Jonah Keri, pair of Denver Post writers to co-host baseball event Saturday in Denver

Notable baseball writer Jonah Keri and Denver Post writers Benjamin Hochman and Nick Groke will be co-hosting a panel discussion this Saturday from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the Falling Rock Tap House in Denver.

In addition to talking baseball and Denver sports in general, the group will be promoting Keri's new book, "Up, Up, & Away." The book details the history of the Montreal Expos, a team of note to Colorado baseball fans for several reasons, the biggest of which being that they were the Rockies' opponent for their first-ever regular season game in Denver.

Purple Row community member Eric Garcia McKinley posted a strong review of Keri's book--which fortunately landed on my doorstep today!--on his site, Rockies Zingers. Here's a snippet:

"... Up, Up, and Away will set the standard not just for works about the Montreal Expos, but for team biographies in general. Read the book to see its elongated subtitle fleshed out into compelling stories; read it to learn who Dane Iorg is; read it to be forever convinced that Tim Raines is a Hall of Famer (tip: go straight to page 262 and read the argument for Raines's enshrinement, then begin the book comfortable in the knowledge that three Expos Hall of Famers started the All-Star game at Olympic Stadium in 1982); read it to remember just how astoundingly good the Expos were at identifying and developing young players; read it to sympathize with the team's unbreakable union with the albatross that was the Big O, but also to appreciate the stadium's idiosyncrasies, which [was] on full display for two exhibition games ... Finally, read it because it's about a moment in the evolving sport and business of baseball, and because we don't know what the future holds for the institution that oversaw the fall of baseball's utopian team."

If you're anywhere in the area, you definitely need to get in on this. I mean, it's one of the best national baseball writers there is grouped with a well-respected Denver sports columnist and the soon-to-be Rockies co-beat reporter for the Denver Post. It's sure to be a very cool afternoon of baseball talk before the Rockies' game against the Diamondbacks later that evening.

Word has it Jonah might even buy a round if you're nice ... so have a beer or two for me!