Farewell to the Cincy Post

Obviously I haven’t posted on here for a few weeks, a happy result of the vacation time I had to use up before year’s end. But before the year’s truly over, I wanted to recognize the last day for the Cincinnati Post. It’s a long way from Detroit, and it’s sure a long way from the days when newspapers were king in Cincinnati (newspapers all over the country, really), but it’s the place that was willing to give me my first shot at a daily newspaper, and I owe it more than a passing mention for that.

I had a part-time stringer position there while I was in college, rarely with a byline and often having to answer the phones. The pay wasn’t good, the hours could go late, and my Friday nights were spent in a newsroom instead of going out. I studied for exams in the newsroom, and I spent the night before my college commencement covering a minor-league hockey playoff game. But for someone who had only been working with weekly papers to that point, it was invaluable — not just because it was a daily paper, but because it was an underdog daily paper with plenty of good reporters and editors from which to learn.

The roster of baseball writers to come out of the Post is impressive. Jerry Crasnick covered the Reds there opposite Rob Parker of the Enquirer during the Marge Schott era, when every so often a writer would be banned from the dining room as punishment for a story. Another Post alum was Jeff Horrigan, who I only knew from the phone when he would call in to make sure his stories arrived but whom I read without fail. John Donovan over at SI.com covered the Bengals there back when the Bengals made the Lions look good. Tony Jackson, Joe Posnanski, Jay Marriotti (OK, I’m mixing in columnists here), Paul Daugherty, Marc Lancaster, Todd Archer, David Fleming, all of them came through the Post at one time or another, as did too many others to mention. They had their share of good sports editors, too, including one who convinced me that Bowling Green, Kentucky could actually be a good newspaper job.

No more. The end was something everybody saw coming. Heck, it might’ve been one reason why the Post sent along so many writers through the system. But it’s a sentimental day nonetheless, and not just because it means another one-paper city. Here’s their final package if you’re interested.