KEROUAC, A PIONEER OF FANTASY BASEBALL.

KEROUAC, A PIONEER OF FANTASY BASEBALL. The New York Public Library exhibit on Jack Kerouac devotes a large amount of space (one section out of eight sections) to Kerouac’s activities in fantasy baseball. The display included samples of score sheets and articles for an imaginary baseball league which Kerouac maintained from the mid-thirties into the sixties. This article provides some details about the league. There were between six and eight teams in the league; the teams had names (beginning with names of cars such as the Pittsburgh Plymouths and then switching to names of colors). Kerouac played out each pitch of each game for every season, evidently using erasers or objects thrown at a target 40 feet away. He also used a nail to strike a ball bearing to determine the results of each at bat. With either method, good hitters and good pitchers performed better. Imagine extremely neat scoresheets showing the results of every at bat of a full season for eight teams.