I was born in Burlington, Vermont, in 1963, and grew up in nearby Essex Junction.
I began writing professionally in April 1980, at age 16, during my junior year in high school.
My partner Laura Kaminker and I have lived in New York City (1987-2005), Mississauga, Ontario (2005-18), and Port Hardy, British Columbia (2018-today). In our decades together, we have provided a warm, loving home to eight dogs. We became Canadian citizens on June 10, 2010.
I discovered Topps baseball cards in 1974. I remember watching the 1975 ALCS and World Series, but I did not obsessively connect with the Red Sox until 1976. That season, I listened to Ned Martin and Jim Woods nightly on a yellow transistor radio tuned to 1230 AM (WJOY), usually scoring the game. My first game at Fenway Park was August 22, 1976. Carl Yastrzemski celebrated his 37th birthday by going 4-for-5, but the Athletics won in extras.
I began blogging about the Red Sox in March 2003, as part of my old Pedro Martinez site (pedro45.net). The Joy of Sox debuted on August 25, 2003. It's the longest-running, one-man Red Sox blog on the internet.
My other blogs are Tested by Research (politics and other things) and a site dedicated to Joseph Rosenberger (a writer of action-adventure paperbacks in the 70s and 80s).
Author
Don't Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox's Impossible Playoff Run (with Bill Nowlin) (Triumph Books, 2014)
The Joy of Sox - One Red Sox Fan's Account of Boston's 2004 Championship Season (Cafe Press, 2005)
Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox (iUniverse/Star, 2001, first published as "1918: Babe Ruth and the World Champion Boston Red Sox")
Associate Editor/Contributing Writer
When Boston Still Had The Babe (Rounder Books, 2008)
Contributing Writer
Baseball's Greatest Comeback Games (Society for American Baseball Research, 2021)
The Babe (Society for American Baseball Research, 2019)
The World Series in the Deadball Era: A History in the Words and Pictures of the Writers and Photographers (Saint Johann Press, 2018)
From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors (Society for American Baseball Research, 2018)
1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six (Society for American Baseball Research, 2016)
Deadball Stars of the American League (Potomac Books, 2006)
The Yankees vs. Red Sox Reader (Carroll & Graf, 2005)
Deadball Stars of the National League (Potomac Books, 2004)
Blogger
The Joy of Sox (2003-present)
Tested by Research (2011-2022)
Writer. Reader. Grouch. (2022-present)
The World of Joseph Rosenberger (2017-present)
Music Critic
Rolling Stone, New York Newsday, Request, American Visions, Music Express, CD Review, Blues Revue Quarterly, Magic Blues, Reflex, and other magazines and newspapers (1986-94)
My other blogs are Tested by Research (politics and other things) and a site dedicated to Joseph Rosenberger (a writer of action-adventure paperbacks in the 70s and 80s).
Author
Don't Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox's Impossible Playoff Run (with Bill Nowlin) (Triumph Books, 2014)
The Joy of Sox - One Red Sox Fan's Account of Boston's 2004 Championship Season (Cafe Press, 2005)
Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox (iUniverse/Star, 2001, first published as "1918: Babe Ruth and the World Champion Boston Red Sox")
Associate Editor/Contributing Writer
When Boston Still Had The Babe (Rounder Books, 2008)
Contributing Writer
Baseball's Greatest Comeback Games (Society for American Baseball Research, 2021)
The Babe (Society for American Baseball Research, 2019)
The World Series in the Deadball Era: A History in the Words and Pictures of the Writers and Photographers (Saint Johann Press, 2018)
From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors (Society for American Baseball Research, 2018)
1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six (Society for American Baseball Research, 2016)
Deadball Stars of the American League (Potomac Books, 2006)
The Yankees vs. Red Sox Reader (Carroll & Graf, 2005)
Deadball Stars of the National League (Potomac Books, 2004)
Blogger
The Joy of Sox (2003-present)
Tested by Research (2011-2022)
Writer. Reader. Grouch. (2022-present)
The World of Joseph Rosenberger (2017-present)
Music Critic
Rolling Stone, New York Newsday, Request, American Visions, Music Express, CD Review, Blues Revue Quarterly, Magic Blues, Reflex, and other magazines and newspapers (1986-94)
Sportswriter
The Hardball Times / FanGraphs (2012-13)
SportsJones.com (1999)
Baseball America (1997)
The Burlington (Vermont) Free Press (1980-84)
Other Writing
The Complete 9/11 Timeline (contributing writer/editor; published as The Terror Timeline by Paul Thompson (HarperCollins, 2004))
Socialist Worker (2011-16)
Common Dreams (2004)