* Now hear this: Mike Vaccaro

Tis the season.

As the summer game segues into fall’s finales, no less than five titles deal with the World Series, including two about the 1975 games between the Red Sox and Reds, one about Don Larsen’s 1956 perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, and

But the one that goes back the furthest is The First Fall Classic:The Red Sox, The Giants and the Cast of Players, Pigs, and Politicos Who Reinvented the World Series in 1912 (Doubleday), by New York Post sportswriter Mike Vaccaro.

In this interview, Vaccaro, whose previous books include 1941: and Emperors and Idiots, discusses the freedom of working on such a project compared with the constrictions of newspaper columns, the art of crafting dialogue, and how this set of games between the two pennant-winners drove fans on both cities and the nation into a frenzy.

Speaking from his home in northern New Jersey, Vaccaro also spoke about the added burdens of the modern writer. Like many authors, he has his own website and looks to add to the buzz by appearing on humble blogs like this.

“The way I look at it,” he told The Bookshelf in a follow-up email, “if I sell even one book because someone saw me on a blog, then it’s well worth it. Besides, when you spend as much time putting out a book like this, the last thing you want to do is stop talking about it.”