Apologies if I missed a Posnanski thread, but the man just released Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments and I would love to discuss the book and his previous writings with those of you who are reading it.
Here’s an excerpt, about Ponderous Joe Bauman and the professional home run record chase:
https://www.esquire.com/sports/a44891776/who-is-joe-bauman-ponderous-joe/
Here’s an excerpt, about Ponderous Joe Bauman and the professional home run record chase:
https://www.esquire.com/sports/a44891776/who-is-joe-bauman-ponderous-joe/
Anyone else reading? Some of the anecdotes are repeats from the Baseball 100 but overall I love his style and am loving the book.Then in 1952, a doctor—Bauman never even remembered his name—showed up at Joe’s filling station and said he’d heard about Bauman’s hitting power. He offered Joe a chance to play for a baseball team called the Drillers in Artesia, New Mexico. Bauman declined until the doctor offered the princely sum of $600 a month with the promise that he could get a lot more from people shoving money through the chain-link fence. Bauman decided to go.
And it’s fair to say that Artesia, New Mexico—heck, all of New Mexico—had never seen anyone quite like Ponderous Joe Bauman. He was a seasoned baseball veteran in a league filled with local kids just hoping to get noticed. That first year, Bauman hit .375 with a league-record 50 home runs.