Playback speed
×
Share post
Share post at current time
0:00
/
0:00
Transcript

(An excerpt from the premiere episode of THIS IS NOW)

Ballhawking at Wrigley Field is the practice of collecting home runs hit during Chicago Cubs games. Fans position themselves outside the stadium and wait, transistor radios in hand for the crack of the bat to signal a possible hit over the wall. On a day away from the clamor of DNC protests, Thomas Morton and I drifted by the ballpark, prepared to compete with locals for stray homers. Between innings Thomas surprised me with an in-depth analysis of John Milton’s Paradise Lost—a celestial conversation which, I'm fairly certain, had never before in the history of Major League Baseball been discussed at a ballpark.

What began as a wholesome afternoon at the altar of baseball soon transformed into a cosmic spectacle, as Milton's tempestuous verse conjured a deranged Christian zealot from the ether, an impossibly strong beer materialized in Christ-like fashion, and, before long, an emergency haircut was required.

You gotta see it to believe it. 


THIS IS NOW with Trace Crutchfield is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Share

This Is Now with Trace Crutchfield
This Is Now with Trace Crutchfield
THIS IS NOW is a non-consumerist “travel” show that drifts through the spectacle, notes the marginal, and refuses to let belief limit surprise.