THE WARMUP

Welcome to Volume I, Edition IV of The Sunday Back Page.

This is your Sunday morning sports section — built for the inbox and made for independent creators. Every week, the best sports writing, podcasting, and storytelling from people who own what they build. No institutions. No legacy outlets. No algorithms deciding what you see. Just great work. Every Sunday morning.

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THE LEAD

In August 1999, my sports editor at the Connecticut Post, Gary Rogo, sent me to cover the last three games of a four-game set between the Dodgers and the Mets at Shea Stadium.

Our baseball writer, Mike Puma, must’ve been on vacation.

I had covered a few Mets and Yankees games before, but this would be the first time I got to cover the Mets while my friend Anthony Valentine served as their bullpen catcher. You may have heard of his Uncle Bobby, the Mets’ manager.

The first day, I spent at least half an hour talking with Anthony on one of the leather couches in the clubhouse. All the players asked him later why he was talking to that reporter.

Growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, I knew Bobby peripherally, but Anthony formalized it that weekend. A couple of Stamfordites chumming behind the cage during batting practice.

Earlier that season, Bobby made what would’ve been a viral moment on social media.

After being ejected from the game, he snuck back into the dugout, disguised in sunglasses and eye black stickers for a mustache. The Mets won that game in a walkoff, and Bobby was celebrating on the field.

My August weekend didn’t have that kind of happy ending for the Mets, who were in the heat of an NL East race with Atlanta. They lost all three games I covered, the last two by a combined 23-5.

After I finished my interviews in the clubhouse, I was talking with Anthony at his locker. Bobby is fuming. He yells from his office door: “Anthony! Don’t talk to him! We haven’t won since he’s been here!” And he slammed his office door.

When I told my friend and supervisor, Bogey Joe Erwin, he replied, “The next time the Mets are in town, you have to show up to the clubhouse wearing sunglasses and a fake mustache.”

Although I had the gear prepared, Bobby got his wish. That was the last time I covered a Mets game.

Years later, at Anthony’s wedding, I shared that planned coda with Bobby. We had a good laugh about it over a glass of champagne.

— Ian Powers

THE READS

Each week, we curate 4-6 of our favorite reads from this week. The selections came from our own curation and from dozens of submissions by our readers. Thank you so much, and keep them coming.

Our take: Getty Images opened its Hulton Archive to Amar Singh — a former newspaper journalist who hadn't forgotten what that world felt like. What he found was 94 million physical photographs, World Cup history stretching back to Uruguay 1930, and frames still being pulled from analogue files for the first time in decades. The writing matches the subject. Rich visuals, strong voice.

Our take: Before The Cat in the Hat, a teacher was scolding the teenage Theodor Geisel for drawing upside down and breaking the rules. He walked out of that art class and signed up to manage the high school soccer team. What he said about it years later is the whole piece. This newsletter provides a good roundup — this lead is the reason to subscribe.

Our take: Forty-plus years in sports PR will leave you with stories. Jack Carnefix has more than most, and he's one of the few people who can land one in a social media post. This week: a locked exit, a construction zone, total darkness, and a flashlight in a briefcase. Worth the thirty seconds.

Our take: Steven Neff played cornerback in college and spent 30 years as a trial attorney. In this one, he threads baiting a hook, baiting a quarterback, and baiting a defendant into one clean argument — and the fishing story that opens it earns its place.

Our take: Will Colahan and Carla Bilche take five stadiums across five countries and use each one to answer the same question: how do you turn a football ground into a financial asset? Tottenham generated €64 million from non-football events in a single year — concerts, NFL games, boxing — across just 16 permitted dates. That's the ceiling. The floor is an Argentine club building identity in a collapsing currency. The range between those two is where the piece lives.

Our take: Michael King is driving home from his son's baseball tournament when his kid starts breaking down the opposing coach's defensive positioning — unprompted, entirely on his own. That's when it hit him: his son didn't need him to teach him baseball anymore. Now they just get to share it. If you've ever sat in the cold watching your kid play, this one finds you.

THE LISTEN

Each week, we curate 1-2 of our favorite podcasts from this week. The selections came from our own curation and from submissions by our readers. Thank you so much, and keep them coming.

Our take: Matt Lombardo and Mike Tanier take stock of where the teams stand after free agency's first wave — who's in good shape, who's not, and why fans of at least one NFC North team should probably calm down. Two reporters who've covered this league for a long time, which means the takes come with receipts.

THE PRESSROOM

Mike Hlas spent four decades covering Iowa sports for the Cedar Rapids Gazette and just brought that career to Substack — with Iowa men's and women's basketball both in the spotlight this week, the timing couldn't be better. A regional voice with a real résumé. ... Ben Golliver spent years covering the NBA for the Washington Post and didn't waste much time figuring out his next move. The pivot to Substack done right. Follow both.

THE ROSTER

We want to celebrate as many independent creators on The Sunday Back Page as possible. Here are all the people who submitted their work for consideration this week. Many of these creators deserved a place in this newsletter, and we hope they continue to submit their work. Please keep them on your radar.

The Half Space Journal | 5 Boro Baseball | Cafecito de MLB | Bryan Williams

Here are some Baseball follows: Nate Kosher | Bobby Scott, MD | Baseball Scoops | Joe Posnanski | Molly Knight | Drew Van Buskirk | The Data Dugout | Tim McGrenere | Thomas Love Seagull | Chuck Hixson | Big League Banchan | Painting Corners Baseball | Austin Myers | Black Baseball Mixtape | Michael Baron | Adam Firebaugh | Almost a Met | Andrew Steele | Baseball Nerd | Baseball Spreadsheets | Mark Kolier | Deep From Left | Lance Brozdowski | Matt Musico | Maxfield Lane | Owen Riley | Sam Miller | Thomas Nestico | Trevor May | Mr. Baseball History | King of Jewish Baseball | Jason A Churchill | Daniel Evenson | Baseball Buddha | John Russillo | 9 Inning Nomad | Ryan Schultz

Want to see your independent publication featured here? Let us know. There are hundreds more baseball Substacks out there. Give me a shout!