Part 9B of a 10-part series
When thinking about "favourite pieces of writing," Geoff Baker can look back on his time with the news desk at another paper, where as he recalls, "I chased a convicted fraud artist out of Montreal in 1994 for a highly-suspect theme park project he was promoting ... Real cloak-and-dagger stuff. Our stories got him arrested."
Speaking of fraud, from a sports angle, Baker says his expose of Tim Johnson and his Vietnam lies in 1998 "eventually got him fired and garnered worldwide attention at the time," while a piece on Carlos Delgado helping anti-Navy activists in Puerto Rico also drew widespread praise a couple of years ago.
"But I'm most proud of a 2,200-word feature I wrote on Eric Hinske and his football-playing brother in August 2002," he says.
"From a technical standpoint, the writing style and telling of the [Hinske] story from the angle I chose to do it was extremely difficult," Baker remembers. "The information in the story was newsworthy, like uncovering the real reason why [Eric] had few football offers after high school and how a family friend had to intervene to get him a Division I baseball scholarship."
While it's true that the Blue Jays third sacker is reportedly not pleased with the article himself -- "Funny enough, Eric is still sore about some of the story," admits Baker -- that doesn't change its status as a favoured piece of writing by the author.
"It was told in proper context and I think people got a real sense of what drives both brothers," says Baker. In fact, he says, "[Eric's brother Ryan] and family asked me for multiple copies. Can't please everyone."
Read it now ...
A tale of two Hinskes
Thanks to Geoff Baker for providing text to these stories from the Toronto Star database and permission to republish them here. Links will open a new browser window.
When thinking about "favourite pieces of writing," Geoff Baker can look back on his time with the news desk at another paper, where as he recalls, "I chased a convicted fraud artist out of Montreal in 1994 for a highly-suspect theme park project he was promoting ... Real cloak-and-dagger stuff. Our stories got him arrested."
Speaking of fraud, from a sports angle, Baker says his expose of Tim Johnson and his Vietnam lies in 1998 "eventually got him fired and garnered worldwide attention at the time," while a piece on Carlos Delgado helping anti-Navy activists in Puerto Rico also drew widespread praise a couple of years ago.
"But I'm most proud of a 2,200-word feature I wrote on Eric Hinske and his football-playing brother in August 2002," he says.
"From a technical standpoint, the writing style and telling of the [Hinske] story from the angle I chose to do it was extremely difficult," Baker remembers. "The information in the story was newsworthy, like uncovering the real reason why [Eric] had few football offers after high school and how a family friend had to intervene to get him a Division I baseball scholarship."
While it's true that the Blue Jays third sacker is reportedly not pleased with the article himself -- "Funny enough, Eric is still sore about some of the story," admits Baker -- that doesn't change its status as a favoured piece of writing by the author.
"It was told in proper context and I think people got a real sense of what drives both brothers," says Baker. In fact, he says, "[Eric's brother Ryan] and family asked me for multiple copies. Can't please everyone."
Read it now ...
A tale of two Hinskes
Thanks to Geoff Baker for providing text to these stories from the Toronto Star database and permission to republish them here. Links will open a new browser window.
