Master Index of Archived Threads
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!)
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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?
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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.
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TransMonk Jun 27 2013 09:09 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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This is in my summer reading queue.
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Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 09:17 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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It obviously isn't the Golden Age of reading comprehension for me.
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John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 27 2013 09:24 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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.
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Ceetar Jun 27 2013 09:33 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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.
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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.
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John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 27 2013 09:51 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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.
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:00 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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.
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Frayed Knot Jun 27 2013 10:12 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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).
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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.
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:22 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
We Won Today is...interesting.
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themetfairy Jun 27 2013 10:29 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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This cracks me up
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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...
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:41 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER ONE
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Benjamin Grimm Jun 27 2013 10:43 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
I'd watch that show!
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:44 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER TWO
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:47 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER THREE
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:49 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER FOUR
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Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 10:50 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER TWELVE
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:51 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER FIVE
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Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 10:52 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:53 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER SIX
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:54 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER SEVEN
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Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 10:55 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
Teddy Martinez. Nice.
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 10:57 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER EIGHT
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 11:01 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER NINE
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 11:04 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER TEN
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G-Fafif Jun 27 2013 11:05 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
EPILOGUE
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Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 11:06 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
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Ceetar Jun 27 2013 11:24 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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.
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. )
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themetfairy Jun 27 2013 11:43 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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Ooh - who's playing me?
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Edgy MD Jul 16 2013 10:52 AM Re: The Golden Age of Baseball Writing |
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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.
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