Roger Angell
Roger Angell
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Roger Angell was born on June 16, 1920, to Samuel and Margaret Angell in New York City. He is often referred to as Roger Angell or by his pen name, which he used for some of his works.
Birth and Death Dates
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June 16, 1920 - no date provided (he passed away on April 20, 2022)
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Angell was an American writer and editor. He was a prominent figure in the literary world for his contributions to The New Yorker magazine.
Early Life and Background
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Roger Angell grew up in a family that encouraged literature and writing from an early age. His father, Samuel Angell, was a poet, and Margaret Angell, his mother, was a writer and artist. This nurturing environment instilled in Roger a passion for words and storytelling.
Angell's love for baseball began during this period as well. He developed a lifelong interest in the sport, which would later become an integral part of his writing career.
Major Accomplishments
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Roger Angell is best known for his insightful sports journalism, particularly his coverage of baseball. However, he also made significant contributions to The New Yorker magazine as an editor and writer.
Some notable highlights from his career include:
Editor at The New Yorker: Angell served in various editorial positions during his time at the publication.
Sports Writing Pioneer: He brought a unique perspective to sports journalism with his thoughtful, lyrical writing style.
Notable Works or Actions
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Throughout his life, Roger Angell produced numerous notable works. Some of these include:
"The Summer Game" (1970): This collection of essays showcases Angell's ability to balance humor and insight when discussing the world of baseball.
"A Pitch Round the Pin": A compilation that captures his unique voice on baseball.
These pieces demonstrate his dedication to exploring the intricacies of sports, particularly baseball, through a lens that highlights its cultural significance.
Impact and Legacy
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Roger Angell's contributions to The New Yorker have left an indelible mark on the literary world. His coverage of baseball helped shape public perception of the sport, emphasizing its relevance beyond mere entertainment.
Angell's distinctive writing style has inspired generations of writers and journalists. His unique voice continues to captivate readers with its lyricism and profound insight into human nature.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Roger Angell is widely quoted and remembered for several reasons:
Innovative Approach: He brought a fresh perspective to sports journalism, setting a new standard for writers.
Timeless Insights: His coverage of baseball transcends the game itself, revealing deeper truths about human experience.
Angell's dedication to exploring the complexities of life through the lens of sports has made his work enduring and thought-provoking.
Quotes by Roger Angell
Roger Angell's insights on:
I think I wrote once that baseball in many ways is very much like reading. I said there are more bad books than bad ballgames, or maybe it was the other way around. I can’t remember.
Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young. Sitting in the stands, we sense this, if only dimly. The players below us – Mays, DiMaggio, Ruth, Snodgrass – swim and blur in memory, the ball floats over to Terry Turner, and the end of this game may never come.
I knew I wasn’t a baseball writer. I was scared to death. I really was afraid to talk to players, and I didn’t want to go into the press box because I thought I was faking it.
The great thing about catchers is that they do a lot of different things, and they’re basically overlooked.
Offhand, I can think of no other sport in which the world’s champions, one of the great teams of its era, would not instantly demolish inferior opposition and reduce a game such as the one we had just seen to cruel ludicrousness. Baseball is harder than that; it requires a full season, hundreds and hundreds of separate games, before quality can emerge, and in that summer span every hometown fan, every doomed admirer of underdogs will have his afternoons of revenge and joy.
Any baseball is beautiful. No other small package comes as close to the ideal design and utility. It is a perfect object for a man’s hand. Pick it up and it instantly suggests its purpose; it is meant to be thrown a considerable distance – thrown hard and with precision.
What really makes baseball so hard is it’s retributive capacity for disaster if the smallest thing is done wrong, and the invisible presence of defeat that attends every game.
Getting old is the second-biggest surprise of my life, but the first, by a mile, is our unceasing need for deep attachment and intimate love. We oldies yearn daily and hourly for conversation and a renewed domesticity, for company at the movies or while visiting a museum, for someone close by in the car when coming home at night.
I’ve been lucky. I’ve met a lot of baseball people, and I’ve learned to value people who talk – people who talk well and in long sentences and even long paragraphs.
