S.L. Price on Mike Coolbaugh

What got me was the description from Sanchez's perspective: what he saw when he got to the coach's box, what he heard when they were taking Coolbaugh away.

Fuck. :'(

Haunting. I wasn't even there to hear someone say that, and I can feel exactly what those words sounded like. Gives me chills.

 

The writing in this piece is stunning, but even better is the reporting. The unflinching attention to detail is what makes this piece so good.

But how do you walk up to someone and say, "I'm from SI. Tell me about the time you accidentally killed someone. And don't leave out the white foam" ?

It's the toughest part of this business and, I assume, the toughest part of this story.

 

I know this is blasphamy, but screw it, I'm going to say it anyway:

S.L. Price is the best feature writer at Sports Illustrated. Period. Better than Gary Smith. Better than Reilly, Deford, Verducci. He is elegant and haunting and poetic and clean, without ever gettting in the way of the story. Smith's story about Randy Shannon was fine, and by the end, I was into it, but anymore, you really have to buy into Gary's style to connect with his subjects. You have to be ok with the: "You see the look on the man's face" and the "this is a story about loneliness" stuff. And I'm not always as willing to buy into that.

With Price, that's never the case. He never, ever gets in the way of the subject's story. Gary's tricks are still effective, but more obvious. Price is a more subtle magician, lulling you in with scenes and sentences that hit you only after they marinate in your brain for a few minutes.

This was my favorite part...

 

The ending was unreal, as well:

"Who can say why? It will have to be enough to know that in the most obscure corners, compassion lives and success has nothing to do with fame or money or even greatness. It will have to be enough to understand that such a notion is easy to forget, until a good man's dying forces the world to pay attention at last."

With simple eloquence, Price elevates this from a compelling piece about a freak baseball accident to something about each and every one of us.

BTW, kudos to the photographer for getting the subjects to sit with him. They have a portrait of the wife and kids, family photos, a portrait of Sanchez, etc., etc., etc.

IMO, this piece would belong in BASW 21st Century addition when that time comes.

 

Man, "like a spiderweb after rain" -- now that's a fucking clinic. Perfect.

 

Yup, definitely got choked up during the description of Sanchez meeting the sister and sister in law. God damn.

 

"Yet off the field Coolbaugh was an object of envy. He took his two boys with him everywhere, couldn't seem to breathe without holding them. And when O'Shea frantically scrolled through Coolbaugh's cellphone directory that Sunday, it wasn't hard for him to find Mandy's number. He came upon the nickname Gorgeous and knew to hit send."

Wow, just...wow.

 

As someone else mentioned, I'd love to know how he went about doing this -- how he gained the access to (and, more significantly, the trust of) the people involved, and how he conducted the interviews. It's a pretty delicate thing, asking someone to describe the scene after they accidentally killed someone with a batted ball.

 

Such and awesome detail. Beautiful.

 

Wonder if one of the Mods might be willing to get Price on here for maybe a Q and A to talk about how this story came together? Maybe post it on the writing workshop?

I think it would be valuable.

 

Best story I have read in years. It is too bad the story is true.