The great Roger Angell (pronounced “Angel”) died at an age equal to the speed of a great fastball, 101. Angell began contributing to The New Yorker magazine in 1944, the same year the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns met in the World Series. The current editor of the magazine, David Remnick, wrote, “His prose and his editorial judgment left an imprint that’s hard to overstate. Like Ruth and Ohtani, he was a freakishly talented double threat, a superb writer and an invaluable counsel to countless masters of the short story. He won a place in both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in the Baseball Hall of Fame — a unique distinction.”
In an interview in 1982, Angell said, “I think the real fans are the fans of terrible teams because they know what good baseball is and they know how far their own players fall short. The rallying cry that has always struck me as so poignant and beautiful is ‘Come on, you bum!’ which means, ‘We know you’re no good, but we want to win.’ ”
