161 Days to Opening Day 2008

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 161 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Zodiac by Robert Graysmith. This is the book upon which the recent movie on the Zodiac killings in San Francisco was based.

The excerpt is from page 161. Graysmith recalls an anecdote and a bit of the background about San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter Paul Avery.

As a former war correspondent in Vietnam and a licensed private eye, Avery could handle himself pretty well. But Chief Nelder decided not to take any chances and issued him authority to carry a .38 caliber revolver, and let him work out on the police target range with the gun.

“Chron Newsman Paul Avery is living dangerously,” wrote Herb Caen, “His investigative reporting into the activities of the Zodiac killer have won him the accolade of a message from Zodiac, warning ‘You are doomed,’ as a result of which several Chron newsmen – including Avery – are wearing lapel buttons reading ‘I Am Not Paul Avery.’ Meanwhile, Avery has applied for personalized license plates reading ‘Zodiac.’ And that isn’t the smartest move I ever heard of…

Put today’s entry into a baseball context.