Public service of private industry. We are cspan, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Supreme Court Justice and avid baseball from samuel alito took part in a recent discussion on baseball at the University Club of washington. The other speakers included usa today sports caused columnist Christine Brennan and you all of them spoke about the sports place in american society. This is a little over an hour. Good afternoon. As belle allen used to greet his audiences, hello, everyone, and how nice to see you. How wonderful it is to see you and wonderful to welcome you to the luncheon on the subject of baseball, americas game. Some people seem confused. They actually think pro football is americas game, but its not. Baseball is americas game. This is sponsored today in part by the boston red sox. I chair for the red sox. [applause] i chair for the red sox the great fenway park reuters series. This is an extension of that series. The red sox are the only team in professional sports that sponsors a literary series. Im also president of the city club of san diego in the denver forum, which are two American Public forums collectively of 70 years and more than 2200 programs presented in the Public Interest and the dialogue of democracy. This is our second washington event. If there are more that lie ahead, you will help us make that decision. In many ways, if you are going to do a literary series, this is one of the great duties in which great cities in which to do it. There are a number of writers here today. Carroll, who did the great book on Clarence Darrow and tip oneill. He is right there. Hello, jack. Jane luddy, who did two of the books ever, one on Mickey Mantle, and the other on sandy koufax. And ms. Levy is down here. [applause] and to every writer in the room, we want particularly to tell you how much we appreciate you and the art form in which you are engaged, because there are very few, if any, that are more important. I have several other introductions i would like to make. First, the former director of the federal bureau of investigations, the honorable william sessions. [applause] and the former council of the president of United States, mr. George w bush, miss harriet miers. [applause] i also want you to meet the cochairs of the washington writers series, two extraordinary individuals, huge hugely successful in the field of business. First, ike field. Ike, stand so we can greet you. [applause] and greg rosenbaum. Mr. Rosenbaum is somewhere there he is. [applause] i also want to acknowledge the president of one of the owners of the washington nationals, faye field. [applause] on the senior director for the ballpark experience of the nationals, maggie cussler. [applause] we have one book that is available for signing at the end. There are a few left. Dont leave the University Club without getting mr. Wills book and having him sign it for you. Now let me introduce our panel. Beginning with from the United States supreme court, associate Justice Samuel alito. [applause] and you can come on up. Next from the New York Times and cbs, david brooks. [applause] somebody who wrote a book entitled is this a great game or what . Which was the funniest book i ever read from espn, the one and only tim kurkjian. [applause] and one of my alltime favorites. To know her is to love her, from usa today, Christine Brennan. [applause] and finally on the panel, the incomparable the incomparable george will. [applause] in the book is on the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field, a nice little place on the north side. Now it is my privilege to introduce our moderator, who has become a very great friend. You have a copy of one of his books. He has written two others, one on baseball, one on Leon Jaworski and james baker. He is an attorney from dallas, texas. An extraordinary fellow, hes here with his wonderful family. I would ask that you welcome please, talmage posten. [applause] before we begin, im going to take a little personal privilege. You see the rangers cap here. At the front table, we have part of the Ownership Group and executive Vice President from the rangers from the Texas Rangers, who have come to town this weekend to play a series. Its the first time that the Texas Rangers have played a game in the Nations Capital since they left town 41 years ago as the washington senators. [laughter] this is an historic occasion this weekend. As george will points out in his marvelous new book years ago, a man who probably knew nothing about baseball, with sir winston churchill, spoke about parliamentary ideals using words we hope to achieve in the next hour. Churchill said a good dialogue is quick, informal, and conversational, and requires a very small space, and on great occasions there should be a sense of crowd and urgency. With a tip of the cap to sir winston, our esteemed panelists today are all people at the top of their field, and are quick and informal and conversational, particularly as it regards our national pastime. We have a good sense of the crowd and a clock that compels a sense of urgency, so lets talk baseball. The first topic of conversation, your initial passion for the game. Bart giamatti once said the appeal of baseball is intimately wrapped up with the place where you got to know it in your youth. The question for the panel, where did you first get wrapped up in baseball . And in that place, briefly describe the place the game takes up in your heart. Justice alito, do you want to lead off . When i think about summers when i was young, they seem to have lasted forever. That is what my friends and i would do all summer. We played baseball. We collected baseball cards. Unfortunately, my strategy then was not to collect a lot of Mickey Mantle cards or willie mays cars, cards, which would now be valuable. I would trade my extra allstar cards for the card of some guy who played one game. [laughter] so i would have a complete series. And i remember going to games with my family. In those days, we would go to a doubleheader on sunday, i think, for under 15. We could drive to Philadelphia Park on the street, i tend to attend two games, bring our own lunch. We had a special spot where he was almost an obstructed view seats, but not quite, so it was a good bargain. And we tried to get into the two games before the sunday curfew in philadelphia. You could not in those days start an inning after 6 00 on sunday. But ill be darned. Christine brennan, how about you . Yes, there is always a toledo or two in the crowd. In any case, i grew up in the suburbs of toledo, ohio, and im the oldest of four kids. I had my own personal title ix. My father, jim brennan, became the Republican Party chairman in lucas county in ohio in 1988. A rockford republican and the biggest feminist i knew. Anyway, here i am growing up in the 1960s and 1970s and i wanted to follow baseball and he encouraged that every step of the way, as did my mom and siblings. I got one of those scoreboards score books, which im sure many of you had, and i listened by my radio and listened to the toledo mud hens games. Not only were there very few girls keeping score of minorleague baseball at the age of 10, but i was. And it was encouraged in our household. We had season tickets to the toledo mud hens. My dad arranged those for us. And we also went to a lot of Detroit Tigers games, because those of you that know baseball well know that the tigers have, except for a few years, been the triplea team of the Detroit Tigers. We got a chance to follow our favorites of the mud hens when they would be called up by the tigers and then go see them play at venerable tigers stadium. And like you, i also traded baseball cards. We would do Something Else. We would send the cards to the players and asked them to sign them, and every single time this is obviously a different era than now every time they did. And they sent them back. But the good old days. I have senators manager. I have hank aarons signature on a baseball, one of those alltime leader cards you may remember where it still said babe ruth, 714, and hank aaron and his signature on it. I still have all of those and im not giving any of them up. [laughter] george, we know of your love for the cubs. Where did it all begin . I grew up midway between chicago and st. Louis and age and at an age to tender to make major life decisions i had to choose between the cardinals and the cubs. All of my friends became cardinals fans and grew up cheerful and liberal. [laughter] i became a gloomy conservative. I played baseball all briefly and badly for a Little League team that had commercial sponsors. My team was the middendorf funeral home panthers. [laughter] our color was black. Baseball at that time, i think as christine mentioned the radio, baseball was literally in the air in central illinois. You had two teams with buddy brown and then two teams in chicago, and of course, the cardinals. I listened to a lot of baseball. And i think i became a cubs fan because i could not bear the cardinals announcer, who was harry carey. [laughter] who is now the statue outside Wrigley Field. No good deed goes unpunished. And i will tell you, georges new book has a great little anecdote about harry carey, and i will leave it at that. But dont miss it. David brook, new york mets fans, how did baseball make a line drive into your heart first . In 1968, i was seven years old living in Lower Manhattan and i discover the new york mets. It was fine. They were not good. [laughter] then the next year, the skies opened up, got appeared with the pillar of fire and god appeared with the pillar of fire. Miracle of miracles, and may the most magical moment of my life and certainly the most magical year in the mets history, every miracle could happen that could happen happened. Nobody had a better feel for the game than my father. Player in his day. This was all we talked about growing up. This is all we did, all we talked about growing up. In the sixth grade, missed fevered, my teacher, stopped class at 1 30 p. M. So we could watch the World Series Games between the red sox and the cardinals. And for a young guy like me who was madly in love with the game at that point, to have a teacher say, we are not studying anymore, we are going to watch the world series here, that was really important to me. And then of course, i went to Walter Johnson high school, named after the greatest pitcher of all time. And i played baseball and basketball there, but i also wrote for the pitch, the school paper. [laughter] and i did some work for the yearbook, and that was called lineup. I figured i went to a school and after the biggest pitcher ever. I figured i had to make a career move. I decided i better be a Baseball Writer and here i am 35 years old and still a Baseball Writer. [applause] second topic, baseball heroes. Bart giamatti said among all the men who play baseball, there is very occasionally a man of such qualities of heart, mind, and body that he transcends even the great and glorious game. The question for the panel give us your perspective on the ballplayer who most has transcended the game. George, do you want to start . No. [laughter] no, i hesitate, because transcending baseball would be a vice. I will just tell you who my favorite player was. How is that . In my 60 something years watching baseball, my favorite player is Rickey Henderson. Baseball, unlike football where a quarterback gets hot or a running back or a shooting guard in basketball can take over the game, it is a game where you could not take over the game, except he could. He would get up there in that crowd with the strike zone the size of rhode island and he would get to first base and he would deal second and get heard on an infield out and score on a fly field over. If you look at his numbers, you have to put him among the alltime greats. And if you put him together, as we all do in our spare time, the alltime team, you get to the outfield and youve got babe ruth. And it seems to me, if youre going to play a game, then in your alltime outfield is Rickey Henderson. Great. Tim . I have a few. I grew up here, so Eddie Brinkman was a shortstop for the washington senators when i was a kid, and he was great. When i met him as a scout, told him what a great fan i was of him and he looks at me like he could not believe that anyone actually watch him play. [laughter] and of course, frank howard was my hero here, because he hit home runs to places where they are still not hitting them today. And he had been there 50 years ago. During my prime as a kid, willie mays was the best player ive ever seen, and to this day he is still the greatest player ive ever seen. I learned more watching cal ripken as a baseball player come and as a basketball player and others than anyone. And the other day i this is the beauty of the game, i sat next to that sampodria of the red sox, who is an inch and a half taller than i am. And trust me when i tell you this my hands, which are big for a little guy, my hands are twice as big as his. And he is the m. V. P. In the league a few years ago and hes still one of the best players in the game. And he looks more like me than anybody. If you were sitting in his room and you did not know who he was, you would not know that is destined for drogheda. That is the beauty of this that is destined for drogheda dustin pedroia. And that is the beauty of the [applause] [applause] game. Little guys can play baseball. Tommy, what about you . One guy that i still admire and i think played greatly was dave madigan. He had a great swing. The wall across the plate before he would begin his swing and he would still complete his swing somehow. Just a short, beautiful little swing. It was just tranquil and serene. I am reminded of Rickey Henderson, which does treat teach you one truth about the game was up it is not a game that rewards thinking all the time. [laughter] i dont know where i got this story, i think most of my stories come from tims book, so this could be a repetition. But i recall a story that i would not trust in the paper without checking this out. He was given his big bonus come his first big bonus in the majors. And the team noticed he never cashed the check. And they said, why havent you cash this check . And he said, i framed it. I wanted to keep it as a souvenir. [laughter] and the other Rickey Henderson story i know is that he was playing he came to the mets and was playing a first base than that were a helmet on his head i hope this is from your book. It is, it is. Ok, you tell it. Is your story. You wrote it. Im not stealing it. The first baseman was john orman and he had a brain aneurysm, so he wore a helmet in the field just to protect his head. Rickey played with him in new york, and then they ended up together interop so in he sees john l root in toronto and he sees john l root in toronto and he says, you know, i used to play with a guy in new york that laid with a helmet on. And l root said, ricky, that was me. [laughter] collect the check, by the way, was for 1 million. It was an expensive the check, by the way, was for 1 million. It was an expensive framed artifact. When ricky was with the yankees, he got on the team bus one day and team rules vary from team to team. He sat down in the front seat and someone said, that is for people with tenure. And he said, tenure . Ive got 16 years. [laughter] later in his career he called kevin kevin towers, then the general manager of the padres and left the following message on his voicemail. He said, kt, this is rickey calling about ricky. Ricky wants to play baseball. That is why he is my hero. Justice alito, who is the person who most transcended the great and glorious game echo i think without glorious game . I think without question, the person who most transcended the game was jackie robinson. He was a figure of his stark importance beyond baseball. My favorite player growing up was richie ashburn. Why i picked them, i dont know. He was a great player. I also dont know why i picked the phillies. My situation was similar to georges. I lived in trenton, which was halfway between new york and philadelphia. And in the 1950s, the yankees won the world series practically every year. The phillies had never won a world series, so naturally i chose the phillies. [laughter] and i do think it has an effect on your thinking. But richie was a great lawyer. He was kind of a money ballplayer before his time. He almost never hit a home run, but he had a great eye. He walked a lot. And he could foul off pitches almost indefinitely. You reminded me of a great richie story as we were walking in. He would foul off. He was a lefthanded hitter, so he would file off these line drives foul off these line drives into the seats. And on one occasion, the ball hit a woman and she was hurt. They were carrying her out, maybe in a stretcher. But they were carrying her out, and the next pitch is in and richie hits another foul ball, hit the same woman on the [laughter] all right, christine. These guys are a tough act to follow. However, in terms of transcendent can absolutely jackie robinson. I think we all would agree. I also have to just throw out a name i mentioned a bit ago, babe ruth. I bet you there are kids today playing baseball, hopefully just for fun in their yard, boys and girls. And someone demanding to be babe ruth today. That transcends everything by decades, centuries, what have you. I certainly think babe ruth lives on in many ways in all of us, and for the best reasons. And again, my childhood favorites were the toledo mud hen