Introduction
Terkel’s interest in sports was skewed heavily in favor of one sport: baseball.
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Terkel’s interest in sports was skewed heavily in favor of one sport: baseball. But on that topic he was wildly poetic and enthusiastic, reading stories by the great baseball writer Ring Lardner or talking with giants of baseball writing like Nelson Algren, Roger Angell, Roger Kahn, Bill Leonard, Daniel Okrent, Lawrence Ritter and reflecting on the great tragedy of baseball corruption, the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 (Terkel later appeared in John Sayles’ film about the scandal, Eight Men Out, playing the role of baseball journalist Hugh Fullerton). Studs did make the occasional foray into other sports, with his classic interview with Muhammad Ali, basketball player Bill Bradley and even a raucous trip to a rugby match while in England in the 1960s.
