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Tom Verducci

1. The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, by George Plimpton, April 1, 1985

Brilliantly conceived and executed. It may be one of the last written hoaxes that fools an increasingly wary society.

2. Sportsmen of the Year, by Tom Verducci, December 6, 2004

Sports are great fun. But when there is a cultural and emotional connection between those who watch and those who play -- when sporting events become mileposts in our own lives -- then you have meaning. The Red Sox's 2004 title may be the most meaningful such title in history.

3. The Left Arm of God, by Tom Verducci, July 12, 1999

Searching for the essence of Sandy Koufax, and finding rock-solid integrity.

4. I Was A Toronto Blue Jay, by Tom Verducci, March 14, 2005

The most fun you can ever have reporting a story.

5. Totally Juiced, by Tom Verducci, June 3, 2002

The lid came off the worst kept secret in baseball.

Michael Farber

1. Tricks of the Trade by Steve Wulf, April 13, 1981

Under the blinding sweetness and light of the national past time -- this is the sport that launched 1,000 poets -- Wulf poked around the dark side of baseball, the black arts of the game. With a deft, light touch, Wulf pulled back the covers on the shenanigans that are basically routine. Too bad he didn't know about the Giants' scoreboard tipping pitches to Bobby Thomson in 1951.

2. A Series to Savor, by Steve Rushin, November 4, 1991

This was the perfect marriage of event and writer: a 1-0, extra-inning classic Game 7, won by Minnesota workhorse Jack Morris over Atlanta, and a young Rushin, full of wonder at the events unfolding in front of his eyes. He had the eye for detail and a proper sense of perspective -- hailing from Minnesota didn't hurt -- that made a tough-to-write story, because of the exigencies of magazines, a gem.

3. Heaven Help Marge Schott, by Rick Reilly, May 20, 1996

For reasons that I still can't fully fathom, Reilly made Schott, well, not a sympathetic figure, but not an outright fool, either, which is how she struck most of the baseball world. In addition to writerly grace, this story was informed by a healthy dose of empathy and a certain degree of nuance that I am not sure to this day that Schott deserved.

4. Sportsmen of the Year, by Tom Verducci, December 6, 2004

Just when you thought there was nothing left to say about the Red Sox and their curse, Verducci said it simply and movingly. That was a weepy fall in my house. When the Sox won that October night, I called my cousin and we wept for his father, my uncle, a suburban Bostonian who would have enjoyed the Sox victory as much as Terry Francona, my old acquaintance from his playing days in Montreal. True, I didn't cry when I read Verducci's stunning piece, but my eyes welled. Damn Verducci.

5. The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, by George Plimpton, April 1, 1985

Sure, I was sucked in to the fantasy at first. Wasn't everybody? I caught on maybe two pages in, but I went along for the glorious ride provided by one of America's most observant and wisest writers. All of us who love sports want to believe in the Sidd Finch's of the world. Hoax? Sure. But for me, the Plimpton masterpiece was also about hope.

Albert Chen

1. The Transistor Kid, by Robert Creamer, May 4, 1964

This rich profile of Vin Scully takes a magical turn when Creamer allows the voice of the Dodgers to recount the time he sat on a stadium roof during a frigid winter to call a football game.

2. Heaven Help Marge Schott, by Rick Reilly, May 20, 1996

A rollicking piece on the Reds owner, this is vintage Reilly -- so vivid that you can smell the vodka on Schott's breath.

3. He Does It By The Numbers, by Daniel Okrent, May 25, 1981

Way before Bill James was famous, Okrent brilliantly gets inside the head of baseball's statistical svengali.

4. Benching of a Legend, by Roger Kahn, September 12, 1960

"Athletes, like chorus girls, are usually the last to admit that age has affected them." So writes Kahn in this elegant piece on Stan Musial in the twilight of his career.

5. The High Price of Hard Living, by Tom Verducci, February 27, 1995

The sad tales of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry are told in a remarkable work of writing and reporting.