I think Zisk was made for me. Or at least that’s what the subtitle suggests: “The Baseball Magazine For People Who Hate Baseball Magazines.” Except I don’t just hate baseball magazines, I kind of hate baseball. It’s ironic, too, because in elementary school I was a huge baseball fan. Even into middle school I loved it. Then I got into punk rock, hated the jocks who hated the punkers, and gave up enjoying most sports. Now I live in Boston where baseball is a religion, and I’ve had bad experiences with religion so it makes me like baseball even less. All of this means it’s especially amazing that I like Zisk at all, but I do. I reviewed Fan Interference, a book comprised of past issues of the zine and enjoyed that, and the latest issue (#26) isn’t too shabby either. A large reason I enjoy it is that most of the writers are my age (mid-thirties or older) and thus their baseball interests generally steer towards historical subjects in the sport that I remember from my childhood. One of the stories involved Johnny Bench while another looked at baseball cards in the ‘80s. (I used to be a collector during that time period, so this was especially appropriate for me.) There is also an interview with the punk band Vista Blue and a number of other features including a (too lengthy) piece about who does and doesn’t deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I’m sure if I didn’t have a past in baseball from the time of my youth I’d probably hate Zisk. But this zine just so happened to catch the right reviewer this time around. -Kurt Morris (Zisk, PO Box 469, Patterson, NY12563, ziskmagazine.com)