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The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 08:45 AM

This is what G-FaFiF has declared our time to be, according to his blog. And I'm prone to agree, in large part because of his blog. Greg notes Fan Interference, an anthology from a paper fanzine (really? really!)



And that just looks like a great place to crawl into a corner and forget to eat for a few weeks.

I've been deeply enjoying Class A Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, reflections from a young minor league mascot, who seems to share my belief that the health of minor league baseball is sort of symbiotic with the health of the American small town, the city, the Republic, and it's culture and economy. I highly commend and recommend.



G-FaFiF is largely right, as the death of old media has brought received but disposable old wisdoms crashing down, but the nu meritocracy takes a long time to sort through, and a lot of poseurs out there --- old guard in new clothes, new guard who only know to imitate the old --- may obscure the new angles and new understandings that can shine a gorgeous new light on the gorgeous old game, or old but neglected truths that might rise again. Share the gold you recover in the mine-shaft of contemporary baseball writing here.

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 27 2013 08:54 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

So this is the opposite of the Yahoo Contributor Network thread?

I think it may be simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times.

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 09:00 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Said declaration made by my FAFIF partner, Mr. Fry. I won't argue his point too strenuously, however.

TransMonk
Jun 27 2013 09:09 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Edgy MD wrote:
I've been deeply enjoying Class A Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, reflections from a young minor league mascot, who seems to share my belief that the health of minor league baseball is sort of symbiotic with the health of the American small town, the city, the Republic, and it's culture and economy. I highly commend and recommend.

This is in my summer reading queue.

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 09:17 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

G-Fafif wrote:
Said declaration made by my FAFIF partner, Mr. Fry. I won't argue his point too strenuously, however.

It obviously isn't the Golden Age of reading comprehension for me.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Jun 27 2013 09:24 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Benjamin Grimm wrote:
So this is the opposite of the Yahoo Contributor Network thread?

I think it may be simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times.


That's what I'd argue.

The whole democratization of the publishing process afforded by the Internet set everyone free and that's great but also it's interesting to see that many of the emerging "winners" aren't good writers at all. Not to pick on 'em but there's Metsblog and its staff; guys like Healey aping the all the worst of the old guard; snotty new-media guys like Law; SEO driven content like Yahoo and Bleacher Report; lazy niche-based blogger frauds like MBTN.net, etc.

Ceetar
Jun 27 2013 09:33 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
Benjamin Grimm wrote:
So this is the opposite of the Yahoo Contributor Network thread?

I think it may be simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times.


That's what I'd argue.

The whole democratization of the publishing process afforded by the Internet set everyone free and that's great but also it's interesting to see that many of the emerging "winners" aren't good writers at all. Not to pick on 'em but there's Metsblog and its staff; guys like Healey aping the all the worst of the old guard; snotty new-media guys like Law; SEO driven content like Yahoo and Bleacher Report; lazy niche-based blogger frauds like MBTN.net, etc.


Oh, I think the lazy niche-based blogger frauds are the best though! But it's not about writing, it's about information and/or analysis. Things like uniform numbers, or Franco giving out ice cream, were 2 sentence blurbs that you had to keep an eye out for or you missed.

I'd love to see one of the beat guys, instead of regurgitating the game story that we can get from everywhere else, write intricate flowing prose and really stylize the game.

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 09:40 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

That's what I go to Faith and Fear for.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Jun 27 2013 09:51 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Ceetar wrote:


I'd love to see one of the beat guys, instead of regurgitating the game story that we can get from everywhere else, write intricate flowing prose and really stylize the game.


Not for nothing but that cannot be everyone's job. I'd agree the papers aren't doing a real good job at providing beautiful writing but do employ columnists whose job it is to provide those backstories. And guys like Rubin do an incredible volume of work that includes a fair amount of analysis-type stories. Their jobs are generally considered a real grind (travel, print/twitter/web deadlines, dealing with jocks and Wilpons), 98% of the blogosphere lives off them yet much of the twittering pretend baseball journalist society casually disrespect their work and many feel entitled to be openly hostile toward them.

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:00 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

That's what I go to Faith and Fear for.


Boo-yah!

But seriously, thank you. And more seriously, I wouldn't argue it's necessarily a golden age of beat writing, but I admire the latitude WSJ gives Jared Diamond (and Brian Costa before him) to find offbeat stories daily as opposed to "The Mets did something their fans didn't expect last night: They won for a change." Andrew Keh, Jorge Castillo and Marc Carig are also consistent at writing beyond the painfully obvious. I don't really have a beef with what anybody on the Mets beat turns out these days. It is a demanding assignment and I think it's handled pretty deftly, all things considered. (Surfeit of smarmy tweets from those on the beat notwithstanding.)

At Bergino last night (thanks to the Fairy and the Mole for being on hand; The Fairy and The Mole, coming to ABC this fall!), I was asked about favorite Mets books -- with the caveat I couldn't name my own or any of Matt Silverman's (also in attendance) -- and I immediately gravitated to the canon that was produced in what may or may not have been another golden age, the Mets from Casey to Yogi, essentially. I wonder how much of that was a function of those authors, that material, the sense of something Amazin' being built in the literary capital of the world or just that I always think of those books before I think of any others and wind up giving a lengthy list of an answer before realizing I left out another dozen. Anyway, those guys from the '60s and early '70s did some great stuff, but in the context of this discussion, I wonder how much great stuff would have been known about back then had there been fewer barriers to entry the way there are today.

I'm certain there was lots of crap then, too.

Frayed Knot
Jun 27 2013 10:12 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

I've been deeply enjoying Class A Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, reflections from a young minor league mascot, who seems to share my belief that the health of minor league baseball is sort of symbiotic with the health of the American small town, the city, the Republic, and it's culture and economy. I highly commend and recommend.

This is in my summer reading queue.



I just heard of that book a few days ago, probably pick it up myself.

Just finished this one:



Maybe not the greatest writing in the history of the English language, but a pretty good story.
The Southern League had disbanded after 1961 rather than agree to the order to integrate. But it revived itself in 1964 spearheaded by Birmingham, Alabama of all places despite the presence of Gov Wallace and Bull Conner. Future Met Tommy Reynolds plays a prominent role.
Author Colton played for Macon in the SL just two years later and eventually worked his baseball career into ONE major league game (2 innings pitched for the '68 Phillies).

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 10:16 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

I would have instantly said We Won Today. Then I would have mentioned the title of a book that exists only in my mind, like Lou Niss: Travelling Secretary of the WORLD.

And then I would have fessed up that I was messing with their minds, living in the world as I would have it, not as it is, and then they'd lead me gently from the podium as I wept for my ever-slipping grasp of reality.

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:22 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

We Won Today is...interesting.

themetfairy
Jun 27 2013 10:29 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

The Fairy and The Mole, coming to ABC this fall!


This cracks me up

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 10:35 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

One wonders how many lawyers the Mets had to roll out to bury this thing before it hit the shelves. If only...

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:41 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER ONE
Nissed Off? You Bet I Am!

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 27 2013 10:43 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

I'd watch that show!

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:44 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER TWO
"You Mean Columbus, GEORGIA,
Not Columbus, OHIO???"

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:47 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER THREE
M. Donald Grant Made Me Book Us
Into This French-Canadian Shithole

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:49 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER FOUR
He Wasn't So Terrific About His
Cy Young Being Shipped To Luxembourg

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 10:50 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER TWELVE
"I Can't Apologize ENOUGH":
The Night Ron Hodges Messed the Bed

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:51 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER FIVE
Cleon, If You Want Me To
Knock Next Time, Just Say So

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 10:52 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
What Makes a Giant Cry:
Keeping Kingman Away from Kathy Rigby

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:53 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER SIX
Believe Me, Teddy Martinez
Habla PLENTY Of English

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:54 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER SEVEN
Foy Vey, Was That Guy High!

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 10:55 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Teddy Martinez. Nice.

CHAPTER Twenty-Four
When Pigs Fly:
Fishing Your Bullpen Coach
Out of the Monogahela

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 10:57 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER EIGHT
Sheriff Robinson Actually Thought He Was A
Sheriff And Other Adventures With Airport Security

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 11:01 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER NINE
What Schmuck Packed The Helmet Day
Helmets Instead Of The Real Ones?

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 11:04 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER TEN
So His Ticket Said "Matlock" Instead
Of Matlack -- What A Touchy Bastard

G-Fafif
Jun 27 2013 11:05 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

EPILOGUE
Keep An Eye On This Samuels Kid,
There's Something Fishy There

Edgy MD
Jun 27 2013 11:06 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Thing Is, Bob Gibson Actually DID
Knock Down His Mother

Ceetar
Jun 27 2013 11:24 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Edgy MD wrote:
That's what I go to Faith and Fear for.


well duh, that's the mecca for beautiful Mets prose, but I was getting at something a little different. Hell, maybe I should just do it myself and see how it feels.


John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
Not for nothing but that cannot be everyone's job. I'd agree the papers aren't doing a real good job at providing beautiful writing but do employ columnists whose job it is to provide those backstories. And guys like Rubin do an incredible volume of work that includes a fair amount of analysis-type stories. Their jobs are generally considered a real grind (travel, print/twitter/web deadlines, dealing with jocks and Wilpons), 98% of the blogosphere lives off them yet much of the twittering pretend baseball journalist society casually disrespect their work and many feel entitled to be openly hostile toward them.


I don't mean everyone's job, just one guy doing something different with the grueling stuff. I don't know how much of the blogosphere lives off the beat guys. Maybe as a whole, in the sense that if they weren't there the Mets might not have Terry Collins answer all the pertinent questions after or before the game. The routine "How's Niese feeling?" "Are you going to use Brown more?" questions. The problem many of have with the beat guys, especially Rubin the Troll, is that they bombard us with that filler stuff that they think, and the newspapers think, is still their job. lineup tweets, injury updates, especially things that they're just rephrasing what the Mets are saying publicly, sometimes on Twitter at the same time. So in essence, the beat writers are the 20 guys that come in the morning and say to the security guard who's drenched in sweet and sitting in front of the fan "Man, it's HOT out there today!"

Part of it's that they aren't changing fast enough, if at all, with their jobs. It's becoming less analytic and more fact-gathering. They can find out injuries, philosophies, things people are working on, etc. But we don't need them to say 'Hey, Gee's velocity is going up, that's a good thing, look at these breakdowns.." because guess what? half a dozen bloggers already wrote about that, noted it, graphed it, tracked it, compared it to last year ,etc, all without any input or information from anyone but publicly available information. And some of them seem to actually dislike their job and some of the facets that come with it, but that comes across like griping with your customers about your boss.


But like Greg said, Jared Diamond, Andrew Keh, Jorge Castillo and Marc Carig all seem to be doing a pretty good job from my end. I enjoy following what they have to do and the interactions they have on Twitter. Between them and Kevin and Howie/Josh etc I'm covered with the Mets info I want. I wouldn't even notice much if the other guys vanished.

(and I have plenty of gripes about other bloggers too. Take yesterday's Metsblog post about Collins saying Niese won't need surgery. Well duh, that's what the story was last week. Joe and Evan obviously asked about him in the weekly spot, their first of the year, and there is no new information. So why is that a story? You see that all the time, the trickling and retweeting and reblogging of stuff so that it somehow becomes new again. )

themetfairy
Jun 27 2013 11:43 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Benjamin Grimm wrote:
I'd watch that show!



Ooh - who's playing me?

Edgy MD
Jul 16 2013 10:52 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

Edgy MD
Sep 03 2013 10:58 AM
Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing

This comes from my young friend Patrick. Can't say I've read it yet, but the price is right and the proceeds go to Tuesday's Children, so I'm in.