Jack Kerouac at The New York Public Library

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Posted By: Joseph

The highlight of a fabulous new exhibit (Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac On The Road) at The New York Public Library is the magnificent unveiling of 60 feet or so of a single-spaced typewritten scroll of "On The Road." It may be the greatest collectible I've ever seen on public display—amazing!--UNTIL I SAW “SECTION 8.”

"Section 8” contains the materials related to the fantasy baseball game which Kerouac invented and chronicled for most of his life. OH MY GOD! It’s a good thing I live in New York because I had to leave after 20 minutes as I thought I’d die of excitement. If you’re serious about baseball board games (or obsession of any sort) you may well react in a similar fashion. There’s team cards, player cards, newsletters about league play, scorebooks, “correspondence” with Tom Yawkey…etc. Then there’s the guts of the game itself: various incarnations of rules and charts with a “Final Version” of something or other from 1965—putting the range of documents from 1935 to 1965. Mr. Kerouac was VERY SERIOUS about his game!

Simply stunning. If you are anywhere near NYC by all means GO SEE THIS STUFF! It runs through February, but you can get details at the NYPL web site. After a lifetime of lukewarm feelings about Kerouac I now love the guy.

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Wow. I'd never heard of this before. I like Kerouac, so I need to go see this.

-Al

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Posted By: Joseph

The baseball obsession wasn't really known until his archives were accessed by the Library. You can read about it here: http://www.thecolumnists.com/isaacs/isaacs69.html

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Posted By: peter chao

Joesph,

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Jack Kerouac as a writer and a poet is virtually worshiped in the SF-Bay Area, now that I find out that he's a baseball game enthusiast he becomes worshiped that much more.

Peter C.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I will have to check it out too. It seems so incongruous that Kerouac would both write the definitive Beat novel, and invent a fantasy baseball game. He was a complicated man.

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Posted By: Steve

Could you guys snap a few pics?, if you don't mind

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Posted By: Ed Ivey

futher proof that baseball is the solvent that melts all barriers.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I'm a Kerouac fan and anyone who has read biographies of him knows that beyond being a huge sports nut (he was recruited to Columbia to play football for Lou Little) he actually developed this sophisticated baseball playing card game that included teams named for cars: Washington Chryslers, Pittsburgh Plymouths, etc. Baseball was a major passion of his. Below is a check he wrote out to himself and endorsed on the back. Below his name on the back is his address, 34 Gilbert, in Northport, New York, where he moved a year after "On the Road" was published.

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Posted By: peter chao

Nice checks Jeff L., did you know that the Merry Pranksters of Stanford fame were inspired by Jack Kerouac and Timothy Leary. This inspired me to read the Electric Cool Aid Acid Test by Thomas Wolfe. It's like they say, one thing leads to another.

Peter C.

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Posted By: pas

In On the Road, there is a scene near the end where Dean Moriarty keeps flipping the TV between a Dodger game and (I think) a Yankee game.

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Posted By: George

Jeff,

That Jack Kerouac check, or one very similar to it, was probably written to buy a few beers at Teddy's or The Skupper in Northport. I graduated from Northport High School in 1960, and met Jack Kerouac a number of times at these establishments. At that time, a glass of beer cost 15 cents, so $100 would go a long way. Kerouac was a very smart guy, and very eloquent, and he enjoyed lively discussions and arguments. My friends and I also enjoyed drinking beer and talking, so it was a fine match. Another good point was that Jack Kerouac was a famous author, and presumably had lots of money. One thing was certain.......he had a lot more money than we did, and he was very generous with it......at least to the extent of financing a pitcher or two of beer.

George

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Posted By: barrysloate

George- having hung out with Kerouac is amazing. You should write an article about it.