They say newspaper columnists can double their readership by writing about athletes who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That’s not exactly true.
My column on slugger Bryce Harper, a Mormon maverick, drew 10 times my usual number of readers.
And all those fresh eyes triggered many fresh comments about Mormons who fit the mold and those who break it.
According to the mailbag, there is something to be said for both.
Many who wrote to me defended conformity. And I understand that. When values, ideas and experiences merge, a shared style often surfaces. There’s security and power in uniformity. Look at the military. In fact, look at baseball teams.