Because the book opens on October 3, 1951, at the game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants where Bobby Thompson hit “The Shot Heard Round the World.” The Giants won the game and and the National League pennant.

Most of the book is set in the 1970s, 80s and 90s — but what could better define the eerie sadness of that era than nostalgia for those heady days when baseball ruled the Earth and New York had two competitive teams?

Underworld was published on this day in 1997.

– Michael Moats