The Days Are Yours, Viva El Birdos
10/02/2024 08:00 AM
A personalized retrospective on Viva El Birdos and baseball writing.
Good morning, Viva El Birdos!
It was five years ago this week when I decided to send an email to then Viva El Birdos Site Manager Josey Curtis expressing interest in writing at the site.
I had chatted with VEB writer John LaRue (JL21) about writing at VEB. We were moderators together at another site. (Go Gatewayredbirds.com!) He pointed me toward Josey but he made no promises. He told me I would have to submit a writing sample, and maybe write some Fanposts until there was an opening. Even then there would be competition for a spot and no guarantees.
My expectations were low when I hit send on that email but, two days later, Josey replied and offered me a paid spot for two articles a week.
I was floored. Excited. Honored. Humbled. Terrified.
What the heck had I just done?
I was going to get paid (a little) to write about the Cardinals. On Viva El Birdos. Not just the most respected Cardinals blog on the internet, but one of the most respected baseball blogs period. A writer from VEB had gone on to work for the Players' Association. Some were now writing for national baseball sites. They had appeared on MLB Network. They were on the regional radio broadcasts and podcasts I listened to every week.
Who was I to write alongside them?
I found out soon enough. A few weeks later, I was in my office face-planted toward my laptop as I spent hours researching and writing about Harrison Bader's 2019 season. It was a down year for Bader, his second full season in the majors. What caused it? His offensive struggles were mostly fueled by terrible performance combined with unusually high bad luck against breaking balls. A little offseason work on hitting the curve, and maybe Bader, with his Gold Glove-caliber defense, could be an asset for the team going forward.
I probably spent 15 hours researching, arguing, writing, re-writing, erasing, and re-starting that simple 1000-word first post. I wanted it to be a straightforward, accurate but generally positive analysis piece on what a popular young player could do to emerge as a star. Maybe a catchy little headline to get people reading, would be nice? Keep it simple, right? Start things off easy. Don't make any waves.
Everything blew up in my face.
It was the headline. Not the content. Bader saw it. Bader didn't read it. Bader retweeted it, saying something about throwing the article "in the virtual trash can." By mid-afternoon, half of St. Louis had read something I had written. Or at least the first four words.
One article. One not-so-positive interaction with a player. I had written one thing and it had gone viral and not in a good way. But, hey, at least Viva El Birdos got a lot of clicks that day! A LOT of clicks.
I don't know if that article helped or hurt my writing self-esteem but if you've ever wondered why my headlines are so bland, there's your answer. I decided then that if I was going to get creative and witty, it was best to do it in the actual body of the post where it was safer from drive-by commentary.
I've gotten better since then. And faster. My personality started to show up. I got a lot of useful feedback from commentators and thankfully never suffered through the communal growing pains that other writers have experienced. I came here with writing experience. It took a little bit, but I slowly learned the vibe around here and started crafting a voice that fit what Viva El Birdos is.
What is that?
For starters, Viva El Birdos is historically one of the tougher places on the internet to write about baseball. You can't just write whatever. You have to write stuff that's well-considered and deftly researched. If there's a flaw in your logic, readers will find it. Smart commenters, other writers, and even former scouts and analysts will get on here and poke and prod at the cracks in your process. Front office personnel read your critiques and silently snicker at your idiotic ideas. Players' moms, dads, brothers, and sisters are here, too, reading your cold-hearted analysis and jaded jibes. I've gotten to know some of them. I don't criticize or joke about players lightly anymore.
That, by the way, adds to the difficulty of this job. We don't get paid that much, you see. And we all have other jobs. So, getting the argument and the tone just right takes time. It takes editing, re-writing, and re-researching, and, frankly, we don't get paid enough to put that kind of work in. We don't have full-time editors to help out. VEB demands that you learn to be right and good and fast and wise as a writer.
To make things worse, writing right and good and fast and wise will only get you so far around here. If you want to compare yourself with the big guns of VEB's past (and present), your writing also needs to be witty, entertaining, humorous, and engaging. It helps to be funny and serious and right and technical and skilled and reasonable and tactful all at the same time. For very little recompense. And you have to do it twice a week.
I have loved it.
Writing well at Viva El Birdos is a challenge. It has been a great deal of fun to try and rise to that challenge. At some point, I felt like I found my niche.
I have written 539 articles at Viva El Birdos. This one makes an even 540. You liked them. Sometimes. You laughed (or rolled your eyes) at my jokes. Periodically. You agreed with my arguments. Occasionally. You kept my posts out of Harrison Bader's digital trash can. Most of the time.
540 articles. And three seasons of podcast episodes, too. And somehow, I got away with only writing 1 game recap.
Someone asked me the other day what my best article was. Since I get to be nostalgic today, I'll give you a few to look at, if you feel like it.
My favorite articles to write: Cardinals Legends Play Dungeons 'N Dragons, The "Lars Nootbaar" Nootbar, How Far Would A Home Run Travel on Mars
What I consider my best work: How Fast Was Bob Gibson's Fastball, Four Critical Failures Have Brought the Cardinals to an Organization-Defining Moment, Albert Pujols Has Gone Hunting, Scott Rolen is Obviously a Hall of Famer
There were some duds, too. I don't need to post those, though, do I? This is a personalized retrospective of how great Viva El Birdos is. And Viva El Birdos is great. Just not every day.
As usual, it takes me too many words to get to the point. 1000 words and I haven't even said what I came here to say.
This will be my last post at Viva El Birdos.
Probably. I might decide I can't let this week's news pass without some commentary. So, until they cut off my access to the site's dashboard, there's still a chance I'll sneak back in and throw something up. "3000 Words on Why I Was Right About the Cardinals Needing to Rebuild" or something equally self-gratifying and slightly smug.
I am leaving of my own accord. And not for any negative reason. The site is great. I love it here. I think Heather is awesome. Blake and Gabe and Adam and Skyric are my friends as well as co-writers. I have no complaints. If I did, I had the access and influence to change them, so those complaints would be on me anyway.
I came to Viva El Birdos to prove to myself that I could write stuff people want to read. I have done that.
Now I want to write stuff beyond baseball. I want to write stuff that fits my career, real-life skills, talents, and gifts. I never wanted to be a sportswriter. But I do want to write. Anywhere I write after this probably won't be as challenging (and fun) as here. I head out into the dark unknown with high confidence, a diverse portfolio, a lot of experience, and some great memories.
Viva El Birdos never stopped me from exploring that future earlier. But sometimes you have to close one door before you'll bother opening another. That's all this is about. It's not because the Cards are struggling. It's not because blogs are struggling. It's not because of SB Nation or anything above my pay grade. I have goals I want to pursue and it's time to pursue them.
I'll still be around. I know many writers quit writing and then quit the site, too. That's unfortunate. I don't understand that. I was here before I was a writer and plan to be here after I'm a writer. I suspect that once in a while when there's news or an idea that's too tempting for me to ignore, you'll see a Fanpost drop with my name on it.
I want to say a special word of thank you to all of you who, over the years, have introduced yourself to me and told me how much you enjoyed my articles or the podcast. I have had several crazy moments when I'm out to dinner or at the DMV and someone came up to me and said, "You're J. P. from Viva El Birdos!" Those moments always made my day. Not because I'm some celebrity or something. Don't be ridiculous. No one has ever acted like that. You all just really like VEB, too, and were excited to put a face to words. It was just so fun to connect with some of you in the wild, chat baseball, and have you tell me where I was wrong.
There's a lot of you out there. Thousands of you have read me jabber on about an adult's game with hundred million dollar budgets. Thanks for reading! Seriously. Thank you.
Have a happy, Wednesday, Viva El Birdos!
From here on out, the days are yours.
