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Andrew Forbes

@utilityofboredom.bsky.social
363 followers 339 following 1.2K posts

Human, author. Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living (@pressassembly.bsky.social). The Diapause (novel), McCurdle's Arm (novella) (@invisibooks.bsky.social). #SABR (Hanlan's Pt). He/him. 📍Peterborough, Ontario linktr.ee/andrewgforbes

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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Months ago, for the eldest's bday, we bought her tickets to night 2 of Phoebe Bridgers' Toronto shows, and she said she'd take me with her. Last night was the night, and as with all dates on the tour it was gloriously phone free. Amazing show! The sense of community inside that arena was remarkable.
A young white woman with pink and teal hair and a middle-aged white man with brown hair and glasses stand together smiling in front of a digital signboard reading PHOEBE BRIDGERS / THE LOST TOUR 2026 / LET'S GET LOST, TORONTO
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Reading this tonight while keeping half an eye on PHI-ATL. Thinking later I'll watch ep. 1 of East of Eden. Is this self-care? I dunno.
The cover of "Where They Ain't: The Fabled Life and Untimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team That Gave Birth to Modern Baseball," by Burt Solomon
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
You crazy for this one Pontifex
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Absolutely insane sequence of events in this Phils-Atlanta game
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Reposted by Andrew Forbes
Dan Chibnall @bookowl.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
h/t @utilityofboredom.bsky.social
"I don't know much about a philosophy of life, but when I think of it as the way I go through life...As I said earlier, I can't work harder than everyone else. Right until the end, you are only measured against yourself.
As you do that, as you see your limits, you try over and over to surpass yourself a tiny bit.
That's how I eventually become who I am.
One can only do this in small increments, but that is the way to surpass yourself. If you try and change in leaps and bounds, that gap between where you are and your target becomes too large and I think unsustainable, so the only way is the steady way."
-Ichiro Suzuki, March 21 st, 2019, Tokyo, Japan
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Truth.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Eldest, wearing noise-canceling headphones while consulting a recipe: How much feta? Me: Measure with your heart. Eldest: Measurements ARE hard!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thanks! Your TBR looks great. I haven't read the Metropolitans book, but I really enjoyed Goldberger's.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Eagle-eyed baseball fans and card collectors might recognized the inspiration for the redesigned cover: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ba...
commons.wikimedia.org
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thank you, Mark!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thank you, Dan! So happy to help warp young minds.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Received copies of the anniversary edition of my first baseball book, The Utility of Boredom. Long in the tooth but looking trim and spry in a new outfit (redesigned cover) and fresh haircut (new intro by me). Also: French flaps! Available from @invisibooks.bsky.social wherever you get books.
The cover of a book entitled THE UTILITY OF BOREDOM: BASEBALL ESSAYS (Tenth Anniversary Edition), by Andrew Forbes. The cover is a bright yellowy gold and features an illustration of a baseball player in a green uniform.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Fuck yeah!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
No artist means more to me. If you asked me "If you could only listen to one musician for the rest of your life..." I'd answer before you finished the question.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
On this day, the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane's birth, I've listened to the following albums: A Love Supreme Giant Steps Africa/Brass The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings Blue Train Meditations I have 90 more mins and I think I'll likely spend it listening to the big Classic Quartet box.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Finally some meaningless baseball
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Pete Alonso: dashing Blue Jays' hopes since 2019.
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Reposted by Andrew Forbes
Gummy Arts @gummyarts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ayami Sato, LA Queens, 2026 WPBL Championship Series MVP
Colored-pencil card drawing of Ayami Sato
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Queens! What a series for the WPBL title. Ayami Sato pitched the game of her life. Really looking forward to watching this league grow.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zyr...
youtube.com
Equinox
YouTube video by John Coltrane - Topic
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Brutal night for the Jays capped by Pete Alonso finding another way to inflict pain on them. Stumbling to the finish line now. What a long, strange season.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Please, please, PLEASE play Toronto!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is a reasonable proposal. I'll draft a letter.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Hey, a win! I'm 4-0 this season, which feels a little bit remarkable, given their record. Anyway, wonderful day. I love the September sunlight, the way it spills into the Rog, bathes the field and bowl. The shadows stretch out earlier. The ballpark looks different in September than it does in May.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
No, I think you've got it here.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Yup! [...so far!]
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Last (in person) game of the year for me. Roof open, sun blazing, Max on the bump, Jays up heading into the late innings. Here with my dad. Not a bad afternoon.
The field at the Rogers Centre in bright sunshine.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
First of all, I legitimately cried when that ball cleared the wall, and secondly, yes, me too, and now we can do it here.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
We must go where the numbers lead us.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
StacheCast is genius. Amazing work. Someone must work the channels and get word of it to Cease.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Hello, there!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
My wife is spending the weekend with friends and last night she texted 'what is our song' and my immediate sense was that I was being tested. I passed, friends. I passed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Dw...
youtube.com
Sugarcube
YouTube video by Yo La Tengo - Topic
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Joey Votto is such a Canadian boy and I love it so much.
An instagram post from former National League MVP and Torontonian Joey Votto showing a McCain Deep'n Delicious chocolate cake with a single candle in it, which our boy enjoyed on his 43rd birthday.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I continue to enjoy Okamoto's "rookie" season a great deal.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Realized there is nothing on this blessed and cursed earth I find more peaceful than watching vapour lift from the surface of a lake in the forgiving glow of predawn.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Returned one more (last?) time to Halfway Lake PP, reunited with the eldest, enjoyed a fire, then a spectacular starry night, slept like a baby through the cool, still night in a new tent, woke early to see the mist rising off the placid water, packed up and drove back to the Kawarthas.
A line of trees is reflected in the calm water of Raven Lake in Halfway Lake Provincial Park near Cartier, Ontario. The sky is soft and dim, barely lit by the rising sun, while a skim of mist floats atop the water.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Night swim.
An adolescent boy treads water, his head and shoulders poking above the placid surface of a lake. He is seen in silhouette with the last golden glow of sunset spangling the sky behind him.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Hubba hubba!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Good summer? Good summer.
Six baseball caps arranged in a triangle atop a wooden table.

Back row: a midnight blue "City Connect" Toronto Blue Jays cap
Middle row: a royal blue Toronto Blue Jays cap with the team's original logo; a navy blue London Majors (Canadian Baseball League) cap, with stylized white 'L'
Back row: a Welland Jackfish (CBL) "St. Catharines Stompers" throwback cap, with purple crown and forest green bill, and grape-stomping mascot logo on front; a Chatham-Kent Barnstormers (CBL) cap, with interlocking 'CK' logo on a white panel with dark blue crown; a Vancouver Canadians (NWL) cap, all red, with red and white 'C's' logo on front
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
And here's the last word from the Sr. Ed. open-book.ca/News/So-Long...
open-book.ca
So Long, and Thanks For All the Books...
As many of you will know, Open Book is sadly closing up shop as our summer season comes to an end. Our last piece of book coverage went out on Friday, ...
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Its loss will be felt most by young and debut authors. There are fewer and fewer outlets offering such vocal support these days. I'm grateful to OP's dogged and determined staff over the years, doing the kind of trench work that keeps the book world humming. Farewell and thanks, Open Book. 2/2
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Pour one out for the mighty Open Book, a vital source of legitimacy and eyeballs for many authors, myself included. OB publicized events, ran interviews and reviews, and paid authors as virtual writers-in-residence. It was often the first (and sometimes only) place indie books received notice. 1/2
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The Odyssey (2026), dir. Christopher Nolan.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Very bizarre!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I didn't see it there! (The store was packed.) Will have to order a copy. Thanks for the tip!
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
More from yesterday’s wild one at Nat Bailey in Van. C’s were up 13-4 after 4 innings, but Spokane kept chipping away. Tied it in the 8th and plated 1 in the 10th. Van tied it in B10, and with winning run on 3rd the Spokane RP balked. Walk! Off! Balk! Amazing afternoon. Baseball is so ridiculous.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Hello from Nat Bailey Stadium in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, where the Canadians are entertaining Spokane. What a gorgeous park.
The exterior of the home plate grandstand at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver. The field at Nat Bailey as seen from the covered grandstand. Me and my brother enjoying a ballgame.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Royal Athletic Park in Victoria, home of the HarbourCats of the West Coast League. Also hosts soccer, football, etc. Season's wrapped up so I still haven't seen a game here, but I'll rectify that one day. Current structure completed in 1967 but they've been playing ball on the site since ~1908.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Opening for Titus Andronicus at a sweaty venue near you.
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Andrew Forbes @utilityofboredom.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Ah yes, how pleasant it is to take the wee tots to Ye Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe for some delectable treats
The Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe in Victoria, BC, with graffiti on the wall that reads  FUCK YOU MISERY PEOPLE
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