journalist Richard Ben Cramer passed away a few days ago. He was known for insightful books on the Middle Est, the 1988 presidential campaign and biographies of DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Even though I haven't read his books, I did see him on tv lots of times and appreciated his detail, calm style and deep, crusty voice.

The link is a 15 min clip of Cramer reading from the DiMaggio book about Joe growing up in North Beach in SF, selling newspapers on Market Street, Galileo High School and his father, a fisherman working the Bay.

• DiMaggio growing up in SF read by Cramer 15 min