Bob Nightengale has been covering baseball since 1986 for the Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, The Sporting News, MSNBC, and USA Today, where he is a columnist. Before moderating a panel on how drugs have changed baseball, he talked about his good luck charm, his favorite city, and the ballpark food you’re most likely to find him munching in the Zócalo green room.
What word or phrase do you use most often?
I use the word “yet” a lot.
Do you have any good luck charms?
When I’m on camera, I’ll always do the sign of the cross before the interview, when I’m on a show or hosting something. I don’t know if it’s a good luck charm or a religious thing or what.
If you didn’t live in Arizona, where would you be?
Chicago. That’s my favorite city. It’s interesting here, but I love Chicago—the people, the nightlife, everything.
What profession would you practice in your next life?
Probably social work. I was always fascinated by social work, helping people, talking with people.
What’s your favorite ballpark food?
I probably have peanuts more than anything. Ballpark peanuts—even the shells, I’ll eat the shells, the salt.
What teacher or professor, if any, changed your life?
I don’t remember the guy’s name: This professor at Arizona State told me I should seek another major, that I could never cut it as a sportswriter. So that kind of motivated me.
What do you wake up to?
Just my alarm clock. I’ll grab a coffee, grab the paper—always a coffee. Several cups.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I don’t sing karaoke, but I love the old-school Motown—Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye. I can sit there and listen to that forever.
What do you wish you had the nerve to do?
Quit my job and write books, something like what John Feinstein does—just do that. To have that confidence where you can get away with it financially. I think it would be more rewarding.
How do you procrastinate?
I’m the world’s worst procrastinator. I do it all the time, so I need deadlines. Whatever deadline they give me, I’m pushing it to the last five minutes. I can’t work otherwise. I’m the king of procrastinators, whether it’s writing or doing errands or paying bills.