Roger Angell
Encyclopedia
Roger Angell is an American essayist. He has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker
and was its chief fiction editor for many years. He has written many essays on baseball
as well as numerous fiction, non-fiction, and criticism pieces, and formerly wrote an annual Christmas
poem for the magazine.
Angell is the son of editor and author Katharine Sergeant Angell White
and the stepson of renowned essayist E. B. White
, but was raised for the most part by his father, Ernest Angell. He is a 1938 graduate of the Pomfret School
and attended Harvard University
. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 2007.
He first wrote professionally about baseball in 1962
, when William Shawn
, editor of The New Yorker (for which his mother and stepfather worked from the 1920s through the 1970s), had him travel to Florida to write about spring training
.
Since then, Angell has translated a lifetime passion for baseball into a steady stream of elegantly written essays, most of which were originally published in The New Yorker, where he has worked as an editor since 1956
. Many of these essays have been collected in a series of critically acclaimed, best-selling books:
A Pitcher's Story (2001, ISBN 0-446-52768-8) is the book-length result of a year that Angell spent speaking with New York Yankees
pitcher David Cone
and Cone's family, friends and coaches.
Angell has been called the "Poet Laureate of baseball" but dislikes the term. In a review of Once More Around the Park for the Journal of Sport History, Richard C. Crepeau wrote that "Gone for Good," his essay on the career of Steve Blass
, "may be the best piece that anyone has ever written on baseball or any other sport."
One of the most striking items from Angell's essays is one ultimately published in "Season Ticket", involving a spring training trip to see the Baltimore Orioles
. While there, Angell interviews Earl Weaver
, then the former Orioles manager, about Cal Ripken, Jr.
, who was about to start his rookie season. Angell quotes Weaver as saying about Ripken that, at whichever position the team decides (between shortstop and third base), "his manager can just write his name into the lineup every day for the next fifteen years; that's how good he is". Starting that year, Ripken in fact was written into lineups every day for more than fifteen years, setting the all-time consecutive games-played streak of 2,632 games. Angell's quote of Weaver stands as one of the most incredibly prescient (and well-documented) "first-guesses" in recorded literature.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and was its chief fiction editor for many years. He has written many essays on baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
as well as numerous fiction, non-fiction, and criticism pieces, and formerly wrote an annual Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
poem for the magazine.
Angell is the son of editor and author Katharine Sergeant Angell White
Katharine Sergeant Angell White
Katharine Sergeant Angell White was a writer and the fiction editor for The New Yorker magazine from 1925 to 1960...
and the stepson of renowned essayist E. B. White
E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White , usually known as E. B. White, was an American writer. A long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine, he also wrote many famous books for both adults and children, such as the popular Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, and co-authored a widely used writing guide, The...
, but was raised for the most part by his father, Ernest Angell. He is a 1938 graduate of the Pomfret School
Pomfret School
Pomfret School is an independent coeducational boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, United States for grades 9 through 12 plus a post-graduate year. Pomfret School was founded in 1894, on the principles of intellectual rigor and the development of character...
and attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 2007.
Essays and books
Angell's earliest published works were pieces of short fiction and personal narratives. Several of these pieces were collected in The Stone Arbor and Other Stories (1960) and A Day in the Life of Roger Angell (1970, ISBN 0-670-25916-0).He first wrote professionally about baseball in 1962
1962 in literature
The year 1962 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 7 - In an article in the New York Times Book Review, Gore Vidal calls Evelyn Waugh "our time's first satirist."...
, when William Shawn
William Shawn
William Shawn was an American magazine editor who edited The New Yorker from 1952 until 1987.-Education and Early Life:...
, editor of The New Yorker (for which his mother and stepfather worked from the 1920s through the 1970s), had him travel to Florida to write about spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
.
Since then, Angell has translated a lifetime passion for baseball into a steady stream of elegantly written essays, most of which were originally published in The New Yorker, where he has worked as an editor since 1956
1956 in literature
The year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.*Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley....
. Many of these essays have been collected in a series of critically acclaimed, best-selling books:
- The Summer Game (1972, ISBN 0-670-68164-4)
- Five Seasons (1977, ISBN 0-671-22743-2)
- Late Innings (1982, ISBN 0-671-42567-6)
- Season Ticket (1988, ISBN 0-395-38165-7)
- Once More Around the Park (1991, ISBN 0-345-36737-5)
- Game Time, edited by Steve KettmannSteve KettmannSteve Kettmann is a best-selling American author living in Berlin who writes a weekly column on politics for the Berliner Zeitung Berliner Zeitung newspaper, appearing every Wednesday. A 1999 Arthur F...
, with an introduction by Richard FordRichard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
(2003, ISBN 0-15-601387-8) - Let Me Finish (2006, ISBN 0-15-101350-0)
A Pitcher's Story (2001, ISBN 0-446-52768-8) is the book-length result of a year that Angell spent speaking with New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
pitcher David Cone
David Cone
David Brian Cone is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1986-2003 for six different teams. Cone pitched the sixteenth perfect game in baseball history. He also set the MLB record for most years between 20-win seasons. He was a member of five...
and Cone's family, friends and coaches.
Angell has been called the "Poet Laureate of baseball" but dislikes the term. In a review of Once More Around the Park for the Journal of Sport History, Richard C. Crepeau wrote that "Gone for Good," his essay on the career of Steve Blass
Steve Blass
Stephen Robert "Steve" Blass is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher and a current broadcast announcer for the Pittsburgh Pirates.-Playing career:Blass was born in Canaan, Connecticut...
, "may be the best piece that anyone has ever written on baseball or any other sport."
One of the most striking items from Angell's essays is one ultimately published in "Season Ticket", involving a spring training trip to see the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
. While there, Angell interviews Earl Weaver
Earl Weaver
Earl Sidney Weaver is a former Major League Baseball manager. He spent his entire 17-year managerial career with the Baltimore Orioles . Weaver was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.-Playing career:After playing for Beaumont High School in St...
, then the former Orioles manager, about Cal Ripken, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken, Jr. , nicknamed "Iron Man", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles ....
, who was about to start his rookie season. Angell quotes Weaver as saying about Ripken that, at whichever position the team decides (between shortstop and third base), "his manager can just write his name into the lineup every day for the next fifteen years; that's how good he is". Starting that year, Ripken in fact was written into lineups every day for more than fifteen years, setting the all-time consecutive games-played streak of 2,632 games. Angell's quote of Weaver stands as one of the most incredibly prescient (and well-documented) "first-guesses" in recorded literature.
External links
- "Roger Angell as lively as ever at age 85", a brief profile in Sports Illustrated magazine, May 17, 2006.