JoeBlogs Best of 2024

Our 10 most popular posts of the year … plus a quick word about Jimmy Carter.

Happy New Year, everybody. Today, I’ll list and link our 10 most popular posts in 2024. It was a big year here. And I’m very excited about some big improvements coming to JoeBlogs in 2025, stuff that I think you’re really going to like.

Before we get into the list… you might know that I’m heading to the UK for this super-secret project that I’m working on. And on Jan. 4, starting at 6 p.m., we’re going to have a special JoeBlogs get-together for baseball fans (and cricket fans) at Moonshot Social in London! It’s going to be a blast! Television writer and showrunner Michael Schur will be there! The 2011 American League leader in FIP, Brandon McCarthy, will be there! Batting cages will be there! Authentic-tasting American-style hot dogs will be there! Other special guest stars might be there! I mean, you never know. Keira Knightley is invited. Well, I don’t know Keira Knightley, but maybe one of you does, and she’s awesome and is definitely invited. Idris Elba, too.

Space is limited. If you have already sent in an email saying that you’ll be there, you should be getting an email in the next couple days confirming that you’re on the list. If you have not sent in an email but can be there, gmail me at JP at Joe Posnanski, and I’ll try to get you on the list!

And what will happen at the event? I have NO IDEA! I’m fully expecting chaos.

Before we get to the list… can we also talk about that “High Tide” commercial for a moment? I guess it’s an Allstate commercial (I actually had to look up what company it’s promoting), and it’s about some goofy, middle-aged guy yelling “High Tide!’ at Alabama players as they walk off the bus. There’s a young woman next to him wearing an Alabama shirt, and she explains to him that it’s actually “Roll Tide.”

I bring this up only because Margo and I have a little argument going—I say the young woman is the guy’s daughter. Margo says, no, she’s just some Alabama student standing next to him.

I feel pretty sure I’m right… especially because toward the end of the commercial, she kind of teasingly twirls his hair, which is definitely a daughter thing to do.

Jimmy Carter passed away on Sunday at age 100, and I know there will be a million tributes and obituaries and considerations of his big American life… but I want to mention here President Carter was one of four U.S. Presidents to kick off our “Tip Your Cap” Campaign to raise awareness of the Negro leagues and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. He was, even then, struggling with his health, so he could not send in a video. But he very much wanted to be a part of the campaign, and so he sent us these words:

“I’ve been a baseball fan all of my life, and the Negro leagues are an important part of the sport’s history. I am thankful that the era of segregated leagues is long over, and I tip my cap to the pioneers who showed the world that Black players belong in America’s game.”

Here are the 10 most popular posts on JoeBlogs in 2024.

No. 10: The Last Day of the Oakland A’s

Sept. 27

“Looking ahead,” John Fisher wrote to Oakland A’s fans, “I hope you will join our beloved A’s as we move forward on this amazing journey. I hope I will see you again sporting the Green and Gold. And I hope we will make you proud.”

“Looking ahead,” Emperor Palpatine wrote to the survivors of the Death Star destruction of the planet of Alderaan, “I hope you will join the Empire as we move forward on this amazing journey. I hope I will see you again sporting the armor of our Stormtroopers. And I hope we will make you proud.”

“Looking ahead,” Bernie Madoff wrote to his clients, “I hope you will join our financial services company as we move forward on this amazing journey. I hope I will see you again sporting the clothes and jewelry you had to sell to pay for your retirement. And I hope we will make you proud.”

“Looking ahead,” Thanos wrote to the people in the universe, “ I hope you will join us as we look to end all life and start over on this amazing journey. I hope I will see you again disappearing in a cloud of dead leaves. And I hope we will make you proud.”

(Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

No. 9: Sometimes the Little Things Do Matter

Oct. 31

The Yankees blowing that 5-0 lead in Game 5 of the World Series is still jaw-dropping.

No. 8: “That’s It. I’m Done.”

Aug. 22

Joseph Votto, as he is listed in my telephone contacts (by request), stepped away from baseball in 2024. We’ll never see another quite like him.

(Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

No. 7: “She is Gone!”

Oct. 26

Freddie Freeman steps into the batter’s box, and somewhere inside him, he knows that this is the moment he has dreamed about all his life.

No. 6: “I’m the Biggest Winner in the History of Sports”

Oct. 1

We have lost so many legendary sports stars over the last few years, and for just about all of them, the nation stops, at least for a moment, to pay respects. But nothing really stopped when Pete Rose died. He brought that on himself, of course. He played baseball with spirit and fire. It was living that stumped him.

No. 5: Nerding Out on Bat Tracking

May 21

Every now and again, I get to dive deep into a fun baseball statistic, usually with the help of the incomparable Tom Tango—what a lucky life I lead. In this one, I looked at various bat-tracking stats available at Statcast™.

And though this has nothing to do with anything, I do have a question to ask: How is that Burger King “Have it your way: You Rule” commercial still on television? Sorry, that commercial just popped on television while I was writing that sentence, and that song is so incredibly annoying, so terrible, so out of tune, so dumb, I mean, look, I have not been to a Burger King in probably 40 years, but I would have gone in an emergency situation before that commercial started appearing on television. Now, I’d choose starvation.

No. 4: Fernando

Oct. 23

I honestly believe that Fernando Valenzuela, inning for inning, brought more glee, more laughter, more euphoria, more bliss and more happy feelings than any player in baseball history. To watch him pitch was to smile. The watch him hit was to feel a little more alive. To see him unwind his body as only he did—always pausing for an instant to look up to the sky as if he were asking God: “Are you watching this?”—and then uncork that magnificent screwball that had a mind of its own and to watch hitters helpless against its power, all of it took all of us one step closer to heaven.

(Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

No. 3: The Glory of Sports Illustrated

Jan. 19

Sports Illustrated is still going, sort of. They still have talented people doing good work. But, of course, Sports Illustrated isn’t Sports Illustrated anymore—what is? I think back just a few years; I used to write the back -page column for SI, just like Rick Reilly. I used to write bonus pieces, just like Frank Deford or Gary Smith. I wrote cover stories, just like Frank Deford or Bill Nack. I got to live the dream. I only wish the dream had lasted longer. Don’t we all?

No. 2: Choosing the World to See

Aug. 13

Well, 2024 was, in many ways, a trying year. Maybe it was for you, too. In August, I wrote a little something about kindness.

No. 1: Isn’t Willie Mays Wonderful?

June 19

As a writer, I feel an odd responsibility—and a certain pressure—to write something special when a great one dies. I felt that deeply when we lost Willie Mays. He was, I believe, everything that is wonderful about this game that we love. I wrote this in The Baseball 100:

Who is the greatest player of all time? You know. Maybe your father told you. Maybe you read about him when you were young. Maybe you sat in the stands and saw him play. Maybe you bask in his statistics. The greatest baseball player is the one who lifts you higher and makes you feel exactly like you did when you fell in love with this crazy game in the first place.

I never saw Willie Mays play—I’m just a little too young for that. And yet, seeing the highlights, reading about him, talking with people about him, talking with the man himself, yes, it came through. He lifted us higher.