Interesting artilce over at Baseball Prospectus from old friend David Laurila, who sat down with a fixture in the third row of the Fenway press box (Bill Nowlin, Vice-President of SABR and co-owner of Rounder Records and Rounder Books) for a discussion of two of my favorite subjects: baseball and music. I've posted one question below, but go ahead and jump over here to check out the full discussion of baseball's history and future as well as another Q&A with George Thorogood. Not sure any Destroyers were present for the interview, but Thorogood was definitely present.

DL: Can you address the parallels that seemingly exist between music and baseball?

BN: Well, SABR does have a Baseball and the Arts committee, which is fairly large and embraces not only music, but also painting, poetry, and so forth. I'm obviously interested, and active, in both areas, and I find that there are a lot of people who are interested in both baseball and music. I meet an awful lot of people like that, and maybe it's just because they're both popular forms of entertainment—people enjoy those kinds of diversions. I never try to get too philosophical about it, but baseball has elements to it that make it more of an individual sport than a team sport. You're not one of eleven guys lined up and running routes simultaneously, like in a football game. And basketball is so fast that I'm not even sure what they're doing half the time, though they certainly seem to have plans worked out in advance. Baseball is so much more a one-on-one competition, and appreciating music, in many regards, is an individual experience; no two people can appreciate it the same way. A lot of ballplayers have a particular interest in popular music, and the same is true with musicians and baseball. Emmylou Harris is a huge baseball fan; she could tell you any day during the winter how many days it is until opening day. George Thorogood, who was one of [Rounder]'s first acts, is a big fan. Michael Bolton is a big baseball fan. Musicians are just like regular people: some of them are simply a little more nuts about baseball than others.