{"product_id":"the-wax-pack-on-the-open-road-in-search-of-baseballs-afterlife-paperback","title":"The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBrad Balukjian\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times \u003c\/i\u003eBest Seller \u003cbr\u003e A 2020 NPR Best Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Is there life after baseball? Starting from this simple question, \u003ci\u003eThe Wax Pack\u003c\/i\u003e ends up with something much bigger and unexpected--a meditation on the loss of innocence and the gift of impermanence, for both Brad Balukjian and the former ballplayers he tracked down. To get a truly random sample of players, Balukjian followed this wildly absurd but fun-as-hell premise: he took a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he collected cards), opened it, chewed the nearly thirty-year-old gum inside, gagged, and then embarked on a quest to find all the players in the pack. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e On Balukjian's trip in the summer of 2015, he spanned 11,341 miles through thirty states in forty-eight days. Actively engaging with his subjects, he took a hitting lesson from Rance Mulliniks, watched kung fu movies with Garry Templeton, and went to the zoo with Don Carman. In the process of finding all the players but one, he discovered an astonishing range of experiences and untold stories in their post-baseball lives. While crisscrossing the country, Balukjian retraced his own past, reconnecting with lost loves and coming to terms with his lifelong battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Alternately elegiac and uplifting, \u003ci\u003eThe Wax Pack\u003c\/i\u003e is part baseball nostalgia, part road trip travelogue, and all heart, a reminder that greatness is not found in the stats on the backs of baseball cards but in the personal stories of the men on the front of them.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrad Balukjian\u003c\/b\u003e is an entomologist and is faculty in the Natural History and Sustainability Program at Merritt College. He is also a freelance writer who has published in \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNational Geographic\u003c\/i\u003e, and other publications. He lives in Oakland, California, with his VCR.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 286\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8.8 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 01, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47382355607730,"sku":"9781496229823","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/62654f8e30941deaace8bc5688266405.webp?v=1777834089","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/the-wax-pack-on-the-open-road-in-search-of-baseballs-afterlife-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}