Joe Blogs

Pete and Ichiro Down By the Schoolyard

A handful of years years ago, I was talking with Pete Rose while he signed autographs in Las Vegas. I’ve done this five or six times now and it’s fantastic every single time. People will disagree about whether Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame but as a character…

A Baker’s Dozen

An old editor once told me that at the end of every year, I should look back and write down 10 or so favorite stories of the year. That way, he said, you will know if you spent the year writing fun stories or just thinking about good stories.

Rooting Against LeBron

LeBron James is one win away from securing his first NBA championship. (Getty Images)I could be imagining this — I was…

Mad about Maddy

Madison Bumgarner is, to borrow Jeff Garlin’s phrase, a bowlful of awesome, and I want to be sure that nothing I write here detracts from that. He’s having a postseason for the ages, and he was all kinds of wonderful during the regular season too, and if every player in this World Series was…

Yo Joe! Unanimity, Stadium Names, Field Goals

From Brilliant Reader William:

Yo Joe! You have written a lot in the past about the Hall of Fame voting process, and I’ve been wondering: Is there any chance Jeter or Mariano get 100% of the Hall of Vote? Was wondering if…

Halladay and Lincecum

Game Score is a Bill James invention, a little statistic that gives you a quick and easy, single-number look at how well a pitcher pitched. My sense is that it has always supposed to be little more than a bit of shorthand fun … but I think it has turned out to be one of Bill’s more…

Blaming the fans

KANSAS CITY — Some years ago, guess it’s been almost 20 years by now, I wrote one of those columns that I suspect just about every young columnist writes … and later regrets. I’ve written many of those kinds of columns, of course — I believe that comes with the territory of always trying to be as…

Tom Veryzer

When I was a kid, the Cleveland Indians ALWAYS won when we went to the ballpark. No, really, always. I don’t remember how many years the magical stretch lasted or how many games it involved, but it seemed pretty remarkable at the time. My Dad favored doubleheaders because my parents have always liked…