Joe Posnanski (; nicknamed "Poz" and "Joe Po"; born January 8, 1967) is an American sports journalist. A former senior columnist for Sports Illustrated (where he wrote the blog Curiously Long Posts) and columnist for The Kansas City Star, he currently writes for his personal blog JoeBlogs. Early life Posnanski grew up in South Euclid, Ohio and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina during high school. He studied accounting, but later switched his major to English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Journalism Posnanski began his journalism career as a multi-use reporter and an editor at The Charlotte Observer. He worked as a columnist at The Cincinnati Post, The Augusta Chronicle, and The Kansas City Star. He was a senior writer for Sports Illustrated until April 2012 when he announced that he would work for Sports on Earth, a new internet joint venture between USA Today and Major League Baseball Advanced Media. His first column for Sports on Earth was published on August 26, 2012. In February 2013, he became the national columnist for NBC Sports. In February 2017, he became a national columnist for MLB.com and contributor on the MLB Network. A selection of his columns about the magic of sports is compiled in the book The Good Stuff. His book The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America was published by William Morrow & Company and won the CASEY Award as best baseball book of 2007. MLB.com included the book in its list of the "Best baseball books of all time" in 2021. Another book, about the Big Red Machine, titled The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, was published in 2009 and reached Number 17 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Posnanski wrote a biography of longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno for Simon & Schuster, which was released on August 21, 2012 and debuted at Number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Posnanski's fourth book, The Secret of Golf, details the longstanding rivalry and friendship of golfers Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. His book The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini was released on October 22, 2019. His latest book was The Baseball 100 was released on September 28,2021. In October 2007, he debuted his website at joeposnanski.com, later converted to a blog and titled