Why Joe Posnanski matters

Oh gosh, what a great, great book! “The Baseball 100,” by Joe Posnanski. It’s an absolute feast of words by a guy who sure knows how to write and sure knows how to write a lot. I’ve been a fan of his for many, many years. I’d like to think my writing style emulates his: Straightforward, heartfelt and probably a bit too wordy. That’s OK. Actually, that was a bit egotistical, I’m sorry, comparing myself to a master wordsmith like Posnanski. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. This book is sooooo good. Basically, Posnanski – an amazing baseball writer – decided to rank the top 100 baseball players of all time. Each player has a chapter. The book is a door-stopper, a paper weight of gargantuan proportions. It features more words than “Moby Dick” (he makes this reference quite a bit, adding to the book’s already prodigious word count). I’ll admit that I’ve been cheating. I’m not reading the book in order. I will randomly flip it open to a chapter and start reading. Last night, I flipped to #9 on the list, Stan “The Man” Musial. Of course, I had heard of Musial but I knew little about him. Until this chapter. And now I want to know more, much more, about this guy’s amazing baseball life. Then, I flipped back and got Joe Morgan, the greatest cog in the Big Red Machine (Oh! That was another great Posnanski book!) If Posnanski is reading this post (and, really, why would he be?), I have an apology: Joe? Dude? I didn’t actually BUY your book. Like I usually do, I borrowed it from the Hyde Park Free Library. Because it’s a new book, it’s only a 14-day borrow. I looked at the front desk lady at the library quizzically when she told me I only had 14 days to read this anvil weight of a book. She said, “call as you get closer, we’ll see if we can work something out.” That’s OK, kind library worker. This book is so good, I may do something unusual and actually BUY it. Thank you, Joe Posnanski, for this wonderful work. Keep the long-form articles and blog posts and books coming, for years to come. Give us the next 100, and the next 100 after that; 800 pages, 900 pages, no problem! I’ll be reading. OK!