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Bill Littlefield: It’s Not Just a Game

Introduction to Bill Littlefield. 1:40 min. Interview: Raymond Elman. Post-Production: Gabriela Fuentes Villafañe. Music: Carmen Cicero. Recorded via Zoom. 6/24/2023, Miami.

BILL LITTLEFIELD (b.1948) served as the host of National Public Radio and WBUR’s Only A Game program from its inception in 1993 until July 2018. He covered a wide range of mainstream as well as offbeat sports events from the United States and around the world. Since 2018 he has been working with the Emerson Prison Initiative, teaching incarcerated men at MCI-Concord.

He wrote and voiced commentaries for WBUR in Boston and for NPR beginning in 1984. During one stretch, the regular lineup of sports commentators on NPR’s Morning Edition featured Frank Deford (Monday), Bill Littlefield (Tuesday), and Red Barber (Friday).

Littlefield is the author or editor of eleven works. “Prospect” (Houghton-Mifflin) and “The Circus in the Wood” (Houghton-Mifflin) are his previous novels. “Keepers” (Peninsula Press) and “Only A Game” (University of Nebraska Press) are collections of radio commentaries and magazine pieces. “Baseball Days” (Little Brown) is a collaboration with photographer Henry Horenstein. “Champions” (Little, Brown) and “Take Me Out (Zephyr) are for young readers.

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 6 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 0:53 sec.

Where did you grow up, and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

RESILIENCE: 1:23 min.

Was there a point in time when you started to think, “I can write pretty well”?

SERENDIPITY: 1:18 min.

How did you first meet two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient Norman Mailer?

VALUES FIRST-RATE EDUCATION: 2:04 min.

What teacher or professor most influenced your writing?

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 3:12 min.

How did you get started in broadcast journalism?

DEVELOP A VOICE: 0:56 sec.

Did you have to train your voice for NPR-style broadcasting?

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 0:40 sec.

Are you aware of poet Robert Pinsky’s new autobiography “Jersey Breaks”?

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:52 min.

Who were your role models or influencers?

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 2:17 min

Do you consider yourself a “humorist”?

CRITICAL THINKING: 2:09 min

Do you find it amazing that in 2000 and 2016, the American people rejected two of the most qualified people to ever run for president?

CRITICAL THINKING: 1:04 min.

And what do George W. Bush and Ron DeSantis have in common? They both went to Yale University!

CRITICAL THINKING: 2:02 min.

I still feel there is so much we don’t know about our 45th president. What are some of your thoughts?

EMPATHY: 5:59 min

Your latest book, “Mercy,” is very different from your other books. What was your inspiration?

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 2:15 min.

Were you aware of the demographics for “Only a Game,” and how much did that impact your content?

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 9:33 min.

Are there any “Only a Game” stories that make your top ten favorites list?

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 2:21 min

Hall of Famer Roger Clemens once infamously complained to Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy about having to carry his own luggage through Logan Airport.

EMPATHY: 1:26 min.