Episode 3: Best American Sports Writing Series Editor, Glenn Stout

The Sportswriter's Life

There’s a line on the personal website of the guest on this instalment of "The Sportswriter’s Life". Like almost all personal websites, there’s a space for comments about the calibre of the work. A small testament to what you’re getting if you hire this person. On a business website you might call them testimonials, but when the work is writing and editing, that word doesn’t seem right. Tributes might be closer to the mark.

One of those tributes is from a writer called Chris Jones, former Writer-at-Large with Esquire and the winner of two National Magazine awards.

"Glenn treats the words that make it into print like an inheritance," Chris’s tribute goes, "like objects that are being passed down. And I believe he wants, more than anything, for those words to be good—to be worthy—and for them to continue to be good. I don’t know anyone who’s done more to seek out and highlight bright new talent."

It’s a privilege to welcome Glenn Stout to Episode 3 of this series, "The Sportswriter’s Life".

This 12-part podcast is brought to you by Magnificent Irrelevance, which is aiming to become a new publishing venture bringing readers one standalone and stand-out piece of soul-searching sportswriting every week. You can find out more about Magnificent Irrelevance, and sign up for regular updates in the journey towards making it a reality, by visiting magnificentirrelevance.com.

Glenn Stout is a writer and editor who has been centrally involved in the publication of 99 books during an illustrious career.

Alongside his own work, which includes Fenway 1912, a history of Boston’s famous ballpark, and Young Woman and the Sea, the story of Trudy Ederle, who in August 1926 became the first woman to swim the English Channel, Glenn Stout has become synonymous over the past three decades with the Best American Sports Writing series.

Best American Sports Writing is an annual collection of the best published sportswriting, a task which often began in January with as many as 10,000 submissions before being whittled down to the 25 to appear in that year’s publication. A special collection published in 1999, the Best American Sports Writing of the Century, is a staple on the bookshelves of many an aspiring sportswriter.

This year’s 2020 edition, the 30th year of the series, will, sadly, will be the last — at least in its present form, after publishers Houghton Mifflin Harcourt chose to bring the curtain down with the current edition.

This book is the 99th of Stout’s career as a writer, editor and collaborator, and his fans won’t have to wait long for Number 100. Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid, a chronicle of America's first gangster couple, Margaret and Richard Whittemore, will be published in March 2021.

Stories mentioned in this episode:

• Read JR Moehringer's "Resurrecting the Champ" at the LA Times
• Read William Nack's "Pure Heart" at SI.com

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