
The Utility of Boredom
Description
Tenth Anniversary Edition, featuring a new introduction by the author.
Spitball literary essays on the off-kilter joys, sorrows and wonder of North America’s national pastime.
A collection of essays for ardent seamheads and casual baseball fans alike, The Utility of Boredom is a book about finding respite and comfort in the order, traditions, and rituals of baseball. It’s a sport that shows us what a human being might be capable of, with extreme dedication—whether we’re eating hot dogs in the stands, waiting out a rain delay in our living rooms, or practising the lost art of catching a stray radio signal from an out-of-market broadcast.
From learning about America through ball-diamond visits to the most famous triple play that never happened on Canadian soil, Forbes invites us to witness the adult conversing with the O-Pee-Chee baseball cards of his youth. Tender, insightful, and with the slow heartbreak familiar to anyone who’s cheered on a losing team, The Utility of Boredom tells us a thing or two about the sport, and how a seemingly trivial game might help us make sense of our messy lives.
More details
Person
Andrew Forbes is the author of three collections of baseball writing—The Utility of Boredom (2016), The Only Way Is the Steady Way (2021), and Field Work (2025)—as well as two collections of short fiction, the novella McCurdle’s Arm, and a novel, The Diapause. He is an active member of the Society for American Baseball Research, having participated in several investigative projects. He has written for publications including the Toronto Star, Canadian Notes and Queries, and Maisonneuve Magazine, and his work has been nominated for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Trillium Book Award. Originally from Ottawa, Forbes has lived in Atlantic Canada and rural Eastern Ontario, and now resides in Peterborough, Ontario. For more information, visit andrewgforbes.com.
Content
Introduction
Sanctuary
The Utility of Boredom
The 163 Games of José Oquendo
The Ballparks of America
Get Me Over
Jim Eisenreich’s Eyes
The Best That I Could Do
Lost in the Fog
Madison Bumgarner and the Beautiful Lie
Joy in Abeyance and the Stubborn Persistence of Hope
Birth of a Right Fielder
Everything Is Beautiful and Nothing Makes Sense
Ichiro
The Grandstand
The D-train at Rest
The Green Light
Defunct
Marco Scutaro Hits a Foul Ball
Prospects Odds Against: The Ballad of Ricky Romero
King Felix’s Changeup
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