Yet when Posnanski calls out a villain, he points the finger at Murray Chass and any reader who knows anything about Murray Chass' antagonism can find almost no reason to dispute Posnanski's characterization.
There's no shortage of guys making fun of Heyman on the internets, but I would assume he's referring to Rich Lederer at Baseball Analysts (for great stuff like this).
From Heyman's article on Bert:
So, Blyleven won a lot of games, which is great, but also lost a fair number of games, which isn't great. He played on some mediocre teams, which hurt his case, but winning is still the priority, even though I liked Felix's Cy Young candidacy because win-loss record doesn't tell you anything about a pitcher's performance.
He also points to All Star Games as a metric ("two games is an awfully low number for a guy who pitched 22 seasons"), and claims that he was "never dominant", but only bases that on Cy Young voting, and not on actual statistics. So, in 1973 when he went 20-17, with 9 Shut Outs and a 2.52 ERA with 258 SOs over 325 Innings, THAT wasn't dominant? There's no way he should have been 7th in Cy Young voting. Just nuts.
I love where Pos defends McGwire and Bagwell by saying they were clutch and you had to be there to appreciate their greatness. Oh, wait...he didn't do that at at all. He simply cited defensible statistical arguments that support the idea that both of these guys (as well as his other votes) deserve to be in the HOF.
An excellent piece. I also think it highlights an important aspect of what Dehere said earlier. Unlike the Springsteen piece, the Red Klotz piece is really, really funny. There are dry witticisms and gentle jabs all over the place. But even in his jokes, Poz seems very empathetic and humane. Someone, I can't remember who, said that comedy is the only socially-acceptable form of violence people perpetrate against each other day-to-day. Looking at Simmons' work (though the comparison is increasingly useless), there is a real streak of meanness that runs throughout. This doesn't make him unfunny, but it is revealing.
While I agree on his consistency, especially considering his massive output, it's difficult to put aside the fact that he's a baseball writer when comparing him to artists or other writers. Off the top of my head, Alice Munro has been putting out short stories for the better part of four decades that are nothing short of genius, and I can't think of any stinkers. The Coen Brothers have put out two bad movies in twenty-six years. Depending on how you feel about Treme, David Simon hasn't put out a bad piece of work in a decade. All three are operating in mediums and at levels that Posnanski will never come close to reaching. This isn't a knock on him at all -he's a truly remarkable writer, but I think it would be stretching things to say he's writing literature. In pure terms of consistency, though, he's deeply impressive.
a lo0t of fawning over this column on the net today (like everyone has to say whatever JP writes is amazing...ugh) but I thought it was stupid and predictable. and about 2000 words too long.
Not to digress, but I don't think it's that everyone has to say whatever he writes is amazing. It's that the vast majority of his work merits over-the-top praise.
Fantastic article. I read this and I am moved. I remember Peter King working tales of his daughter's sports prowess into his columns and found them annoying and pointless. Joe's story is emotional and touching.
Predictable yes. I don't think it was stupid. It wasn't his best work, certainly doesn't deserve fawning praise, but it was alright. It does a decent job attacking the idea of a small Hall, but only if you assume the person proposing it does so with righteous indignation or a level of certainty and arrogance that it would be easy to tell who was and wasn't a Hall of Famer.
So your average Hall of Fame voter then?
See, I don't think that is true. You have a few, Heyman in particular, who are like that, but the voters did just put Blyleven in despite him starting with below 20% on his first ballot. That indiciates two things. First, a changing elctorate who are more open to stat arguments and second, a set of voters who may be inconsistent and misguided, but are not indignant and bull-headed.
You know who else started out his career writing for the Kansas City Star? Ernest Hemingway.
He's absolutely churning out high-quality writing at a remarkable pace, and this piece was another example of him writing prose that's earnest and effective without being manipulative or maudlin. I'm not trying to belittle what Posnanski is doing at all- in the realm of sports writers (of which I'm aware of a few) and bloggers (of which I'm aware of fewer), he's untouchable.
I agree and disagree. He's certainly taken the medium of blogging/internet writing and achieved a very high level of prose at a near-unimaginable output. He's using its freedoms (and providing it free, which is very internet age) to a degree that puts him above and beyond anyone I can think of, though my knowledge only extends so far as the Gladwells, Simmonses, AV Clubs, and other pretty well-traveled corners of the internet.
Best sportswriter I've read in the last few years...I think so actually. He is to sportswriting what Asimov was to Science Fiction(in relation to writing also). He's limited by the format of course, as are all writers, but within it, he is very, very good.
ie.
While reading through his archives, it quickly became apparent to me that he is a Bruce-o-phile. I forgive him. Otherwise, he has very good taste. :lol:
I'm the last angry man, crusader for the little guy.
You must not read much Rick Reilly. Poz's piece was harmless and worth a few chuckles. I thought it actually did a good job of highlighting how banal most tweets from big-time athletes really are.
I read it last night and I agree, it was a really awesome column. He's amazing, he's able to "speak" to me in almost every column. His Pujols work was great and then he drops a story that has nothing to do with sports and I read it twice.
Some guesses from the Twitterverse: Replacing Neyer, he's preggers, JoePos 2012, buying the KC Star.
