Thomas Boswell

Thomas M. Boswell (born October 11, 1947, in Washington, D.C.) is an American sports columnist.

Career

Boswell has spent his entire career at the Washington Post, joining it shortly after graduating from Amherst College in 1969. He became a Post columnist in 1984. Writing primarily about baseball, he is credited with inventing the total average statistic.[1] In 1994 he appeared several times in the Ken Burns series Baseball, sharing insightful commentary into the history of America's national pastime; he appeared again in "The Tenth Inning," Burns' 2010 extension of the series.

In addition to the Post, he has written for Esquire, GQ, Playboy and Inside Sports. He also makes frequent television appearances.

On October 19, 2020, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boswell announced in his Washington Post column that he would not be covering the World Series for the first time since 1975. Boswell pointed out in his column that at the time, the 1975 World Series was considered the greatest World Series ever played, largely due to the dramatic game six that ended with Carlton Fisk’s historic home run. The drama of the series convinced him to remain a journalist with the Post and, in his column, he speculates “Where would I be today if Fisk’s ball had gone foul?”[2][3]

Boswell's column compelled the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy to also write a column about missing the World Series for the first time in his career. Like Boswell, his column listed some of the greatest moments he had experienced covering the games.[4]

Awards

In 2018, Boswell was inducted into the National Sports Media Association's Hall of Fame. Previously, he had been inducted into the Washington DC Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame and the Washington, DC Sports Hall of Fame, one of only seven sports writers among the 140 members, who include Walter Johnson, Red Auerbach, Bones McKinney, and National Sports Media Association Hall of Famers Shirley Povich and Bob Wolff.[5]

Books
  • How Life Imitates the World Series (1982)
  • Why Time Begins on Opening Day (1984)
  • Strokes of Genius (1987)
  • The Heart of the Order (1989)
  • Game Day: Sports Writings 1970–1990 (1990)
  • Cracking the Show (1994)
  • Diamond Dreams (with Walter Iooss) (1996)

References
  1. "Total Average". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  2. Boswell, Thomas (October 19, 2020). "The World Series has framed my life. After 44 straight, I'm sitting this one out". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. Casselberry, Ian. "Washington Post's Thomas Boswell won't cover World Series for first time in 45 years". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. Shaughnessy, Dan (October 21, 2020). "My unforgettable World Series moments over the last 43 years". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  5. "2018 - Thomas 'Tom' Boswell". National Sports Media Association. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
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