About John

I once interviewed a woman shot in the head by hijackers and left for dead on the tarmac.

I raced my bike against Greg LeMond in South Africa (and beat him). I played a tennis match against the world’s top-ranked wheelchair tennis player (and lost). I channeled a 330-pound Samoan, retired NFL nose tackle who is gay (Esera Tuaolo, for his memoir). I played softball on snowshoes in the summertime (wood chips spread across the infield). I rapped a base hit off former Twins pitcher Rick Aguilera.

I listened to a nurse tell me the story of prying a shotgun shell out of Ernest Hemingway’s hand when he was intent upon killing himself. I profiled a woman who is a Roman Catholic priest. I attended a powwow with LGBTQ Native Americans. I interviewed a mortician in the room where she embalmed my father. I talked to a 15-year-old boy in his hospital room after he tried to stop a school shooter.

All in a day’s work. Or several, actually, stretching back to 1981, when I began freelancing as a senior in high school. That work has been published in ten books and scores of magazines, including The Atavist, The Atlantic, GQ, The New Yorker, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, and The Washington Post Magazine. It has been anthologized alongside the writing of Maya Angelou, Marlon James, Kevin Kling, Bill Moyers, and George Saunders. Several books and articles have been optioned for movies. One article, “The Pretender,” published by The Atavist, was turned into a three-part HBO documentary directed by Erin Carr. My work has also won a couple dozen awards and been nominated for a National Magazine Award and a Pulitzer Prize (but didn’t win either of those).

Along the way, I have lived in Boise, Boston, Florence, London, Paris, and St. Paul. I completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Boston University, where I studied with Nobel laureates Saul Bellow and Derek Walcott. As an undergraduate majoring in English at St. John’s University, I received instruction from J.F. Powers, which still haunts me. Today I’m at home in my native Minneapolis with my wife Maria, our two children, and two golden retrievers.

Books

THE GREATEST SUMMER IN BASEBALL HISTORY: How the ’73 Season Changed Us Forever, Sourcebooks, 2023 (reissue of HAMMERIN’ HANK, GEORGE ALMIGHTY AND THE SAY HEY KID, Sourcebooks, 2008)
CLASSIC BASEBALL: Timeless Tales, Immortal Moments, Rowman & Littlefield, 2022
A CLEAN HEART, a novel, Mango Press, 2020
THE FIGHT OF THEIR LIVES: How Juan Marichal and John Roseboro turned Baseball’s Ugliest Brawl into a Story of Forgiveness and Redemption, Lyons Press, 2014
HANK GREENBERG: The Hero of Heroes, New American Library,  2013
HAMMERIN’ HANK, GEORGE ALMIGHTY AND THE SAY HEY KID: The Year that Changed Baseball Forever, Sourcebooks, 2008
ALONE IN THE TRENCHES: My Life as a Gay Player in the NFL, with Esera Tuaolo, Sourcebooks, 2006
BLADES OF GLORY: The True Story of a Young Team Bred to Win, Sourcebooks, 2003
BIG BOOK UNPLUGGED: A Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous, Hazelden, 2003
MEETING CHRIST IN TEENS: Startling Moments of Grace, Saint Mary’s Press, 2002
LIFE IS JUST A PARTY: Portrait of a Teenage Partier, Deaconess Press, 1989

Anthologies

“Thank God for English Teachers,” RINGS OF KINDNESS: A Treasury of True Heartwarming Stories, Bowker, 2022.
“Life on an Urban Lake,” UNDER PURPLE SKIES: The Minneapolis Anthology, Belt Publishing, 2019
“Thank God for English Teachers,” THANK YOU, TEACHER: Grateful Students Tell the Stories of the Teachers Who Changed their Lives, edited by Holly & Bruce Holbert. New World Library, 2016
“St. Paul Curling Club: A Primer,” SAINT PAUL ALMANAC 2008.
“St. Paul: Home to the Greatest Tournament in the World,” SAINT PAUL ALMANAC 2007.

Education

Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Master of Arts in Creative Writing (fiction); scholarship recipient
Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota
Bachelor of Arts, English major; semester study in London; honors student

Awards

• 2024 Minnesota Book Awards, finalist, General Nonfiction, “The Greatest Summer in Baseball History”
• Minnesota Society for Professional Journalists, 2020 Page One Award for Best Feature Story, “The Old Man and the Clinic,” Mpls. St. Paul magazine (February 2019)
• Catholic Press Association, 2020 Best Profile, Alumni Magazine, “The Good Shepherd,” Notre Dame (Summer 2019)
• Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists, 2017 Page One Award Best Feature Story, Third Place, “Bet Your Life,” Minnesota Monthly (June 2016)
• American Society of Journalists & Authors, 2017 Donald Robinson Award for Investigative Journalism, “How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts,” The Atlantic (December 2016)
• 2015 Minnesota Magazine & Publishers Association Excellence Awards, bronze, feature article, for “Greg LeMond’s Next Ride: Can America’s Only Tour de France Winner Conquer Business?” (Twin Cities Business Magazine, May 2015)
  2014 CASEY Award finalist, “The Fight of Their Lives:  How Juan Marichal and John Roseboro Turned Baseball’s Ugliest Brawl into a Story of Forgiveness and Redemption” (Lyons Press, 2014)
• American Society of Journalists & Authors, 2014 Outstanding Profile, “Ra’Shede’s Road” (SB Nation, November 2013)
• 2013 Minnesota Magazine & Publishers Association Excellence Awards, gold, feature article, for “Stand by Me,” a profile of Denis McDonough (Saint John’s University alumni magazine summer/fall 2013)
  2012 Minnesota Magazine & Publishers Association Excellence Awards, silver, feature article, for “All Rise:  Johnnies on the Bench” (Saint John’s University alumni magazine Winter/Spring 2012)
• 2008 American Society of Journalists & Authors Outstanding Book, honorable mention, “Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid” (Sourcebooks, 2008)
  American Society of Journalists & Authors, 2009 Outstanding Article, honorable mention for “The Lakers vs. The Globetrotters–1948” (Mpls. St. Paul, March 2008)
• 2008 CASEY Award finalist, “Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid” (Sourcebooks, 2008)
• Career Initiative Grant from the Loft Literary Center, 2008
• The Archbishop Edward T. O’Mara Award for Magazine Article with a Worldwide Missionary Theme, 2007, from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, for “Father Stan Rother: American Martyr in Guatemala,”  (St. Anthony Messenger, July 2006)
• The Eileen Egan Award for Journalistic Excellence, 2007, from Catholic Relief Services, for “Father Stan Rother: American Martyr in Guatemala,” (St. Anthony Messenger, July 2006)
• American Society of Journalists & Authors, 2006 Reporting on a Significant Topic, honorable mention for “To Hell and Back” (Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, January 2005)
• 2003 Minnesota Book Award finalist – “Blades of Glory” (Sourcebooks, 2003)
• Catholic Press Association 2003 Best Column/general commentary