iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A fellow parent at my daughter's school texted to let me know that he read my book and it was such a grand gesture of friendship that I feel moved to babysit his daughter for a year as a token of thanks.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Here's the thing: Hot Springs National Park has a long history with professional baseball. It was a spring training site for many clubs. If you want to do a national park game, that's where it should be, not some place with no tradition attached to it. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

washingtonpost.com

Trump administration considers building baseball park in Grand Teton National Park

Major League Baseball contacted the administration about hosting a game in a national park, with an agency official scouting Grand Teton as a possible location.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My baseball playoffs rooting order: 1) Guardians 2) Brewers 3) White Sox 4) Padres 5) Rays 6) Phillies 7) Braves 8) Astros 9) Dodgers 10) Red Sox/Yankees/Cubs (don't make me choose)

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ordering Candyland like a boss....

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A nor’easter weekend means one thing with a two-year-old: crafts, crafts, and more crafts.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

First pizza slice. Now a true New Yorker.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Once again, with my beloved Cardinals not a part of the playoff picture, I'll be rooting for the Cleveland Guardians to pull off the improbable....

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It's amazing how grifters like Enes Kanter and Royce White just disappear when folks stop paying attention to their nonsense. Funny the way that works....

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We're very lenient with letting our daughters splash through puddles, so a nor'easter is basically her paradise.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It's the 50th anniversary of Tom Waits's great album "Small Change" and his YouTube account just put an unedited video of his appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test to promote it. It's transcendent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBb3...

youtube.com

Tom Waits – Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test (1977)

YouTube video by Tom Waits

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The rainbow before the nor’easter in Jersey City.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

We've decorated our house with Halloween decorations, and my daughter loves the ghosts. She has no idea that she's supposed to be scared of any of these things. There's no difference between a witch and Santa Clause in her mind.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is, um, an interesting perspective. Personally, I'd rather have interesting art, but maybe I'm just getting old. www.nytimes.com/athletic/762...

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Tomorrow I'm interviewing the guy who directed more 3/4ths of all episodes of "Growing Pains," and I don't plan to ask him a single question about the sitcom. This article I'm writing now is leading me to strange places....

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Two-and-a-half years old today and such a joy.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Speaking of great long-form pieces, this article that gives voice to the girlfriend whom the musician Beck wrote the album "Sea Change" about is very well done and a necessary corrective. www.vulture.com/article/beck....

vulture.com

Losing Beck

His acclaimed album, Sea Change, was inspired by a breakup. For his ex-partner, it was the story of how the Church of Scientology took over his life.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Daughter got her flu and COVID shots today and took them like a champ. Was back to her usual cheery self within minutes. This is a good age. So fun to see her personality bursting forth.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I just spoke with a retired NBA player who told me that when he got drafted, he went out for ice cream to celebrate and was denied service. All these stories are still within living memory and they're still being contested at the highest levels of our government.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Duke Snider would've turned 100 this week. He happened to be one of Charlie Brown's favorite players, as evidenced by this strip from July 2, 1955.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I once sat next to David Halberstam at an awards dinner. He was cordial but stand-offish. I wanted to tell him both how much I love his book "October 1964" and how jealous I was that he wrote it. If I were to write one book about my beloved St. Louis Cardinals, that would be it.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"The Muppet Show" debuted 50 years ago this month. It was a smash hit, but during the previous decade, Jim Henson was a bit adrift, experimenting with short films, documentaries, even nightclub ownership. I wrote about it a while back for "The Atlantic": www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen...

theatlantic.com

Before the Muppets, Jim Henson Tried to Build a Futuristic Nightclub

A new biography sheds light on the many careers of the late artist, including his live-action experimental filmmaking.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I just finished "Wuthering Heights" and was telling my wife about the article I'd write about the book if ever asked, and she said, "I never knew how much being a writer was just wanting to continue writing term papers after college."

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"The Informant!" is the best movie I've seen about central Illinois, near where I grew up. It nails something about the flatness of that place through Matt Damon's screwball character. Also, I had cousins in Decatur, Illinois, and I used to go there a lot. The place stunk.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Parents should’ve refrained from naming their kids Luke in the subsequent two decades to spare them from having to hear someone declare that he’s your father everyday in childhood.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Red Auerbach would've turned 109 today. Here's a little something I wrote about him in "Moses and the Doctor."

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Just remembered that Barack Obama sent me a letter this week about "Moses and the Doctor." That's a thing that actually happened. Wild.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Good piece on the breakthrough of mRNA vaccines for melanoma, which my wife was heavily involved in, and the other types of cancer that researchers like her are trying to tackle next. It's an exciting time in that field. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Watched "The Thing" with my wife last night and it's great and all but would've been better if we never actually saw the aliens.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I don't know, y'all. I'd like to believe that we can have nice things, but considering that this country reelected a guy who tried to overthrow an election, I'm not yet getting my hopes up based on polls within the margin of error.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The music biopic I want is a dual portrait of Axl Rose and Slash circa 2003, with Rose in his tenth year of tweaking "Chinese Democracy," burning through guitarists who wore KFC buckets on their head, while Slash essentially reconstitutes GnR but with the STP guy as the singer.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I'm reading "Wuthering Heights" for the first time, and while I'm enjoying it, I wish that I'd come to it twenty years ago, when the urgent youthful emotions that Bronte describes so well also would've matched my own.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

My daughter has learned the phrase "not yet" and it's much more effective than a simple "no." It sounds reasonable, an invitation to a discussion, an excellent means of buying time. They learn quick.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Interviewing a basketball Hall of Famer tomorrow whom I was unable to wrangle for "Moses and the Doctor." Better late than never....

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Every once in a while, you're just like, "Dang, after three decades, The Onion still has a fastball."

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I mean, this is cool and all, but it's a little late for everyone to finally realize that the president is a con man....

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I could be horribly wrong about this, but from the trailers alone, "Digger" looks like a movie made by a director and a movie star who are cooked.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Still can't believe it. Although it makes sense on some level. Obama is a huge Dr. J fan--his basketball idol growing up. I had it in the back of my mind while writing this book, "If only I could get this in Obama's hands...." And somehow we did that.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Folks, Barack Obama sent me a letter today, which came with a secretarial letter requesting not to share publicly. But he liked “Moses and the Doctor”!

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

One last time because it's probably the last time I'll be on Netflix: I was on the Zach Lowe Show this week. Click on the latest episode (74) to hear us chat about "Moses and the Doctor." Zach got what I was going for--I wanted the book to be fast, loose, and funny. www.netflix.com/title/82186019

netflix.com

Watch The Zach Lowe Show | Netflix

Taking you deep into the NBA via discussions with Zach's friends who cover the league and interviews with some of the biggest names in basketball.

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Reposted by Luke Epplin

Chris A. @letseatnachos.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

not for nothing, but Our Team is one of my favorite baseball books I've ever read and I highly encourage anyone who likes baseball history to pick it up

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ninety years ago today, seventeen-year-old Bob Feller, who'd just completed his junior year in high school, struck out 17 batters to tie the major-league record. Here's what I wrote about that day in "Our Team":

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Having a toddler who eats vegetables is something that I'll never take for granted.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The late night shows were still culturally resonant after 9/11. I turned to Letterman to process everything. In his second show back, he had on Tori Amos, who did a cover of Tom Waits's "Time" that made me weep. Still hard to make it through the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xKa...

youtube.com

Tori Amos: Time (2001)

YouTube video by inthepark002

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

For those with a Netflix subscription, which I assume is most of us, you can watch me on The Zach Lowe Show there. It's the episode (74) and I'm the second guest. www.netflix.com/title/82186019

netflix.com

Watch The Zach Lowe Show | Netflix

Taking you deep into the NBA via discussions with Zach's friends who cover the league and interviews with some of the biggest names in basketball.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I don't have anything to add to the discourse today except that New York City remains the best darn city in this country. It's weathered so much over the past century and it keeps getting up off the mat. I continue to be optimistic about this place, never more so than now.

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Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Well, here you go: I went on a dream podcast, The Zach Lowe Show, and talked about my book "Moses and the Doctor." Fun discussion, mainly going into how loose NBA players were quotes in the 1970s. Go to the 1-hour-15-minute mark: www.theringer.com/podcasts/the...

theringer.com

The Seven Teams Without a Playoff Series Win in the 2020s! - The Ringer

Zach is joined by Law Murray to discuss the seven teams that have not won a playoff series this decade and rank them in order of the likelihood that they’ll break that streak this season. Then, ...

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Reposted by Luke Epplin

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Folks, Sinclair Lewis was a prophet. In his novel "It Can't Happen Here," a populist candidate runs for the presidency on the promise of returning to "traditional" American values and, yes, doling out $5,000 checks to every U.S. citizen. Seriously, that is the novel's setup.

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