Anyone who's picked up a New York paper in the past fifty years has heard of Pete Hamill. He's as well known as Breslin. He's just slightly less angry and self hating.
That's a
big understatement.
Well, I was being nice
.
We've talked about this in the past, TB. My grandfather was a delegate in the typesetter's union. But just like anyone else, he started in the old News building downtown. Some of the best memories from my early childhood in the '60s was going to visit him downtown. That enormous globe in the old building is as fresh in my mind today as it was almost fifty years ago.
Anyway, long story short, back then the writers and the blue collar guys socialized quite a bit. It wasn't unheard of for sports writers to go out drinking with ballplayers back then, either. And when my grandfather died everyone from Breslin to Dick Young showed up. Which speaks to your point because I'm told that Jimmy Breslin and Dick Young were the two most hated writers in the business back then.
