NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture

Prior to his death on a cold day in early 2000, Guy Waterman had meticulously compiled his published baseball writings in a special binder. He also left notes pointing out his additional thoughts on each article. For instance, he mentioned that his first baseball writing (an article about stable Major League lineups) was published in Baseball Digest in 1975 and that it brought him more satisfaction than anything that he had written for U.S. senators or corporation presidents, or indeed even for three U.S. presidents.

The first piece of Guy's work to appear in NINE, "Racial Pioneering on the Mound: Don Newcombe's Social and Psychological Ordeal" (vol. 1, no. 2), was in Guy's words "the beginning of a pleasant association with NINE." Over the years, several letters, articles, and reviews written by Guy would appear in my mailbox—not my email box or on my fax machine—my mailbox, with the wonderful two-line return address that included his name on the first line and the nearest settlement in Vermont, along with the postal code, on the second line. He did not have a phone, so we never spoke, but out relationship as writer and editor was broad and rich and wandered all over the baseball map, and occasionally beyond. I had imagined that one day (and I regret that I never did), I would send him a letter with the simplest address:

Guy

05040

USA

After his death, I felt like I had lost a good friend. A strange feeling, perhaps, considering that we have never met or spoken. A testimony, I believe, to the considered written word, undiluted by the instant banality of the telephone or the Internet.

His article that follows was a self-described labor of love. He mentioned in [End Page 89] his notes that "every time I see an article misusing (or, at least, overusing) the term "dynasty" I'm tempted to send the author a copy of this." As a small departing favor to Guy, the next time I see the term "dynasty" misused, I will send the author a copy of this article. [End Page 90]