SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. —
Huddled in a coffee shop back when such things happened, a Bay Area college biology professor explained how a PhD on insects in Tahiti lives in the same brain as a book about the unbridled joy of baseball cards.
Thoughts about the 18 species of creepers, crawlers and flyers found solely in one corner of French Polynesia share space in Brad Balukjian’s noodle with the early-1980s comings and goings of former Padres shortstop Garry Templeton.
As Balukjian peeled back the process behind “The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife,” the 39-year-old detailed how the lives of dugout dwellers can resemble our own when the spotlight fades.