Just wanted to take a moment here, wish everybody a Happy New Year and open up this thread for any questions, comments, thoughts you want to share heading into 2022. I’ll check in periodically today.
If you like this thread idea, I’ll be doing more of them in 2022. If not, hey, we’ll just forget this ever happened.
Anyway, I’ll start: Next week, I’ll be announcing my new book! Can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Thanks Joe, and all readers, for sharing you viewpoints. I really love them all; in tone, content and passion. I relate to them.
It makes watching tonight’s Browns-Steelers game fun! For Big Ben’s last game at home. Baker; can or can’t do. Along with potential material for Joe’s Blog this week!!
Happy new year, Joe. The Mike Webster piece today was really interesting, but the end felt incomplete. While you acknowledged the sadness of what football did to him, it seemed like you did not fully address the issue.
Your top 100 list is essentially a celebration of the game. I’m not sure you can do that in 2022 without a discussion of our (the fans’, the owners’, the media’s) complicity in ruining so many young lives. I don’t like being a downer, but I struggle every week to reconcile my love for football and the growing sense that it is not an ethical pursuit. This topic needs to be addressed by the powers that be. And I believe your passion and empathy for the players who play these games makes you an ideal person to lead an honest and searching conversation.
One one the comments on here from Patrick Dunn was regarding what has happened to sports announcers. It is definitely a craft that few do very well. With your connection with the Baseball Hall of Fame, are there any recordings of the Hall of Fame Ford Frick award winners? If so, have you ever had a chance to listen to them? I would love to hear about past broadcasters that made the game come alive over the radio.
Hi Joe, happy new year. Are you able to point me in the direction of a list of the best baseball movies please? I gotta watch something until spring training!!
This is going back a few years but did we ever get your all time international team? And present day team? I thought you gave us one but not the other. That was fun and I spent way too much time on that and was anxious to see your teams. And maybe a current day team? I suspect Ichiro would get bumped from a few teams …
Joe, I'd love to see you devote some words in '22 to some of the rock & roll legends who are aging way too rapidly now. Dylan and Springsteen and McCartney and Fogerty and Townsend and Young and Keef and Van and so on. Maybe it's a chance to put a career in perspective. Or maybe you can apply your extraordinary skill at unpacking anecdotes that reveal the essence of who someone is and why he or she matters. Your occasional Springsteen pieces have been wonderful, but none have attempted to capture him the way you nailed Bronco Nagurski last week. I know it's a different animal, but would love to see what you come up with there.
I'd love to hear you and Michael explore what has happened to sports announcers. They've become so enamored with the sound of their own voice that the content has become secondary. I actually heard one recently refer to a "congenial heart condition" in his best solemn voice. Brockmire, where are you when we need you? Anyway, I love what you do. Happy New Year.
A late request Joe. I remember how much fun I had during your daily post commitment in 2019 when someone hit 2 home runs in a game during the day in that insanely long streak. I eagerly followed the box scores and was so happy that it went on day after day. So I’m asking you to be on lookout for something similar- in baseball or any sport really- where an interesting streak is in process and you commit to writing about it daily until it ends. Suggestions from brilliant readers should find something sometime in 2022.
Please don’t ban me from your blog for this suggestion.
I’m late to this. Can add that courtesy of family now have the printed v of Baseball 100. Something I’d promised to self once holidays over. And didn’t even have to ask! ‘Word of mouth’ prompted a family member to get it. Looking forward to seeing what differs from digital versions … both of them. 😉
Hm. new year threads. How about what makes best (name dish), and a ranking of 100 best? Ok. Maybe not a full hundred. I’ll start. What makes best Chocolate fudge? And a top 10 contender … Sweets Handmade Candies, Truckee CA. Discovered a giant copper pot (in use!) while stuck in town due to blizzard.
Happy New Year Joe. My wife and I have tea every afternoon (she was English in a past life I think) and we usually read a book out loud. We recently finished Austen’s Mansfield Park (she is an Austen fanatic and a few years ago I bought her a First Edition of MP which happens to be her favorite and also thankfully the least expensive of her works) and have now started on a First Edition of The Baseball 100, autographed by the author! My son and I were scheduled to attend the Brewers Fantasy Camp the week after next but we had to postpone it for another year because of Omicron. So let’s hope for a better year and for a Brewers World Championship.
Happy New Year to all, and to Joe keep the great blogs coming. BTW, my wife, who used to be a librarian and now collects books won’t let me read my signed first edition of the Baseball 100. Now it’s got a proper cover and lives in her glass covered bookcase. She got me the audio version for Christmas. 😎
Joe - just a note of gratitude and thanks for your writing and your podcasts. Except that Sepinwall dude. In another challenging year, you brought a lot of light and laughs and insight and good discussion material into our home. All the best to you any your family.
Happy new year, Joe. Long time follower, first time commenting. I want to say a very heartfelt thanks for the incredible job you do around here. I am too young to have been listening to the PosCast for the full 87 years you've been recording it, but I can say with high certainty that I've listened to almost every minute of it for something like 10 years now. The correct joke to make is to ask you for an apology for the meaninglessness, but in all seriousness, it's a source of great joy in my life (and even, occasionally, my wife's - even though she is a Yankee fan). I look forward to every update you write here and do my best to proselytize the greatness of the Baseball 100. Excited to see where you continue to take your writings here (or whatever new platform comes along).
PS as a lifelong Atlanta baseball fan, I think the Hammers name is fantastic.
Happy New Year and congratulations on the happy consummation of your mission to obtain HoF recognition for Buck and Minnie. I'm sure you have nothing on your plate right now, so here's a new mission, if you choose to accept it: let's get HoF broadcaster recognition for Kruk and Kuip, the best local broadcast team of our era. You have the platform, the personal experience and the missionary zeal. Let's do this. But thanks even if you decline the mission. When I gave The Baseball 100 to my 10 year old grandson I told him to pay attention to the writing as much as to the stories, and that endless rereading of great writers is part of the path to becoming a great writer yourself.
Joe, happy new year! I wish you many blessings and health, so that you continue reading your stories for many years. I've followed you from Cuba, more than a decade ago, and it has been fascinating. Just want to know how I can read your articles here from the mid-2000s or earlier. I love to see baseball through your sharp, entertaining and accurate gaze. I am a young writer and analyst who is inspired whenever I read any text that bears your signature. My copy of Baseball 100 is on the way. It is fascinating. Thank you for your extraordinary passion and talent.
Happy New Year, Joe! Thanks for holding your nose and acknowledging in my personally signed copy of your immediate classic, The Baseball 100, that Derek Jeter really is the Son of God (I mean, just look at the spelling). Seriously, keep up the great work. It’s my favorite thing to read every day.
Sharing The Baseball 100 with my 8 year old son has been one of the best experiences of fatherhood I have had. He has absolutely fallen in love with the game this year. I am a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, and have shared that fanhood with him. The unlikely run to a World Series title combined with learning all about the history of the game has hopefully hooked him on baseball for life.
Recently we visited family in Birmingham, AL. While we were there we had the pleasure of visiting Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in America. The groundskeepers were so kind to us and the facility is an amazing remembrance of the history of the game. I am of the belief that the "Field of Dreams Game" concept can and should be moved to other historic places like Rickwood Field. I'm sure you have plenty of other suggestions of where these can happen.
Also in Birmingham is the Negro Southern League Museum. You can imagine my delight when we were perusing the exhibits and my son suddenly yelled, "Daddy, Bullet Rogan!" when he saw a letterman's jacket worn by the great player. Thanks for keeping the memory of the Negro Leagues alive so that through your writing (he recognized Bullet's name from The Baseball 100) new fans can learn about those great players and leagues.
I recommended The Baseball 100 as a Christmas gift to the wife of a man who fell in love with baseball in the 1960s. She got it for him and he loved it, but his first question to me was, "Why didn't Harmon Killebrew make the list?" I did some research online and found that you had Killebrew at #67 on a previous version of the list, so I sent the link to him and he loved the essay ("The Gentleman Called Killer"). He said reading that essay made up for the omission in the book version. Thanks for many great years of incredible writing.
For next year's pre-holiday draft, draft holiday draft participants. Then have dueling holiday drafts! Thanks for everything in 2021--the PosCast and the Baseball 100 were sources of true joy throughout the year. Happy 2022!
I really enjoyed the baseball 100 and am enjoying your blog. I am a member of the Magnolia (Atlanta) chapter of SABR. We would love to have you do a presentation via zoom at a mutually convenient time if possible, probably in March. Please let me know about your availability for the group. Looking forward to the new book. Have a great 2022.
I’d also like to wish a Happy New Year to all the readers and commenters on this list, those you have often referred to as “brilliant readers.” The comments found here are nearly as much fun and insightful as the articles themselves. Thanks to all of you!
Other than Joel Embiid, who will be joining the PosCast Friendship Group? I’m guessing Mookie and Trout get in and Ortiz qualifies as best hugger, but who else have you got? Maybe you could induct someone each PosCast!
Love to see another road trip book out of you. Hundred places in the US that bring joy or just make you think. Grab local people out there who live near it (or have memories of it) and bring them in for that entry. Bob for Negro League Baseball museum and barbecue (not sure I trust Jason for that unless you do the Cottage Cheese HOF). Michael for spring baseball, etc.
The Baseball 100 (a book I cherish) took me down a Negro Leagues rabbit hole for which I am grateful. I’ve been on a quest to learn more about the leagues and the truly great players that deserve recognition. Here’s hoping Joe’s next book features the Negro Leagues. If not, I welcome more essays. I’d love an essay on Slim Jones and the remarkable 1934 season which included a much-hyped duel against Satchel Paige. Happy New Year!
Joe, thanks for putting Rainy Day Books on my radar. I pre-ordered Baseball 100 from them and I recently ordered a children’s book from them. Long story short—it was a fairly difficult book to track down and there were some delays (not on Rainy Day Books’ part). But…. I don’t think I’ve ever had better customer service from any business anywhere. They were very responsive and helpful, doing everything humanly possible to ensure the order would be fulfilled by Christmas. I can see why you are a fan!
Happy New Year, Joe! Just wanted to share the fun coincidence that after I had bought my son your book (which you kindly inscribed), he independently decided to buy it for me. I re-read a bunch of the essays, and they delighted me all over again.
I’d love to see you write something like a Baseball 100 of the Heart, where you recall those baseball people you most love. This could go in all sorts of directions, from Little League, to your heroes when you were ten years old, to the heroes handed down to you by your dad, to some of that stuff you had planned for Shadow Ball. Probably 2/3rds off this is already written, but I’d love to see it again anyway.
Joe. I read both of your first two attempts at the Baseball 100. I think version 2 is on this blog. But individual posts are hard to find. Version 1 is somewhere on the net, can’t remember where. But there are about 20 players who made your first 2 lists, but not the final- Ron Santo twice. And of course the stories of the ones who made all lists changed. Could you create a category of posts from attempt 1 and attempt 2 for readers to easily access here on your blog? People loved your baseball 100 so much, I’m sure it would be very popular.
And I have to tell you your online version of the 100 was so timely. During the lockdown days of the pandemic reading your posts and the usually 100’s of comments on each post made my day. The hours spent reading and commenting. I made online friends as part of that process.
Thanks Ron! Let me see what I can do about the various Baseball 100 efforts ... though I will admit that most of my attention will be focused on my new book for a while.
When I met my attorney years ago, I found him reading your earliest stab at the Baseball 100. I quickly hired him! Haven’t talked to him in over a year, then bopped in to hand him your signed Baseball 100 (thanks for the Rainy Day Books deal). He called me an hour later and said it wasn’t just the best gift he’d ever received from a client, but probably the best gift he’d EVER received! Loved your inscription. He’s not prone to hyperbole. Anyway, wanted you to know. HNY!
Joe I do have a question…. When we were younger, sports illustrated was the king of sports magazines. It was in Houston, anyway.
I’d love to read your thoughts on my only original “Good idea for Joe” topic- who are the best baseball players never to make the cover of my favorite childhood sports magazines?
I would predict a bunch of my Astros would make this list!
Lastly, I love your writing. All of it. I’m a 50 year old high school math teacher who doesn’t have much time for hobbies. But yours is one of mine and I appreciate your dedication!
Joe - Happy New Year! I am a tennis nut and play several times a week. I love Rafa and have had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times. I think a book (maybe in the next 3 or 4 years) about this period in tennis with the Big 3 (or 4 for a period of time) is warranted. Because there is not a great American player right now, I do not think the US realizes this has been the greatest period in men’s tennis history. It looks like it is quickly coming to a close and it makes me sad just considering that. Thanks again.
Thanks Shane, a great idea. I have so loved this period of men's tennis. What makes it so great for me is that I absolutely love all three of the top guys -- PLUS I really, really like Andy Murray, and I have such a big place in my heart for guys like del Potro and Wawrinka and, of course, Monfils. What a joy it has been.
Ha - I love Monfils too - always wanted him to be “better” but he put on a show and always seems happy and that’s all that matters. (And all the other crazy French players are fun too)
Another avid tennis player here. The Big 3 would be a perfect title. Just saw a reference recently to a book about the Chris Evert- Martina Navratilova relationship that I’ve put on my reading list. One about the Big 3 may be a few years too early, but I’m ready now.
Just wanted to wish you and yours a Healthy Happy 2022. I came to appreciate you through the Athletic and our mutual love for baseball. I didn’t know you are a Houdini guy. I was obsessed with him as a kid. I need to know no more.
No question- just a comment. We are approximately the same age and the oilers and Astros are to me what the browns and Indians are to you. Thanks for your writing. I love it…. I look forward to all your writing!
Happy New Year Joe, and best wishes to you and your family! I just wanted to let you know that I had been a lapsed baseball fan for a pretty long time, but because of you, Mike, and Ellen Adair on the Poscast I rediscovered my love for the game (and for the Phillies, god help me). Thank you!
I hope the new book is about the Negro Leagues or about the HOF Outsiders, or both. The Baseball 100 is really a masterpiece, but I even more enjoyed you shedding light on the Felipe Alous and the Dave Stiebs. Heck, Joe, you just write, we’ll read and it will all be good. Thanks for being you.
Happy New Year to you as well. When you transitioned to Meadowlark, you had mentioned about profits going to charity. I haven’t heard much about that since the opening discussion about the NLBM. Have the goons at Meadowlark cracked down on that plan? (Love the Poscast regardless—I hope you and Michael Schur continue it in your 27th year now or whatever it is.)
Yes, we are still planning on donating PosCast money to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and then choosing other charities. Been working on all this with Meadowlark along with pleading for the safety of our families.
I enjoyed (as always) the Christmas Draft this year on the Poscast; this was my introduction to Alexis Gay. Had she been on the Poscast before (because I don't recall)? If not, how is she connected to you and/or Michael? And if she's from Meadowlark Media, did they threaten you two again to force her on the podcast!? Happy New Year!
Hi Joe, and a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year back at you! Another book? Wow, good for you (and for us)! More Hall of Fame stories? Can’t wait! Your POV on absolutely anything? Always welcome. Continuing to re-read all of the Baseball 100 essays? A no-brainer. Also I’m finally reading your Buck O’Neil book, now that he has finally been voted to the HOF. I wish I could imagine new and different projects for you, but I’m already nearly overwhelmed trying to keep up with all of your current writing and your books, as well as re-reading older pieces you have kept in your archives. Besides, you already come up with so many great ideas, you certainly don’t need any help from me! Thank you for all of your writing, especially during this pandemic, when so much travel and socializing has had to be cut back. You are truly a life-line for all of us to our better selves. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thanks for your response, Joe! I started reading your pieces when you were still with the KC Star, and was then thrilled when you moved to Sports Illustrated, to which I’ve subscribed forever! There was a time when I aspired to be a sportswriter, but I was perhaps too much of a perfectionist and not quite willing enough to word as hard as necessary to overcome that little obstacle. So instead I live almost vicariously in your writing, which seems so effortless, but which I know to be the end product of much blood, sweat and tears. I can never thank you enough, just for the emotions that your writing inspires in me, and which are beyond my ability to express.
a great idea, joe. man, you've had a year. was at the HOF yesterday. the buck statue and exhibit is really lovely. obviously you had a lot to do with it. meaningful.
Happy New Year, Joe! This is a great idea to open things up to comments and questions. I’d love to hear about how you identify and develop book ideas. “Baseball 100” flowed naturally from the series you wrote, but the book on Houdini was genius. Where do ideas like that come from and how do you go about developing them and figuring out how to do all the research and pull the story together?
Hi Mike, thanks for the question. It's a convoluted process, to be sure. I tend to have dozens and dozens of book ideas, it's sort of the way my mind works. Some I can eliminate immediately. Some stay with me longer. And some, like Houdini, simply refuse to go away. As you might know, I worked on and off on The Baseball 100 for 10 years, it was just this idea that I couldn't stop thinking about (and, for too long, couldn't finish). And once I get the idea, and convince the right people that it's worth writing, then comes the research and figuring out how the story will work, and that's my favorite part.
I hope to take on that type of project. I can only imagine how much work it is. Your end product makes it look easy — so seamlessly written and fun to experience as a reader.
James, Thanks for the tech tip. I have just changed from the monthly to the annual subscription. Again, thank you - and here's wishing You a Happy New Year. Peter
Happy new year, Daniel. This will sound trite, but my best advice for young writers is to read everything you can -- sports and non-sports -- and write as often as you can. Again, that sounds obvious, but I really believe that it's reading that opens up your world as a writer, and you can only learn your own voice by writing as much as possible, whether on a blog, for an assignment, or simply for yourself.
Just wanted to say thanks for everything you write and happy new year to you and yours. Personally I would love to see you get back to the Shadow 100 - not to complete the list but because you manage to uncover some of the all-time great stories of players that maybe didn’t hit the limelight like the baseball 100. I just never get tired of those stories
My dad and I watched the 1986 World Series together. I was 13. He took our family to my first Kansas City baseball game in 1987. Those two events mark the beginning of my love of baseball. I got to share the Baseball 100 with him this fall. I am grateful for stories of fathers and sons and daughters and baseball and life. I appreciate all you do. Thank you!
Thanks Joe, and all readers, for sharing you viewpoints. I really love them all; in tone, content and passion. I relate to them.
It makes watching tonight’s Browns-Steelers game fun! For Big Ben’s last game at home. Baker; can or can’t do. Along with potential material for Joe’s Blog this week!!
Happy new year, Joe. The Mike Webster piece today was really interesting, but the end felt incomplete. While you acknowledged the sadness of what football did to him, it seemed like you did not fully address the issue.
Your top 100 list is essentially a celebration of the game. I’m not sure you can do that in 2022 without a discussion of our (the fans’, the owners’, the media’s) complicity in ruining so many young lives. I don’t like being a downer, but I struggle every week to reconcile my love for football and the growing sense that it is not an ethical pursuit. This topic needs to be addressed by the powers that be. And I believe your passion and empathy for the players who play these games makes you an ideal person to lead an honest and searching conversation.
One one the comments on here from Patrick Dunn was regarding what has happened to sports announcers. It is definitely a craft that few do very well. With your connection with the Baseball Hall of Fame, are there any recordings of the Hall of Fame Ford Frick award winners? If so, have you ever had a chance to listen to them? I would love to hear about past broadcasters that made the game come alive over the radio.
Hi Joe, happy new year. Are you able to point me in the direction of a list of the best baseball movies please? I gotta watch something until spring training!!
This is going back a few years but did we ever get your all time international team? And present day team? I thought you gave us one but not the other. That was fun and I spent way too much time on that and was anxious to see your teams. And maybe a current day team? I suspect Ichiro would get bumped from a few teams …
Or maybe the same thing for basketball?
Joe, I'd love to see you devote some words in '22 to some of the rock & roll legends who are aging way too rapidly now. Dylan and Springsteen and McCartney and Fogerty and Townsend and Young and Keef and Van and so on. Maybe it's a chance to put a career in perspective. Or maybe you can apply your extraordinary skill at unpacking anecdotes that reveal the essence of who someone is and why he or she matters. Your occasional Springsteen pieces have been wonderful, but none have attempted to capture him the way you nailed Bronco Nagurski last week. I know it's a different animal, but would love to see what you come up with there.
I'd love to hear you and Michael explore what has happened to sports announcers. They've become so enamored with the sound of their own voice that the content has become secondary. I actually heard one recently refer to a "congenial heart condition" in his best solemn voice. Brockmire, where are you when we need you? Anyway, I love what you do. Happy New Year.
Just finished Baseball 100
Willie is my all time favorite
Saw him at Polo Grounds 1954 2/3 2 steals
Great catch with hat flying off
Your description of being a kid meant so much to me
Great writing
Look forward for more
Regards Len Lewis
Just keep writing. And keep hoping a Cleveland team is good this year
A late request Joe. I remember how much fun I had during your daily post commitment in 2019 when someone hit 2 home runs in a game during the day in that insanely long streak. I eagerly followed the box scores and was so happy that it went on day after day. So I’m asking you to be on lookout for something similar- in baseball or any sport really- where an interesting streak is in process and you commit to writing about it daily until it ends. Suggestions from brilliant readers should find something sometime in 2022.
Please don’t ban me from your blog for this suggestion.
I’m late to this. Can add that courtesy of family now have the printed v of Baseball 100. Something I’d promised to self once holidays over. And didn’t even have to ask! ‘Word of mouth’ prompted a family member to get it. Looking forward to seeing what differs from digital versions … both of them. 😉
Hm. new year threads. How about what makes best (name dish), and a ranking of 100 best? Ok. Maybe not a full hundred. I’ll start. What makes best Chocolate fudge? And a top 10 contender … Sweets Handmade Candies, Truckee CA. Discovered a giant copper pot (in use!) while stuck in town due to blizzard.
iPad review, please.
Happy New Year Joe. My wife and I have tea every afternoon (she was English in a past life I think) and we usually read a book out loud. We recently finished Austen’s Mansfield Park (she is an Austen fanatic and a few years ago I bought her a First Edition of MP which happens to be her favorite and also thankfully the least expensive of her works) and have now started on a First Edition of The Baseball 100, autographed by the author! My son and I were scheduled to attend the Brewers Fantasy Camp the week after next but we had to postpone it for another year because of Omicron. So let’s hope for a better year and for a Brewers World Championship.
Happy New Year to all, and to Joe keep the great blogs coming. BTW, my wife, who used to be a librarian and now collects books won’t let me read my signed first edition of the Baseball 100. Now it’s got a proper cover and lives in her glass covered bookcase. She got me the audio version for Christmas. 😎
Joe - just a note of gratitude and thanks for your writing and your podcasts. Except that Sepinwall dude. In another challenging year, you brought a lot of light and laughs and insight and good discussion material into our home. All the best to you any your family.
Happy new year, Joe. Long time follower, first time commenting. I want to say a very heartfelt thanks for the incredible job you do around here. I am too young to have been listening to the PosCast for the full 87 years you've been recording it, but I can say with high certainty that I've listened to almost every minute of it for something like 10 years now. The correct joke to make is to ask you for an apology for the meaninglessness, but in all seriousness, it's a source of great joy in my life (and even, occasionally, my wife's - even though she is a Yankee fan). I look forward to every update you write here and do my best to proselytize the greatness of the Baseball 100. Excited to see where you continue to take your writings here (or whatever new platform comes along).
PS as a lifelong Atlanta baseball fan, I think the Hammers name is fantastic.
Happy New Year and congratulations on the happy consummation of your mission to obtain HoF recognition for Buck and Minnie. I'm sure you have nothing on your plate right now, so here's a new mission, if you choose to accept it: let's get HoF broadcaster recognition for Kruk and Kuip, the best local broadcast team of our era. You have the platform, the personal experience and the missionary zeal. Let's do this. But thanks even if you decline the mission. When I gave The Baseball 100 to my 10 year old grandson I told him to pay attention to the writing as much as to the stories, and that endless rereading of great writers is part of the path to becoming a great writer yourself.
Joe, happy new year! I wish you many blessings and health, so that you continue reading your stories for many years. I've followed you from Cuba, more than a decade ago, and it has been fascinating. Just want to know how I can read your articles here from the mid-2000s or earlier. I love to see baseball through your sharp, entertaining and accurate gaze. I am a young writer and analyst who is inspired whenever I read any text that bears your signature. My copy of Baseball 100 is on the way. It is fascinating. Thank you for your extraordinary passion and talent.
Happy New Year, Joe! Thanks for holding your nose and acknowledging in my personally signed copy of your immediate classic, The Baseball 100, that Derek Jeter really is the Son of God (I mean, just look at the spelling). Seriously, keep up the great work. It’s my favorite thing to read every day.
Sharing The Baseball 100 with my 8 year old son has been one of the best experiences of fatherhood I have had. He has absolutely fallen in love with the game this year. I am a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, and have shared that fanhood with him. The unlikely run to a World Series title combined with learning all about the history of the game has hopefully hooked him on baseball for life.
Recently we visited family in Birmingham, AL. While we were there we had the pleasure of visiting Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in America. The groundskeepers were so kind to us and the facility is an amazing remembrance of the history of the game. I am of the belief that the "Field of Dreams Game" concept can and should be moved to other historic places like Rickwood Field. I'm sure you have plenty of other suggestions of where these can happen.
Also in Birmingham is the Negro Southern League Museum. You can imagine my delight when we were perusing the exhibits and my son suddenly yelled, "Daddy, Bullet Rogan!" when he saw a letterman's jacket worn by the great player. Thanks for keeping the memory of the Negro Leagues alive so that through your writing (he recognized Bullet's name from The Baseball 100) new fans can learn about those great players and leagues.
Happy New Year!
I recommended The Baseball 100 as a Christmas gift to the wife of a man who fell in love with baseball in the 1960s. She got it for him and he loved it, but his first question to me was, "Why didn't Harmon Killebrew make the list?" I did some research online and found that you had Killebrew at #67 on a previous version of the list, so I sent the link to him and he loved the essay ("The Gentleman Called Killer"). He said reading that essay made up for the omission in the book version. Thanks for many great years of incredible writing.
So… what do you think about iPads?
For next year's pre-holiday draft, draft holiday draft participants. Then have dueling holiday drafts! Thanks for everything in 2021--the PosCast and the Baseball 100 were sources of true joy throughout the year. Happy 2022!
Happy to hear about the new book. Can I preorder now?
I really enjoyed the baseball 100 and am enjoying your blog. I am a member of the Magnolia (Atlanta) chapter of SABR. We would love to have you do a presentation via zoom at a mutually convenient time if possible, probably in March. Please let me know about your availability for the group. Looking forward to the new book. Have a great 2022.
I’d also like to wish a Happy New Year to all the readers and commenters on this list, those you have often referred to as “brilliant readers.” The comments found here are nearly as much fun and insightful as the articles themselves. Thanks to all of you!
Great point -- Happy new year brilliant readers!
Other than Joel Embiid, who will be joining the PosCast Friendship Group? I’m guessing Mookie and Trout get in and Ortiz qualifies as best hugger, but who else have you got? Maybe you could induct someone each PosCast!
Great idea Alan and thanks for everything you've done to support the PosCast!
Love to see another road trip book out of you. Hundred places in the US that bring joy or just make you think. Grab local people out there who live near it (or have memories of it) and bring them in for that entry. Bob for Negro League Baseball museum and barbecue (not sure I trust Jason for that unless you do the Cottage Cheese HOF). Michael for spring baseball, etc.
What a fun idea, thanks!
The Baseball 100 (a book I cherish) took me down a Negro Leagues rabbit hole for which I am grateful. I’ve been on a quest to learn more about the leagues and the truly great players that deserve recognition. Here’s hoping Joe’s next book features the Negro Leagues. If not, I welcome more essays. I’d love an essay on Slim Jones and the remarkable 1934 season which included a much-hyped duel against Satchel Paige. Happy New Year!
You can be sure that I'll keep writing about the Negro Leagues.
Joe, thanks for putting Rainy Day Books on my radar. I pre-ordered Baseball 100 from them and I recently ordered a children’s book from them. Long story short—it was a fairly difficult book to track down and there were some delays (not on Rainy Day Books’ part). But…. I don’t think I’ve ever had better customer service from any business anywhere. They were very responsive and helpful, doing everything humanly possible to ensure the order would be fulfilled by Christmas. I can see why you are a fan!
Rainy Day is the absolute best.
Happy New Year, Joe! Just wanted to share the fun coincidence that after I had bought my son your book (which you kindly inscribed), he independently decided to buy it for me. I re-read a bunch of the essays, and they delighted me all over again.
I’d love to see you write something like a Baseball 100 of the Heart, where you recall those baseball people you most love. This could go in all sorts of directions, from Little League, to your heroes when you were ten years old, to the heroes handed down to you by your dad, to some of that stuff you had planned for Shadow Ball. Probably 2/3rds off this is already written, but I’d love to see it again anyway.
Thanks Kit. I hope some of this spirit will be in my next book!
Joe. I read both of your first two attempts at the Baseball 100. I think version 2 is on this blog. But individual posts are hard to find. Version 1 is somewhere on the net, can’t remember where. But there are about 20 players who made your first 2 lists, but not the final- Ron Santo twice. And of course the stories of the ones who made all lists changed. Could you create a category of posts from attempt 1 and attempt 2 for readers to easily access here on your blog? People loved your baseball 100 so much, I’m sure it would be very popular.
And I have to tell you your online version of the 100 was so timely. During the lockdown days of the pandemic reading your posts and the usually 100’s of comments on each post made my day. The hours spent reading and commenting. I made online friends as part of that process.
Thanks Ron! Let me see what I can do about the various Baseball 100 efforts ... though I will admit that most of my attention will be focused on my new book for a while.
When I met my attorney years ago, I found him reading your earliest stab at the Baseball 100. I quickly hired him! Haven’t talked to him in over a year, then bopped in to hand him your signed Baseball 100 (thanks for the Rainy Day Books deal). He called me an hour later and said it wasn’t just the best gift he’d ever received from a client, but probably the best gift he’d EVER received! Loved your inscription. He’s not prone to hyperbole. Anyway, wanted you to know. HNY!
Thanks Patrick! This is awesome.
Joe I do have a question…. When we were younger, sports illustrated was the king of sports magazines. It was in Houston, anyway.
I’d love to read your thoughts on my only original “Good idea for Joe” topic- who are the best baseball players never to make the cover of my favorite childhood sports magazines?
I would predict a bunch of my Astros would make this list!
Lastly, I love your writing. All of it. I’m a 50 year old high school math teacher who doesn’t have much time for hobbies. But yours is one of mine and I appreciate your dedication!
Joe - Happy New Year! I am a tennis nut and play several times a week. I love Rafa and have had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times. I think a book (maybe in the next 3 or 4 years) about this period in tennis with the Big 3 (or 4 for a period of time) is warranted. Because there is not a great American player right now, I do not think the US realizes this has been the greatest period in men’s tennis history. It looks like it is quickly coming to a close and it makes me sad just considering that. Thanks again.
Thanks Shane, a great idea. I have so loved this period of men's tennis. What makes it so great for me is that I absolutely love all three of the top guys -- PLUS I really, really like Andy Murray, and I have such a big place in my heart for guys like del Potro and Wawrinka and, of course, Monfils. What a joy it has been.
Ha - I love Monfils too - always wanted him to be “better” but he put on a show and always seems happy and that’s all that matters. (And all the other crazy French players are fun too)
Another avid tennis player here. The Big 3 would be a perfect title. Just saw a reference recently to a book about the Chris Evert- Martina Navratilova relationship that I’ve put on my reading list. One about the Big 3 may be a few years too early, but I’m ready now.
The Evert-Navratilova book is a lot of fun.
Hi Joe
Just wanted to wish you and yours a Healthy Happy 2022. I came to appreciate you through the Athletic and our mutual love for baseball. I didn’t know you are a Houdini guy. I was obsessed with him as a kid. I need to know no more.
Thanks Jeffrey.
No question- just a comment. We are approximately the same age and the oilers and Astros are to me what the browns and Indians are to you. Thanks for your writing. I love it…. I look forward to all your writing!
Thanks George. I miss the Oilers.
Happy New Year Joe, and best wishes to you and your family! I just wanted to let you know that I had been a lapsed baseball fan for a pretty long time, but because of you, Mike, and Ellen Adair on the Poscast I rediscovered my love for the game (and for the Phillies, god help me). Thank you!
Thanks Dave. Ellen is the absolute best, of course.
I hope the new book is about the Negro Leagues or about the HOF Outsiders, or both. The Baseball 100 is really a masterpiece, but I even more enjoyed you shedding light on the Felipe Alous and the Dave Stiebs. Heck, Joe, you just write, we’ll read and it will all be good. Thanks for being you.
Thanks Michael. I think you'll like the idea of the new book.
Happy New Year Joe! Thank you for all that you do for us.
Happy new year Ken!
Happy New Year to you as well. When you transitioned to Meadowlark, you had mentioned about profits going to charity. I haven’t heard much about that since the opening discussion about the NLBM. Have the goons at Meadowlark cracked down on that plan? (Love the Poscast regardless—I hope you and Michael Schur continue it in your 27th year now or whatever it is.)
Yes, we are still planning on donating PosCast money to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and then choosing other charities. Been working on all this with Meadowlark along with pleading for the safety of our families.
I enjoyed (as always) the Christmas Draft this year on the Poscast; this was my introduction to Alexis Gay. Had she been on the Poscast before (because I don't recall)? If not, how is she connected to you and/or Michael? And if she's from Meadowlark Media, did they threaten you two again to force her on the podcast!? Happy New Year!
I've known Alexis for several years now, going back to her pre-comedy life. isn't she awesome?
Yes. Was very pleased to see her beat Jason Kander in his own game.
Damon- I just convinced my girlfriend to read a book (sort of) about you. Congrats on the perfect game!
I hope she likes it!
Hi Joe, and a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year back at you! Another book? Wow, good for you (and for us)! More Hall of Fame stories? Can’t wait! Your POV on absolutely anything? Always welcome. Continuing to re-read all of the Baseball 100 essays? A no-brainer. Also I’m finally reading your Buck O’Neil book, now that he has finally been voted to the HOF. I wish I could imagine new and different projects for you, but I’m already nearly overwhelmed trying to keep up with all of your current writing and your books, as well as re-reading older pieces you have kept in your archives. Besides, you already come up with so many great ideas, you certainly don’t need any help from me! Thank you for all of your writing, especially during this pandemic, when so much travel and socializing has had to be cut back. You are truly a life-line for all of us to our better selves. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thanks John!
Thanks for your response, Joe! I started reading your pieces when you were still with the KC Star, and was then thrilled when you moved to Sports Illustrated, to which I’ve subscribed forever! There was a time when I aspired to be a sportswriter, but I was perhaps too much of a perfectionist and not quite willing enough to word as hard as necessary to overcome that little obstacle. So instead I live almost vicariously in your writing, which seems so effortless, but which I know to be the end product of much blood, sweat and tears. I can never thank you enough, just for the emotions that your writing inspires in me, and which are beyond my ability to express.
a great idea, joe. man, you've had a year. was at the HOF yesterday. the buck statue and exhibit is really lovely. obviously you had a lot to do with it. meaningful.
Isn't that statue great? Now to have Buck with a plaque at the Hall too ... what an amazing year.
it really is. maybe the nicest baseball statue i've ever seen. truly moving. hate to be a sycophant, but you're who brought it to life.
Happy New Year, Joe! This is a great idea to open things up to comments and questions. I’d love to hear about how you identify and develop book ideas. “Baseball 100” flowed naturally from the series you wrote, but the book on Houdini was genius. Where do ideas like that come from and how do you go about developing them and figuring out how to do all the research and pull the story together?
Hi Mike, thanks for the question. It's a convoluted process, to be sure. I tend to have dozens and dozens of book ideas, it's sort of the way my mind works. Some I can eliminate immediately. Some stay with me longer. And some, like Houdini, simply refuse to go away. As you might know, I worked on and off on The Baseball 100 for 10 years, it was just this idea that I couldn't stop thinking about (and, for too long, couldn't finish). And once I get the idea, and convince the right people that it's worth writing, then comes the research and figuring out how the story will work, and that's my favorite part.
I hope to take on that type of project. I can only imagine how much work it is. Your end product makes it look easy — so seamlessly written and fun to experience as a reader.
James, Thanks for the tech tip. I have just changed from the monthly to the annual subscription. Again, thank you - and here's wishing You a Happy New Year. Peter
Happy New Year, Joe! I love when you write about writing...what are your top pieces of advice for aspiring writers?
Happy new year, Daniel. This will sound trite, but my best advice for young writers is to read everything you can -- sports and non-sports -- and write as often as you can. Again, that sounds obvious, but I really believe that it's reading that opens up your world as a writer, and you can only learn your own voice by writing as much as possible, whether on a blog, for an assignment, or simply for yourself.
Just wanted to say thanks for everything you write and happy new year to you and yours. Personally I would love to see you get back to the Shadow 100 - not to complete the list but because you manage to uncover some of the all-time great stories of players that maybe didn’t hit the limelight like the baseball 100. I just never get tired of those stories
Well, I'm not sure it's EXACTLY what you're describing here, but I can't wait to tell you about my new book.
Nailed it!!
My dad and I watched the 1986 World Series together. I was 13. He took our family to my first Kansas City baseball game in 1987. Those two events mark the beginning of my love of baseball. I got to share the Baseball 100 with him this fall. I am grateful for stories of fathers and sons and daughters and baseball and life. I appreciate all you do. Thank you!
Thanks Scott. This means the world to me.