Thomas Boswell

Thomas Boswell (born in 1948) was a Washington Post columnist, author and columnist for Inside Sports magazine. A notable sports writer particularly known for his coverage of the Baltimore Orioles and later of the Washington Nationals, he authored many baseball books including How Life Imitates the World Series (1982), Why Time Begins on Opening Day (1984) and The Heart of the Order (1989). The books are mostly a collection of his best newspaper articles.

Memorable topics relating to the Orioles include profiles of former owner Edward Bennett Williams, Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, Cal Ripken Sr. and Cal Ripken Jr. He also wrote many good stories unrelated to the Orioles. "The Heart of the Order" is basically a collection of stories about a player at every position (Eric Davis of, Wade Boggs 3b). The order is fudged a little as his article about Don Mattingly is listed at shortstop.

He is the creator of the statistic Total Average (TA), which he featured in a yearly article in Inside Sports. The stat did gain some acceptance as an indicator of a player's offensive value, but was later abandoned due to the Bases Fallacy.

In May of 2021, he announced that he would retire from the Post at the end of June. In December 2024, he was named the winner of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award and was honored as part of the Class of 2025 at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY as a result.

"Cheating is baseball's oldest profession. No other game is so rich in skullduggery, so suited to it or so proud of it." - Thomas Boswell

". . . We're reaching the point where you can be a truly dedicated, state-of-the-art fan or you can have a life." - Thomas Boswell

Related Sites

• Boswell explaining his Total Average statistic
• Announcement regarding the BBWAA Career Excellence Award