About the Author

Joe Posnanski has been a sports columnist at the Kansas City Star since 1996 and is a contributing writer to Sports Illustrated. He has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors. He has also won the nation’s top honors as a feature writer and project writer, and has been nominated for awards by the Associated Press Sports Editors nineteen times. In 2004, he became the first sports writer to be nominated in four separate categories. He is the author of The Good Stuff, a collection of his columns, has contributed to ESPN’s College Football Encyclopedia and The Sporting News’ 25 Greatest NFL Moments, and his work has been anthologized in Best American Sports Writing. He lives with his family in Kansas City, Missouri.

Reviews

"Posnanski masterfully conveys O'Neil's charisma and the rhythm of his words...A worthy paean to an American legend." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The best baseball book I've read... O'Neil is every bit the teacher, philosopher and character that Mitch Albom's now-famous Morrie was, and we're all the richer for being able to read the story...This book is a treasure--one of those rare reads that I didn't want to end." - CBS Sportsline
"Imagine, a year spent with Buck O'Neil...you don't have to imagine it, it's all here." - Bob Costas
"[A] loving, lyrical effort by Joe Posnanski. One of the most original and winning baseball books in recent years." - Harvey Frommer
"A moving elegy for both the Negro Leagues and one of the game's biggest personalities. B+." - Entertainment Weekly
"This book is flat-out terrific...If Gandhi had played baseball, he would have been Buck O'Neill." - Leigh Montville, author of Big Bam and Ted Williams
"[A] poignant, very funny, and ultimately inspiring book." - Dave Barry

Posnanski, sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, spent a year on the road with the iconic Negro Leagues player and manager Buck O'Neil (1911-2006), recording the magnanimous 94-year-old's encounters with scores of fans and his vast repertoire of entertaining stories. O'Neil, the first African-American to coach in the Major Leagues, was a tireless spokesman for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Posnanski is at his best when recounting O'Neil's baseball memories of the likes of legends Satchel Paige, Willie Mays and Josh Gibson. The author captures O'Neil's rhythmic voice and often relays it in italicized verse, while painting an uplifting portrait of a man who was without bitterness despite long experience with racial discrimination. Too often, however, Posnanski bogs down in mundane details that read like a travelogue of airports and tardy drivers. Many of the chapters have the feel of lengthy newspaper articles stitched together, lacking segues and narrative. Nevertheless, the final scenes are moving tales of the funeral of 103-year-old Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe and O'Neil's dignity when he was infamously passed over by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

"Posnanski masterfully conveys O'Neil's charisma and the rhythm of his words...A worthy paean to an American legend." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"This book is flat-out terrific...If Gandhi had played baseball, he would have been Buck O'Neill." -- Leigh Montville, author of Big Bam and Ted Williams"[A] poignant, very funny, and ultimately inspiring book." -- Dave Barry"Imagine, a year spent with Buck O'Neil...you don't have to imagine it, it's all here." -- Bob Costas"[A] loving, lyrical effort by Joe Posnanski. One of the most original and winning baseball books in recent years." -- Harvey Frommer