best words, best order celebrates brief excerpts of exceptional writing read aloud by their authors. To learn more about best words, best order, and to nominate exceptional writing from the authors you admire on Substack, visit our information page here.
Subscribe below to receive best words, best order in your inbox.
The Nomination: Tommy Swerdlow
“What were the chances, I’d be writing this on The Day After, when voices like Tommy’s are needed more than ever. Whether it’s the Yankees or anchovies, his tour of celluloid duty in the Philippines or his regular walk through the streets of his hometown, Tommy’s grapple and stake out of language lays bare for us English, America in all her complex, entangled, ambitious glory, what she can be when she tries hard enough, when the sun shines on the pitcher’s mound (the color of a fresh dug grave), when she’s not overcast by the worst of what she can be.
I’m going to keep this short, and to the point. Tommy is a talent. It’s unbelievable to me that we have access to his words week after week, a direct shot arrow from his heart to ours, an irresistible tunnel of words, a river that will take you. In this excerpt it’s baseball, a uniquely American game that I understood through Charlie Brown until I saw it Swerdlow’s way, three men become a holy triptych as intimate as a jazz trio; he takes the ordinary and elevates, reveals the god in a nine man democracy, sees beauty where others won’t look. We need him now more than ever.”
The Excerpt – Grand Old Game
"First of all, they play 162 games. It's not a sport, it's a meditation practice. They play at least five times a week, this mostly stagnant game made up of isolated acts of skill repeated over and over and over. The pitcher stands on a mound of dirt (the color of a fresh dug grave), and holding a small orb assumes his Tai Chi pose. He confers with his partner via hand signal, then begins his “wind-up," (a piece of choreography personal to him) and lets fly the small hard ball at Autobahn speed toward a man with a tapered staff, also in a Tai Chi pose (his “stance,” which is personal to him). If orb and staff do not meet there are only two possible outcomes and the game is played by just three, a private little affair as intimate as a jazz trio. But if ball and bat do meet then men are set in motion and all kinds of shit can happen. This triptych of pitcher, catcher and batter is the beating heart of the game, but even a genius hitter can only enter the fray one out of every nine times, and only when it is his turn, the batting order a nine-man democracy and uniquely American."
Subscribe and submit to best words, best order
Subscribe to receive best words, best order, a bi-weekly feature of Adam Nathan’s 100 Stories, then visit our submission page to share exceptional writing from the Substack authors you love.
Share this post