The Duck Stops Here

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

-T.S. Eliot

As another season draws to a close, so does another year of following the Padres at Ducksnorts. And while our favorite baseball team will return to fight again next year, I will not.

After 14 years of producing Ducksnorts, I no longer have the time or energy necessary to do so at a level of quality acceptable to me. The sacrifices and compromises one is willing to make in life at age 42 are different from those one is willing to make at age 28.

Ballplayers get old. Writers get old. Priorities change.

When Ducksnorts first launched in 1997, Hank Aaron and Roger Maris reigned as baseball’s home run kings, Derrek Lee still played for the Padres, and Anthony Rizzo was just entering the third grade. In some respects, it seems like a lifetime ago. Heck, I’ve never even lived in a place as long as I’ve written Ducksnorts.

The list of people I need to acknowledge for their support and guidance is prohibitively long, so we’ll just stick to generalities. Thanks to everyone who ever read, commented, or otherwise participated here at Ducksnorts; to everyone who bought my books; to the folks at Top Prospect Alert, Hardball Times, All-Baseball/MVN, b5media, Baseball Daily Digest, Baseball Prospectus, and ESPN for providing me with opportunities to reach a wider audience than I’d ever dreamed possible; to current and former members of the Padres front office, broadcast team, and other departments for their generosity of time and spirit; to local, national, and international broadcast and print media who have taken an interest in my work here; and to everyone who doesn’t fall into one of the aforementioned categories.

Thanks most of all to my wife of nearly 16 years for putting up with more of my nonsense than you’ll ever know. How and why she has done so lies quite beyond my comprehension, but I am grateful beyond words that she has.

To everyone reading this: It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve you as best I could over the years. If you need to find me for whatever reason, I’ll still be at Baseball Prospectus, Twitter, Petco Park, and various minor-league ballparks.

Thanks again for everything, and take care. Go Padres!

gy

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100 Responses »

  1. Damn, where are the grownups going to go now?

  2. i blame Joe Poz for this place shutting down.
    as long as Joe Poz writes like this:
    http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/09/baseball-night-in-america.html

    GY would always have to find time (that’s hard to come by) to read them, and it looks like he made the choice and we all are going to suffer for it. darned that Joe Poz, why does he have to be so good.

    happy reading, GY. :)

  3. When we met up at Oktoberfest I told my wife who you were and she took the news with disbelief. “That’s the guy who writes the books you read!?”

    Even wives know of Ducksnorts . . . a true indicator of the reach of your writing!

    Some of the other bloggers and I (Rjs Fro, Woe Doctor) often joke about the horribly inconsistent nature of our posts. We vie for the coveted title of “The Worst Padres Blogger”! If there is one certainty in life it is that Geoff Young of Ducksnorts would never be invited to such a contest.

    We Padres fans always knew of a place to come to, in Ducksnorts. A place of, intelligence and passion but most of all . . . consistency. To do what you have done for as long as you have done it is nothing short of remarkable and while nothing is impossible I worry that the void will never be filled.

    What disappointing news to wake up to. Best of luck with your future writing endeavors, friend.

  4. Oh, this is sad news, but I understand. A close friend of mine has a blog (non sports related), and I am aware of the great deal of time and effort required for him to do a good job at it. It can be very consuming.

    I lurked here for a few years and believe I started commenting in November of 2007. Whether I agreed with you or not, your posts were always articulate, insightful, and a pleasure to read. I have always valued your historical knowledge and context of the game and the Padres, which is a rare commodity on many present day Padres sites. I am going to miss this very much!

    Thanks for the great content….you’ve done an excellent job. I’ll do my best to follow your work on the sites mentioned above.

    Fair winds from Connecticut!

    PS – Can I still send you articles from time to time, or will your email address be shutting down too?

  5. Another Padres season over. When the Padres make the playoffs next year, GY will have to come back here and make posts until the Padres are crowned 2012 WS CHAMPS!!! :P

  6. There was a reason I called your wife the Most Understanding Wife Ever!

    Many, many thanks to both of you for your dedication! Hope to catch up soon!

    BG