Obsession
In the Clubhouse: Rafa Nadal, the greatest athletes, and what it means to simply be a person.
Here’s your Friday splash of joy!
What’s your favorite baseball card?
Brilliant Reader Tim: A 1987 Topps complete set, given as a Christmas gift when I was 10, sparked my baseball fandom. It’s still my favorite Topps design, especially #500: Donnie Baseball at the plate in pinstripes, framed by woodgrain, with a card back full of big numbers. Perfection in cardboard.
Brilliant Reader Bradford: The 1955 Bowman Bob Feller was the first “old” card I ever owned, plus Feller was an all-timer whom I later met.
From Joe: I love, love, love this card too. So much I love about it, but probably my favorite touch is the “Color TV” tag on the bottom.
Brilliant Reader Michael: Orlando Hernandez 1999 Topps Gallery #95 — just look at that leg kick! It always brought me so much joy watching this man pitch, and I think this card is the best-looking of the few that captured his leg kick.
If you’d like to be a part of our Friday splash of joy and send in your favorite card — or your favorite baseball announcer and why — please do: Send it along to theclubhouse at joeposnanski.com.
The Final FIFTY SEASONS Cover Clues!
Before we get to one of my favorite essays of the year — on Rafa Nadal, obsession, and what it means to simply be a person — let's talk the FIFTY SEASONS Cover contest!" There have been so many guesses, way more than a thousand now, and no one has yet guessed who is on the cover of my upcoming book FIFTY SEASONS: Stories of the Baseball Years That Echo. I’m unveiling the cover here this coming Thursday, July 23. The book comes out on February 2.
There’s a good reason that no one has yet guessed who is batting on the cover — it’s not someone you would just guess. That was the first clue — “You’re not just going to guess this player.” I was trying to get across that this is an obscure baseball player. I imagine 99% of baseball fans have never heard of him, even though …
Clue No. 3: He’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
And then there was Clue No. 2 — he spent his entire career with one team. This led so many of you to guess so many of the all-time greats (and a few wonderful off-the-board guesses like Eddie Gaedel and Bud Abbott).
So here are some final clues … and I suspect that some of you will get it.
— He was the leadoff hitter for one of the greatest teams in baseball history.
— He was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse when his baseball opportunity came.
— He was elected to the Hall of Fame thirty-five years after he retired.
— He was, by all accounts, one of the nicest baseball players ever, and he famously said that he was lucky to play in a time of only day games because he really preferred going to bed early.
— He was teammates with a gigantic baseball star who, pretty famously, did not go to bed early.
I cannot wait to show you this cover. It’s really beautiful.
