Press & broadcasting / Sports
Joe Falls
1928–2004 · sportswriter, columnist
Detroit's most widely read sportswriter for half a century, covering the Tigers for the Times and Free Press and later writing for the Detroit News.
- Born
New York City, New York- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 76- Birth name
- Joseph Francis Falls
- Detroit years
- 1953–2004
- Field
- Press & broadcasting, Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Falls started as a teenage copyboy for the Associated Press in New York and, after an eight-year apprenticeship, moved to the AP's Detroit bureau in the early 1950s. Detroit became his home and his subject for the rest of his life. He covered the Tigers for the Detroit Times from 1956, then moved to the Detroit Free Press, where he was on the Tigers beat and wrote a popular column from 1960 to 1978. Known for his conversational style and for picking fights with athletes, he famously needled slugger Rocky Colavito with a mock statistic, "RNBI", for runs not batted in. In 1978 he joined the Detroit News, where he was a columnist and eventually sports editor until he retired in 2003. He wrote several books on the Tigers and Red Wings, received baseball writing's highest honor, the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, and was named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. He died in Detroit in 2004.
Highlights
- Covered the Tigers for the Detroit Times from 1956
- Detroit Free Press baseball writer and columnist 1960–1978
- Detroit News columnist and sports editor 1978–2003
- J. G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America
- Author of books on the Tigers and the Red Wings
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1956–1999
Tiger Stadium (site)
Demolished · 1912–1999
The press box where he covered the Tigers for decades; demolished in 2008–2009.