Joe, here's the problem with the piece that might have put some people off: It doesn't sound like you. It sounds like Gary Smith. And I, personally, find Smith's gumshoe voice grating and affected even as other writers apparently love it (or at least wish they could get away with it too).
Joe - you are one heck of a journalist and maybe a better writer.
I root for the White Sox in the AL (lived in Chicago for 27 years, from 1993-2020, and, being a Cardinals fan from St. Louis, there was no way I could ever root for the Cubs), and they are still a mess.
"And sometimes you write something and you think, “Hey, this one’s pretty good,” and then nobody reacts to it."
That must be frustrating. The question is though, how does any writer know what most of their readers are thinking? I read lots, internet and printed, but hardly any writer ever gets to hear my thoughts. I'm not sure my thoughts would be any value.
Anyway, we're paying, so there's a clue that there are people who think the writing here is "pretty good", to say the least.
Thoroughly enjoy the Throwback essays and look forward to them each Friday.
I began reading Joe's work on the Athletic a few years ago and have become a big fan of his writing and the Throwbacks allow me some historical background and breadth of his writing interests.
I’m not a White Sox fan (wrong colored hosiery), but, still, I remember this one from back in the day. Whenever I’ve seen Kenny Williams’s name in print since, I think of this essay. I don’t know if it’s any solace to you as a writer, but, while it may not have gone viral out in the wild, it certainly went viral in my brain.
It’s a great piece, that really gets deep into who Williams is.
It’s a little unfortunate how much Williams mentions that baseball isn’t his first choice. That’s never going to go across well with baseball fans, and he also uses it to justify his tendency to make a lot of bad trades, “I’m a football guy. I can’t help being aggressive”. It feels like he’d rather be doing football, but since he’s stuck with baseball he’ll just act like it’s football anyway.
Williams has put so much of his life into the sport, but it just feels like he doesn’t love baseball. No matter how good the writing is, and it’s excellent, it’s harder to make the reader joyously connect with that character than e.g. Buck O’Neil, Vin Scully, or Ernie Banks.
This was a great piece - I too am sorry I didn’t see it when you first wrote it. I’m a White Sox fan, and definitely not a Kenny Williams fan - though in reality my beef is with Jerry Reinsdorf, who hires his favorite sons for positions to which they are not well suited, and then sticks with them long after their unsuitability becomes apparent. (John Paxson didn’t really want to be in charge of the Bulls, but Reinsdorf wouldn’t let him quit and we ended up with far too many years of the deplorable Gar-Pax regime.) Williams deserved credit for all the moves he made to assemble the 2005 team - though certainly luck played a role - but his impatience thereafter led to one short-term move after another that stripped the farm system bare with nothing much to show for it. This piece helps explain where that impatience came from.
I don't get the whole Raiders thing. I kept reading the article, waiting to hear he quit baseball and played football for the Raiders. How can you be "called home" by the Raiders, when you've never played/worked for the Raiders?
I see he was born in Berkeley, but he doesn't say he would leave for the 49ers. Why did Al Davis send him a congratulatory letter? I think I'm missing something critical to the story.
I just took from it that football was his passion, not baseball, and that he was a big and probably lifelong fan of the Raiders. As for the 49ers, well, lots of people who grow up in two-team markets are big fans of one and don't care about or actively dislike the other.
Thanks for this, Joe. I did not see it first time around. A great piece about an interesting guy.
Joe, here's the problem with the piece that might have put some people off: It doesn't sound like you. It sounds like Gary Smith. And I, personally, find Smith's gumshoe voice grating and affected even as other writers apparently love it (or at least wish they could get away with it too).
Great profile.
Joe - you are one heck of a journalist and maybe a better writer.
I root for the White Sox in the AL (lived in Chicago for 27 years, from 1993-2020, and, being a Cardinals fan from St. Louis, there was no way I could ever root for the Cubs), and they are still a mess.
They had Twitter in 2010?
Twitter was born in 2006. Date of death; stay tuned...
What were those people if the past thinking? This was great!
"And sometimes you write something and you think, “Hey, this one’s pretty good,” and then nobody reacts to it."
That must be frustrating. The question is though, how does any writer know what most of their readers are thinking? I read lots, internet and printed, but hardly any writer ever gets to hear my thoughts. I'm not sure my thoughts would be any value.
Anyway, we're paying, so there's a clue that there are people who think the writing here is "pretty good", to say the least.
Thoroughly enjoy the Throwback essays and look forward to them each Friday.
I began reading Joe's work on the Athletic a few years ago and have become a big fan of his writing and the Throwbacks allow me some historical background and breadth of his writing interests.
Thank you for enhancing my Friday.
Fascinating portrait.
It seems that you understand people so much better than they understand themselves. Where were you when I was an aimless nincompoop at age 19?
I’m not a White Sox fan (wrong colored hosiery), but, still, I remember this one from back in the day. Whenever I’ve seen Kenny Williams’s name in print since, I think of this essay. I don’t know if it’s any solace to you as a writer, but, while it may not have gone viral out in the wild, it certainly went viral in my brain.
It’s a great piece, that really gets deep into who Williams is.
It’s a little unfortunate how much Williams mentions that baseball isn’t his first choice. That’s never going to go across well with baseball fans, and he also uses it to justify his tendency to make a lot of bad trades, “I’m a football guy. I can’t help being aggressive”. It feels like he’d rather be doing football, but since he’s stuck with baseball he’ll just act like it’s football anyway.
Williams has put so much of his life into the sport, but it just feels like he doesn’t love baseball. No matter how good the writing is, and it’s excellent, it’s harder to make the reader joyously connect with that character than e.g. Buck O’Neil, Vin Scully, or Ernie Banks.
This was a great piece - I too am sorry I didn’t see it when you first wrote it. I’m a White Sox fan, and definitely not a Kenny Williams fan - though in reality my beef is with Jerry Reinsdorf, who hires his favorite sons for positions to which they are not well suited, and then sticks with them long after their unsuitability becomes apparent. (John Paxson didn’t really want to be in charge of the Bulls, but Reinsdorf wouldn’t let him quit and we ended up with far too many years of the deplorable Gar-Pax regime.) Williams deserved credit for all the moves he made to assemble the 2005 team - though certainly luck played a role - but his impatience thereafter led to one short-term move after another that stripped the farm system bare with nothing much to show for it. This piece helps explain where that impatience came from.
I don't get the whole Raiders thing. I kept reading the article, waiting to hear he quit baseball and played football for the Raiders. How can you be "called home" by the Raiders, when you've never played/worked for the Raiders?
I see he was born in Berkeley, but he doesn't say he would leave for the 49ers. Why did Al Davis send him a congratulatory letter? I think I'm missing something critical to the story.
I just took from it that football was his passion, not baseball, and that he was a big and probably lifelong fan of the Raiders. As for the 49ers, well, lots of people who grow up in two-team markets are big fans of one and don't care about or actively dislike the other.
Terrific piece. Wish I could have told you so when you wrote it. Best explanation of this complicated persona I've read.
As a Jays fan, Kenny Williams wll always make me think of this: https://youtu.be/4SInxwZTZp8
What the hell is going on here??!!
There's more in this video. Go to 1:15 mark.
https://youtu.be/So_oULsPUK8
Hilarious
He realized he had to tag up?
Great stuff Joe, thanks for being you