Former ESPN, nationwide baseball author Caple dies

Jim Caple, a famous baseball author who spent 17 years at ESPN, died Sunday, his spouse wrote on social media. He was 61.

Caple coated 20 World Collection for ESPN, the St. Paul Pioneer-Press and the Seattle Submit-Intelligencer. He additionally coated a half-dozen Olympic Video games. He closed his profession writing for The Athletic.

He was additionally one of the vital well-liked columnists for ESPN.com’s Web page 2, the place he took a lighter have a look at sports activities and barely missed an opportunity to poke enjoyable on the New York Yankees. He turned that right into a ebook, “The Satan Wears Pinstripes.” He additionally co-wrote the ebook “Finest Boston Sports activities Arguments” with fellow sportswriter Steve Buckley and penned a novel, “The Navigator,” which was based mostly partially on his father, who was a B-24 navigator in World Warfare II.

“My particular person, finest good friend and husband died on Sunday afternoon,” his spouse, Vicki, wrote on the Fb account of her husband. “All of us love Jim Caple a lot and he liked you. Many nice instances, laughs and adventures with all of us with Jim. Go in peace my love.”

Caple’s household mentioned on social media he had ALS and dementia.

Caple wrote for ESPN from 2001 to ’17.

“Jim was an incredible and prolific author who at all times discovered the enjoyment in sports activities,” Kevin Jackson, a former vp at ESPN and Caple’s longtime editor, mentioned. “Whether or not he was writing about baseball, the Olympics, the NCAA Match or his beloved Tour de France, Jim cared deeply in regards to the video games we play, however he by no means took them too significantly.”

Former colleague and fellow baseball author Jerry Crasnick recalled Caple as “one of the vital good, artistic and considerate individuals I’ve ever met” in a poignant social media submit. He additionally recalled Caple’s offbeat facet, together with tales of getting a pedicure with determine skater Johnny Weir and collaborating within the Worldwide Spouse Carrying championships with Vicki.

Caple graduated from the College of Washington and was inducted into his highschool Corridor of Fame at R.A. Lengthy in Longview, Washington, in 2020.

Service preparations are pending.