This King Always Judges Books by Their Covers

Broadcaster Larry King always makes a point of telling folks he doesn’t read a book before interviewing the author, so when I was invited to interview King in his Beverly Hills home about the book he just wrote, I didn’t read it.

I thought it would be kind of fun to be King for a day.

When I mentioned this to the wife, she laughed, which was not the kind of reception I expected from one of my loyal subjects.

“You know,” King told me, “I make the decision whether I will read the book solely based on the interview I do with the author.”

I just finished my interview with King, and since I won’t be using it, I have a copy of King’s “Why I Love Baseball” for anyone who wants it.

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JUST KIDDING. How can you not enjoy talking to an icon, the guy who has probably interviewed more famous people than anyone in history?

He told me, for example, he spent 90 minutes in the Oval Office recently talking baseball with the president. I have no idea who woke up the president, and I am a little worried to learn the leader of the free world had fallen asleep on the job for an hour and a half and no one seemed to know it, but King had a good time.

“Larry could talk baseball all day long if you let him,” said Shawn Southwick, King’s wife, looking a little tired herself and obviously happy to get a break.

So I sat down with him and he started talking about his love for baseball, games played before I was born, players I never heard of or couldn’t care less about, the day the Dodgers broke his heart -- as if that couldn’t have been yesterday or almost any day of the week, and I’m sure there’s something probably interesting in his book.

“I could talk about the 1947 World Series forever,” said King, which might explain why he’s been married 15 or 20 times. “I couldn’t talk about any Super Bowl forever, or any NBA Finals game forever.... Before you got here this morning, I was watching Braves-Reds and then Marlins-Phillies. I love this sport. Did you not love the movie, ‘Field of Dreams?’ Did you not cry?”

The guy is telling me what a big baseball fan he is, and I’ve got to remind him there’s no crying in baseball.

“ ‘Bang The Drum Slowly?’ ” King said. “You didn’t cry? When DeNiro dies?”

I broke it to him gently. “It’s just a movie.”

“Would you cry if the Bag Boy [disappeared]?” King said, and before I could answer that, I’d have to know if that would mean the daughter would be moving back in with us.

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KING IS going to be at Dodger Stadium Saturday night, wearing No. 2 in honor of Leo Durocher, one of his early idols, and throwing out the first pitch. But Mr. Baseball Purist says he will be standing in front of the mound because it’s hard for him to throw the ball 60 feet, 6 inches accurately, which means he has a lot in common with Dodger pitcher Kaz Ishii.

He’ll also be signing copies of “Why I Love Baseball” for fans, so start lining up. It’ll certainly be more interesting than anything happening on the field.

Now don’t get me wrong. I happen to think King is an extraordinary interviewer, and delivers some of the best TV night-to-night, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Remember, I was King for a day, and I wanted to see how he fared fielding a series of questions.

He cracked only once: “Take the next 10 seconds,” he said after I had told him for the fifth time I wasn’t interested in his old baseball stories, “and list for me the things you do like.”

When I couldn’t think of anything, he started talking baseball again, and let that be a lesson to anyone who meets King: Don’t hesitate when it’s your turn to talk.

“The saddest day of my life,” he said, and I thought he was going to say it was Thursday, “was Oct. 3, 1951, the day when Bobby Thomson hit the home run” for the Giants to beat the Dodgers and win the 1951 pennant.

“It’s the only time in my life I seriously considered ending it all,” he said, and tell me, if you were in my position that you wouldn’t immediately tell him he’s a little weird. “I thought about going to the Brooklyn Bridge and jumping, but I figured the line would be too long.”

On top of being the best in the business at wiggling information out of people, he knows how to deliver a punch line, and has been doing this for more than 40 years. I guess he’s entitled to kick back every so often and spend a couple of boring hours at a baseball game.

“There’s nothing boring about baseball,” he said. “My earliest memories of baseball go back to my dad and listening to Red Barber, a genius, on the radio.

“My dad had a heart attack and died when I was 9 1/2. Now I can’t tell you where I ate lunch yesterday, but I can remember clearly my first baseball game. It was a clear, beautiful day and I remember walking up the ramp of Ebbets Field and looking down on the grass and the grass was so green.... “

Buy the book ... if you’re interested or want to get back in touch with your own memories of your father, Wrigley Field, Jack Brickhouse....

“You do love the game, don’t you?” King said, and for some reason this guy thinks he should be asking all the questions.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes from Dick London, owner of “Bobby The Bagger”:

“Bobby The Bagger won the third at Hollywood Park. So much for predictions. Bobby (named after a popular bagger at the Major Market in Escondido) knew he couldn’t disappoint.”

That explains why he’s not the donkey I know.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.