Not sure if this is in the comments section yet, but wanted to get this posted . You left out another baseball project that has been languishing- The Joe Blogs Hall of Fame. You took a break after the first 5 classes. I enjoyed this project more than the others. Would love you to re-visit it in your spare time. 😁
Shouldn’t there be some mention of Boggs drinking 50 beers on a cross country flight then still playing the next day (Thanks Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
In another one of those weird symmetry’s that exist a similar story is told about cricketer David Boon and number of cans drunk on a flight to England for The Ashes which has made him a legend in Australia
I see myself so much in this. I start projects all the time with fervor, but when I hit a part I'm not super excited about (or if I decide to start a new project), the old one gets abandoned. Of course, you've successfully completed several amazing projects.
I wonder if, when you ask for reader feedback, you ask in a way that lets us prioritize, rather than asking if we like a thing and want to see more. Because I want to see more of everything! Two blog posts a day, three on Sunday, wouldn't feel like too much for me to read (but would be too much for you to write). It's a bit like when polls ask people about government spending. People want the government to spend less, but they also want the government to spend more on each single category of government spending.
So while I'd love to see 50 essays on all 50 people, this at least gives us something but doesn't preclude deeper dives where they're warranted. And in a world of, say, 250 posts a year, is it worth 20% of your output? Because for each of the 50 essays we get, it's something else we're not getting. I'd rather read your recap of the 1994 Maddux game than a Fame essay on Maddux.
This is a bit long, but thank you for your awesome work!
I like this approach, but also eagerly await the return of the plaque series. Although, maybe this deserves to be intermingled with it since this one is essentially “how Joe would write HoF plaques,” and I love that.
Generally speaking, I like this succinct format, hopefully with slightly more details as we get past the repeats, where we cover the list in a week or so not 2-3 months.
Pretty amazing that there's consensus between your list and the voted list, especially with the ambiguity of the latter. I get deltas of 0, 1, 1, 3, 6, 8, 8, 10, 41, and 65 -- three guys we're spot on, 5 very close, and two who we (the voters) don't think are all that famous. And I suspect from Why We Love Baseball you always take a bit of a personal leap on the first/last item on the list.
I think Fidrych has high PEAK fame, he has very low lasting fame. No one born in the 80s outside of Tigers fans has ever heard of him (I exaggerate obviously).
I get that there is some retooling happening here and without the bigger picture it's hard to really know, but this SI-based series on Famous Baseball People has been a highlight for me. Some really great writing, blending the inside/outside-the-lines stuff, playing off enjoying looking at the actual covers themselves, and while I don't fully need all the set-up and the rankings, having it open beyond players tapped some really fun veins. These pieces all felt like pieces that were uniquely-Joe, doing what he does best and I felt a lot of enjoyment come through the writing, and that seems to track with the idea that so many of them kept filling out. I honestly wondered if this was going to become another book-length project some day. In the retool, I'm looking forward to voting on all the non-players--the idea of them being on the cover of SI for baseball reasons is the most interesting throughline.
Correction: you have THREE open HoF projects. You forgot the Joe Blogs Hall of Fame, where you picked 13 people per round (1 at each defensive position, a couple of pitchers IIRC, and then some wildcards). You promised 10 rounds minimum, and hinted it would go on beyond that, but it petered out after five.
What about the all international team? For the newbies (those who subscribed within the last 10 years), Joe did a deal where he and us picked two all international teams. No more than one player per country, one active team and one all time team. I still remember that project when I see Max Kepler.
But even though i would love to see that completed, I want Joe to do his thing. If he wants to skip from fun project to fun project, I’m in. If he wants to do fewer but deeper dives, sounds good to me. This is the only pay site I do and I am happy to read whatever Joe writes
Here in Seattle we thought of Shawn Kemp as the Father of Our Country (seven children by six women), but he's been passed by Nick Cannon (10 children by six women). By the way, the annual award is the Mickey Rooney Award (9 children by four women but bonus points for being married eight times)
this is wonderful! and plainly, we readers got it right on Garvey (and maybe 90th was actually too generous) but completely, totally, woefully wrong on the Bird (really happy you restored Fidrych to his proper place in our hearts)
Garvey is hard to figure. Obscenely overrated as a player. Though that's a huge argument in favor of his fame. I feel like a lot of fame is fans know the person and/or think he's good when he really isn't.
I love that these serve as low-key "should have been" Hall of Fame plaques. I really hope Joe is building toward the big reveal that he is re-writing all the plaques in Cooperstown.
Me, I strongly prefer the deep dives, however they’re generated. By definition, these are the MOST FAMOUS people in baseball. What use is a superficial paragraph or two? This list as currently structured gives me no new information. Heck, if you’re gonna do this, just give me the list of 50 (and the reader ratings) already and move on to the next thing.
Not sure if this is in the comments section yet, but wanted to get this posted . You left out another baseball project that has been languishing- The Joe Blogs Hall of Fame. You took a break after the first 5 classes. I enjoyed this project more than the others. Would love you to re-visit it in your spare time. 😁
Agreed
Shouldn’t there be some mention of Boggs drinking 50 beers on a cross country flight then still playing the next day (Thanks Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
In another one of those weird symmetry’s that exist a similar story is told about cricketer David Boon and number of cans drunk on a flight to England for The Ashes which has made him a legend in Australia
I get that you start things that you don't finish. Much preferred the Deep Dives
I see myself so much in this. I start projects all the time with fervor, but when I hit a part I'm not super excited about (or if I decide to start a new project), the old one gets abandoned. Of course, you've successfully completed several amazing projects.
I wonder if, when you ask for reader feedback, you ask in a way that lets us prioritize, rather than asking if we like a thing and want to see more. Because I want to see more of everything! Two blog posts a day, three on Sunday, wouldn't feel like too much for me to read (but would be too much for you to write). It's a bit like when polls ask people about government spending. People want the government to spend less, but they also want the government to spend more on each single category of government spending.
So while I'd love to see 50 essays on all 50 people, this at least gives us something but doesn't preclude deeper dives where they're warranted. And in a world of, say, 250 posts a year, is it worth 20% of your output? Because for each of the 50 essays we get, it's something else we're not getting. I'd rather read your recap of the 1994 Maddux game than a Fame essay on Maddux.
This is a bit long, but thank you for your awesome work!
I like this approach, but also eagerly await the return of the plaque series. Although, maybe this deserves to be intermingled with it since this one is essentially “how Joe would write HoF plaques,” and I love that.
Definitely gonna vote for Boggs in that survey.
Generally speaking, I like this succinct format, hopefully with slightly more details as we get past the repeats, where we cover the list in a week or so not 2-3 months.
Pretty amazing that there's consensus between your list and the voted list, especially with the ambiguity of the latter. I get deltas of 0, 1, 1, 3, 6, 8, 8, 10, 41, and 65 -- three guys we're spot on, 5 very close, and two who we (the voters) don't think are all that famous. And I suspect from Why We Love Baseball you always take a bit of a personal leap on the first/last item on the list.
I think Fidrych has high PEAK fame, he has very low lasting fame. No one born in the 80s outside of Tigers fans has ever heard of him (I exaggerate obviously).
I'm excited to see which players made the fan vote for top 50 but not Joe's.
I get that there is some retooling happening here and without the bigger picture it's hard to really know, but this SI-based series on Famous Baseball People has been a highlight for me. Some really great writing, blending the inside/outside-the-lines stuff, playing off enjoying looking at the actual covers themselves, and while I don't fully need all the set-up and the rankings, having it open beyond players tapped some really fun veins. These pieces all felt like pieces that were uniquely-Joe, doing what he does best and I felt a lot of enjoyment come through the writing, and that seems to track with the idea that so many of them kept filling out. I honestly wondered if this was going to become another book-length project some day. In the retool, I'm looking forward to voting on all the non-players--the idea of them being on the cover of SI for baseball reasons is the most interesting throughline.
I really like your succinct version of the Most Famous Baseball People Series. The first installment caused me to look forward the other four!
Yes. This is much better.
Correction: you have THREE open HoF projects. You forgot the Joe Blogs Hall of Fame, where you picked 13 people per round (1 at each defensive position, a couple of pitchers IIRC, and then some wildcards). You promised 10 rounds minimum, and hinted it would go on beyond that, but it petered out after five.
https://joeblogs.joeposnanski.com/p/joeblogs-hall-of-fame-the-fifth-class
Make that FOUR open projects, lest we forget the iPad review.
What about the all international team? For the newbies (those who subscribed within the last 10 years), Joe did a deal where he and us picked two all international teams. No more than one player per country, one active team and one all time team. I still remember that project when I see Max Kepler.
But even though i would love to see that completed, I want Joe to do his thing. If he wants to skip from fun project to fun project, I’m in. If he wants to do fewer but deeper dives, sounds good to me. This is the only pay site I do and I am happy to read whatever Joe writes
Garvey. Father of our Country. Good player. That’s about it.
Please. Please. Please. Give former Pro Bowl running back Travis Henry his due.
Eleven kids by ten women.
Try to top that!
Here in Seattle we thought of Shawn Kemp as the Father of Our Country (seven children by six women), but he's been passed by Nick Cannon (10 children by six women). By the way, the annual award is the Mickey Rooney Award (9 children by four women but bonus points for being married eight times)
.
this is wonderful! and plainly, we readers got it right on Garvey (and maybe 90th was actually too generous) but completely, totally, woefully wrong on the Bird (really happy you restored Fidrych to his proper place in our hearts)
Garvey is hard to figure. Obscenely overrated as a player. Though that's a huge argument in favor of his fame. I feel like a lot of fame is fans know the person and/or think he's good when he really isn't.
Since I just finished reading Bill Pennington's great biography of Billy Martin, I'm interested to see where he'll end up on your list.
I'd be surprised if Martin is on the list. More famous that Steinbrenner and Lasorda? And his playing career was long over by 1974.
I love that these serve as low-key "should have been" Hall of Fame plaques. I really hope Joe is building toward the big reveal that he is re-writing all the plaques in Cooperstown.
Me, I strongly prefer the deep dives, however they’re generated. By definition, these are the MOST FAMOUS people in baseball. What use is a superficial paragraph or two? This list as currently structured gives me no new information. Heck, if you’re gonna do this, just give me the list of 50 (and the reader ratings) already and move on to the next thing.