RIP Pete Hamill

[Inky_Wretch]

Pete Hamill, Quintessential New York Journalist, Dies at 85

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Another legend of the business gone. Damn.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

If you haven't seen the documentary on Breslin and Hamill, do.

 

[matt_garth]

Yes, he was 85, but this is a blow.

He was a well-chosen contributor on Ric Burns' New York documentary. Here, he talks about his father and the immigrant experience:

 

[hondo]

Only print hack who could claim he dated Jackie Kennedy. Stud.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

A giant. RIP.

 

[garrow]

Was also great in Ken Burns' Prohibition documentary opining on Al Smith. RIP.

 

[DanOregon]

A friend of mine in the biz was stunned that the Mowery twins are now in their 40s. I imagine those under 40 may have zero appreciation of Hamill. It's kind of like when that live version of Rent was on TV a few years back and you realized nobody in the cast (well almost no one) was alive when it premiered in 1996. Kind of like when your high school did Bye Bye Birdie in the '80s.

 

[swingline]

This line, and especially the ending: "Sheets of paper are scattered everywhere, orders for stocks, waybills, purchase orders, the pulverized confetti of capitalism."

That stuck the landing.

 

[HanSenSE]

Loopy.

 

[LanceyHoward]

What is the most memorable thing Hamill wrote?

 

[swingline]

This line, and especially the ending: "Sheets of paper are scattered everywhere, orders for stocks, waybills, purchase orders, the pulverized confetti of capitalism."

That stuck the landing.

And this: "All around us, the fine powder of death is falling, put into the New York air by lunatics. Religious war, filled with the melodrama of martyrdom, had come to New York. Almost certainly, it was welded to visions of paradise. And in some ways, on the day of the worst single disaster in New York history, there was a feeling that the dying had only begun."

 

[X-Hack]

Yes, he was 85, but this is a blow.

He was a well-chosen contributor on Ric Burns' New York documentary. Here, he talks about his father and the immigrant experience:

Loved his commentary in the excellent Boss Tweed segment of the same documentary series. RIP.

 

[Splendid Splinter]

 

[hondo]

Loopy.

Loopy is the tiny one in that picture in more ways than one.

 

[Jerry-atric]

I am, to say the least, devastated. The only days that compare in my lifetime are:

1. The day that Jerry Garcia passed.

2. The day Pete Rose was wrongfully banned from baseball.

The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was “The Empire Strikes Back.” I will never forget when Darth Vader delivered the shocking news.

“No, I am your father!”

Godspeed! And re-unite with your sister. “She’s royalty to me.”

And damn you, COVID 19.

 

[hondo]

I am, to say the least, devastated. The only days that compare in my lifetime are:

1. The day that Jerry Garcia passed.

2. The day Pete Rose was banned from baseball.

The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was “The Empire Strikes Back.” I will never forget when Darth Vader delivered the shocking news.

“No, I am your father!”

Godspeed! And re-unite with your sister. “She’s royalty to me.”

And damn you, COVID 19.

Fix No. 2 for you.

 

[Jerry-atric]

Fix No. 2 for you.

He never bet against his own team! It is a dark day in baseball. The “Hit King” belongs in Cooperstown, his rightful place!

 

[Slacker]

He never bet against his own team! It is a dark day in baseball. The “Hit King” belongs in Cooperstown, his rightful place!

He's an asshole, too.

 

[Jerry-atric]

He's an asshole, too.

Perhaps!

But you can not argue with:

- 4,256 hits
- A .303 career batting average
- 2,165 runs scored
- 3 N.L. Batting champion titles
- 1973 MVP!
- Player-manager

You cannot argue with any of that!