Luke Epplin
{{Short description|American sportswriter}}
{{infobox writer
| name = Luke Epplin
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
| alma_mater = Washington University in St. Louis (B.A.)
| occupation = Sportswriter
| spouse = {{marriage|Jane Healy|2023}}
| children = 1
}}
Luke Epplin is an American sportswriter whose articles have appeared in publications such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Salon and The Daily Beast.{{cite web |title=Profile: Luke Epplin |url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/lukeepplin |website=Macmillan Publishers}}
Personal life
Born in Rockford, Illinois, Epplin grew up in rural Litchfield where he attended Litchfield High School. Later on, he attended college in St. Louis, graduating from Washington University in St. Louis.
He is a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and grew up listening to team broadcasters Jack Buck and Mike Shannon on the radio.
Epplin married his wife Jane Healy in May 2023; their daughter Ava Healy Epplin was born in March 2024.{{cite news |last1=Colosi |first1=Rosie |title=Dad faints in the delivery room, then makes an epic run to get back to his wife in time |url=https://www.today.com/parents/dads/dad-faints-delivery-room-rcna145647 |work=The Today Show |date=April 1, 2024}} The couple currently reside in Astoria, Queens in New York City.{{cite podcast |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-38-luke-epplin-our-team/id1496833118?i=1000571331914 |title=Ep. 38 - Luke Epplin: Our Team |website=For The Love of the Game |publisher=Apple Podcasts |first=Jim |last=Tunison |date=July 27, 2022}}
Career
Epplin is a freelance sportswriter who has written for a number of publications on popular culture and sports.
He is best known for his book Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball which focuses on the 1948 Cleveland Indians. In particular, it focuses at Indians players Larry Doby, the first African-American player in the American League and second ever after Jackie Robinson, Bob Feller, the team's star pitcher, Satchel Paige, considered to be one of the greatest Negro league pitchers in history, and team owner Bill Veeck, one of the most eccentric figures in baseball history.{{cite news |last1=Goudsouzian |first1=Aram |title=In Cleveland, four men helped bring baseball into the modern age |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/in-cleveland-four-men-helped-bring-baseball-into-the-modern-age/2021/04/08/f8463dcc-7c3e-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 9, 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=John |title=How Integration Came to the American League, in Cleveland's Glory Days |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/books/our-team-luke-epplin-cleveland-indians-larry-doby-interview.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 7, 2021}}
In 2022, Our Team was nominated for the Casey Award, given out to the best baseball book of the year.{{cite web |url=https://www.spitballmag.com/casey-award-best-baseball-book |title=CASEY Award: Best Baseball Book |work=Spitball: The Baseball Literary Magazine}}
He is currently writing a book called Moses And The Doctor, on Julius Erving and Moses Malone and the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers.{{cite web |title=Luke Epplin |url=https://twitter.com/LukeEpplin/status/1612840586683318272 |website=Twitter |quote= I'm writing another book. It's about Dr. J and Moses Malone and the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers and that wild period in professional basketball when ABA players got absorbed into the NBA.}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography|Journalism}}
- {{Twitter}}
- {{Bluesky}}
- [https://sabr.org/sabrcast/episode/217 SABRcast with Rob Neyer, Episode 217 - Panel Discussion: The Peanuts Gang and Baseball] at SABR, with Benjamin Clark and Anika Orrock
- [https://www.theatlantic.com/author/luke-epplin/ Articles by Luke Epplin] at The Atlantic
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Sportswriters from Illinois
Category:People from Astoria, Queens
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:People from Litchfield, Illinois
Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni
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