20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Stephen King

5. He Bloody Loves Baseball

No, really. King fans are probably aware of his interest in that most American of sports, thanks to the importance of the Red Sox pitcher to the plot of his 1999 novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, the many references throughout his books, and 2004's Faithful €“ a collection of emails sent between King and fellow author Stewart O'Nan during and about the Red Sox's 2004 season.

The 2010 novella Blockade Billy is about baseball. But still, you don't quite understand just how deep Stephen King's love for the ball game is. He has stated that his idea of perfect happiness is sitting in the bath, smoking a cigarette, and listening to a Red Sox game on the radio. In the past he would've included drinking on that list, too, before he beat his alcoholism.

He's since replaced that vice with a much more healthy one, albeit one that's proven more costly. In 1992 he and Tabitha paid for the construction of the baseball ground Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, Maine. He threw the first pitch there at the opening of the Senior League Baseball World Series, and the score board is placed such that he can see it from his house.