'The greatest story we can tell'

 

“Baseball is a game that shouts, 'Slow Down' to America. Stop tweeting, texting, blogging, watching cable news, and obsessing about polls . . . and focus-group-driven politicians.” – Mike Barnicle

 

Born in Worcester, MA on Oct. 13, 1943, Barnicle has had a long award-winning career as a journalist for both print and electronic media.  He is the author of thousands of columns on American life, politics, religion and sports, especially baseball, back in the foreground now during the playoffs and World Series.   

 

Baseball, Barnicle said, has been a key part of American culture for well.   “(It) allows you to lose yourself in a dream, to feel and remember a season of life when summer never seemed to die and the assault of cynicism hadn't begun to batter optimism.”

 

In addition to his columns (he’s done more than 4,000), Barnicle writes for numerous magazines including Time, ESPN Magazine and Esquire, and is a regular on TV programs like The Today Show and Morning Joe.  And he’s been featured on documentaries like Fabulous Fenway: America's Legendary Ballpark and Ken Burns’ Baseball: The Tenth Inning. 

 

“I don't think we treat people very well in the media, both as customers - and I call them customers - of newspapers and magazines, or TV news,” Barnicle said.  “We don't understand that the greatest story that we could tell, each and every day, is the story of the people around us.”