WHAT AM I READING? LET ME SHARE A FEW WORDS

I want to share with you snippets from some of the books I have. Some are newly published. Some I’ve had for a long time. Most will have something to do with sports, but not all. Maybe some will inspire you to read on. I hope so. They’ve enriched my life.

“I have always gravitated toward the obscure, the unknown, the unsung.’’

That’s the first line of Brad Balukjian’s “The Wax Pack: On The Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife.”

The premise is wildly original. Balukjian, a college instructor and freelance writer who grew up in Rhode Island but is based on the West Coast, opened up a pack of baseball cards from 1986, the year he started collecting cards, and decided to track down all the players in the pack. Thus began a 11,341-mile journey through 30 states in 48 days, in which Balukjian unearths insights into men that go far beyond the few lines printed on the back of a piece of cardboard.

One of the players is Richie Hebner, who grew up in Norwood and played 18 years in the big leagues, 11 with the Pirates. Balukjian had a poignant encounter with Hebner’s brother, Dennis.

A sampling:

Growing up, Richie and Dennis were close but competitive, the way brothers close in age tend to be. Richie was older but Dennis was more outgoing; he even taught his older brother how to drive. When Richie came home in the off-season they would drink pints and play darts at a bar called the Irish Heaven for hours at a time on Saturday mornings. They both had wood-burning stoves in their homes and would order a truckload of wood and make a weekend out of chopping it together. But now, despite living only ten miles apart, they barely talk.

“How would you describe your relationship with Richie now?” I ask as Dennis pulls back onto the street to drop me off at my car.

“I don’t see him that much. It’s a long story,’’ he says.