I want to let all of THT’s readers know that one of our most prolific writers and favorite people, John Brattain, just passed away.
Many of us got to know John through the Baseball Think Factory, where his good humor was always on display. John joined the THT writing team more than four years ago, and he further honed his extraordinary wit, humanity and sense of fun every week on our site (and elsewhere). For a while, he even contributed twice a week. He was one of the people who made THT a truly rewarding experience for all of us.
John is survived by a wife and two teenage daughters. As information about his service becomes available, we’ll pass it along.
EDIT: What awful news. John has been a frequent visitor to this site from just about day one. All of us here very much enjoyed his good humor and wisdom. Like many of you, I’m sure, he and I shared quite a few emails and exchanges. He was always a very funny and classy gentleman, even when he disagreed with you. He will certainly be missed. Our condolences go out to his family and friends. As much as we’ll miss him, their loss certainly is a more difficult burden.—Best Regards, Jim
Just some of the bloggers that John touched…
Baseball Loses A Great Writer And Humanity A Great Person (Lisa Gray)
Goodbye Bones (Matthew/Lookout Landing)
Baseball Writer John Brattain Passed Away (Rince/Bluebird Banter)
BDD Loses One of Its Own…Farewell to Our Good Friend John Brattain (Joe Hamrahi)
John Brattain
A Death In The Family (Cliff Corcoran)
A Sad Day for Hardball Times, Baseball Fans
Death in the Blogging Family (David Pinto)
Good night, funnyman (Peter Collodoro)
The World is Less Funny (Dave Cameron)
In Honor of John Brattain (Bill Baer)
Best Regards, John: John Brattain – 1965-2009 (Maury Brown)
RIP John Brattain (Jona Keri)
John Brattain, 1965-2009 (Neil deMause)
BP Family Loses One of Its Own (Baseball Prospectus)
Best Regards (Larry Mahnken)
To John Brattain ... (Neate Sager)
RIP John Brattain (Pat Lackey)
John Brattain, 1965-2009: Best Regards (Rob Iracane)
John Brattain: I considered him a valuable colleague (Rob Neyer)
A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Away. . . (John’s wonderful Designated Hitter bit for The Baseball Analysts)
Reader Comments and Retorts
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RIP
I never met the guy, but I actually feel sick.
He will be missed by thousands.
Sympathies to his family and friends, and his readers as well.
Yes.
Yes, that was John.
Here it is
Awful news, even though I've never met him and live several timezones away this makes me sad :(
His jokes, joy in the absurd and insight will be sorely missed.
Condolences to his family as well
Fine, I'll give it a try: He's making horrible puns in heaven now. (with apologies to Guapo...)
I never met the man, but from reading him here, knew him to be a gentleman. Condolences to his family and friends.
My condolences to John's family.
I'm extremely honored to have "known" him and just as extremely disappointed to hear about his passing.
See ya on the other side…
This will be my last post for a little while–I go under the knife for the ol’ ticker at 7:15 AM Monday. Again, thanks for all the notes and well-wishes; once I’m fixed…er, repaired, I’ll be back with a vengeance. I’ve submitted a column for SMSN Sports that will run next week–beyond that it’s wait-and-see. Regardless, I’ve been a busy boy this week and here’s the latest:
No man is a (Coney) island….
Rest in peace my brother.
Canadian health care jokes are in order.
Here it is
Though the "Best regards" gives it away, his most recent handle was "The Bones McCoy of THT", which also heads his posts on that and any other thread. He did get off a few nice lines there; a fitting tribute. Vaya con dios.
EDIT: that sounds really selfish. my deepest thoughts to his family. thanks for making baseball even more fun, John.
I just want David Samson questioned as to whether he has an alibi.
I'm heartbroken. Was this sudden? Was he ill?
John is laughing and typing a witty reply from somewhere nice right now... probably something about how Samson wouldn't have been tall enough to see over the operating table.
He was a top rate poster and a true gentlemen. This is really, really sad. My heart goes out to his family...
As a man who believed greatly in God (he sent me numerous passages from scripture during his battle), I hope that he is well in Heaven. He was a great friend, and one of the funniest guys I've ever met. Called me the "Hell's Angel" due to the goatee, which always got a laugh.
John, say hello to Pappas for me. Horrible, horrible day.
Best regards,
The Hells Angel
I suppose I can share my one Brattain story. Maybe 5 years ago, there was a thread, I forget the original topic, that ended up in a semi-spirited discussion of religion, and more specifically, belief in/existence of a higher power. John and I (among others) were having a pretty good conversation, but as the thread petered out I reached out to John and asked if he wanted to continue the conversation via e-mail (as John and I were generally in disagreement throughout the thread).
His response was about a twelve page e-mail that was super smart, very funny, very thoughtful, all without a hint of pretense or confrontation. We e-mailed a few more times after that on the topic, his e-mails always dwarfing mine in scope and depth.
Sad day. Condolences to his family and those of you who knew him personally.
John, I tried, but like 38 and 43 note, it's difficult. RIP.
Sorry, I'm not very good at this. If I died, JB's jokes would be ten times funnier.
Didn't know him, but he always brought warmth and cheer to every thread he visited.
RIP, John.
Can anyone find the Top Ten list this refers to.
We were the same age. Way too young to go, especially with a family.
Wish I could make a Brattainian joke in honor of him, but words fail me.
RIP.
I'm stunned , this is out of nowhere. He looks 40something in his photo, how old was he? Does anyone know what it was that took him?
And open note to Furtado: can you set up a Paypal thing so we can all send something along to his family?
Same here. Just as shocking, too.
Yeah, I could've sworn I read a post of his just yesterday. Maybe he penned it Sunday.
My condolences to his family.
According to his member page, his last post was late Sunday afternoon and his last visit was early Monday morning.
He was going in for heart surgery which, based on his comments about it, seemed like corrective stuff (not that there is any minor heart surgery). According to his brother there were complications.
Edit: and he was 44.
Always a smart, snappy read and seemed like the kind of guy who'd be great fun to be around. Makes me want to go back and read all his stuff.
Reposted for emphasis.
I met Doug in person at a pizza feed here in NYC, and he was as gracious and friendly a person as you'll ever meet.
John was the same way here, and I'm sure in person as well.
I already feel bad about being critical of a Manny Ramirez column he penned back in August. He responded to all my comments in good cheer.
My condolences to his friends and family.
I'm still waiting for this to sink in. It happened so suddenly.
RIP.
If it had been David Samson in there, the surgery would have had even more complications as the doctors would have spent hours searching for his heart.
/sorry John, I did my best for you and will always remember the Nomar thread
Best Regards,
St. Peter
I can't account for his other writing, but there's an archive of his Hardball Times articles here.
RIP John. I will say a prayer for your family and friends.
Although I laughed at #53. Good job on that one.
My thoughts go out to his family.
And to us.
Whenever I read a thread here I hope to see a joke from him. Very sad news.
John, have a catch with St. Peter. You earned it, buddy. We didn't know each other, but thanks for helping grow and nurture my interest in baseball.
As someone else said...Best Regards, John.
He was truly one of Primer's finest.
This sucks. Condolances to his family.
On a side note: Because of him, I signed all my e-mails "Regards" for a couple of years -- not all of us can pull of a "Best Regards", but I liked how it worked for John and I had to try it out.
There aren't many (any?) posters here who were as consistently entertaining, thought-provoking, and just plain fun as John. This is horrible, horrible news. I've tried to type more, but I'm incoherent. The only thing I can really say is how much I (and BTF) will miss him.
Best regards, John. Best regards.
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