Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

There have been commentaries of late about Philadelphia’s sports drought. Of the cities with at least one team in all four major American team sports, the City of Brotherly Love has gone the longest — 25 years — without a championship. This has come up because the Phillies, of course, are trying to break the [...]

Charles Bender was born just north of Lake Wobegon and he made his name during the baseball games that are played in October. Seems fitting, then, to gather on the eve of the World Series at Common Good Books, Garrison Keillor’s bookstore, to recall the days when Minnesota’s first Hall of Famer was the game’s [...]

The review was published three months ago, but it didn’t arrive at my door until, well, last Tuesday. So I’ll announce it as though it’s breaking news. Gail Huganir, managing editor of Central PA, made some very generous statements about Chief Bender’s Burden in the magazine’s July issue. “I’ll be the first to admit I [...]

I would have told you sooner except I just found out myself: I will sign copies of Chief Bender’s Burden from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., tomorrow (Saturday) at Central Avenue Bookstore. This free event — of course, it’s free — will be held in conjunction with downtown Faribault’s annual Fall Festival. At least that’s [...]