf in a @barnesandnoble in #SantaMonica #BlackMass #MasterThieves @publicaffairsbooks

A great look at Ted Williams's swing.

From Ben Bradlee, Jr.’s “The Kid”:  Each Williams at bat was an event. Something between a hush and a buzz suddenly filled the air as the crowd shifted from a sort of auto-pilot engagement to edge-of-the-seat anticipation. “I was looking around for a story one day and someone said there was this blind guy on the first base line,” remembered Tim Horgan, who covered the Red Sox for the Boston Herald and then the Boston Evening Traveler in the 1950s. “I went up to the man and said, ‘Pardon me for asking but why do you come to the park? Why not listen to the game on the radio?’ He said, ‘I love the sounds of the game when Ted comes up.’”

(Photo: Ted Williams swinging in 1939, his rookie year with Red Sox. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.)

Jason Bateman says Jane Fonda's performance in "This Where I Leave You" is the essence of "why we go to the movies" and, yes, from what we've seen it is that good. #bea14 #BookCon

Yes, @americanrep's @DianePaulus on @Morning_Joe w/ #mika #mike and of course #joe She's talking about @NeverlandBway and a little bit of politics. #Stronger

As they were walking (running) onto the stage at Wellesley College, Ben Taylor pretty much just told Kori Withers she was going to sing "Lean on Me". No rehearsal. Carly Simon and the rest just followed along beautifully. #AndThenThisHappened #SallyTaylor #Consenses

First one of the season. #notDQ #DairyDip #celebritypizza #icecream

On Tuesday, Dec. 26, at the Rustic Kitchen in Hingham, a couple of hundred people gathered to raise money for the annual Avon Walk to raise money to fight breast cancer. 

South America? #Brogan thinks the piece foil he tore off the #chocolate #EasterBUnny (by #RussellStover) looks like South America. Not Jesus. Sigh.

Carl Hiaasen and John Grisham on a #bea14 and #bookcon panel. Fun stuff.