Lonnie Wheeler dies

[BCubb2003]

I really enjoyed his “The Cincinnati Game.”

C. Trent is posting a nice remembrance.

https://www.wvxu.org/post/lonnie-whe...-died#stream/0

https://twitter.com/ctrent/status/1270810496053194753

I think Lonnie posted in here when he was writing “Intangiball.”

[UKFlounder]

Sad news

[Roy Tucker]

I saw this on Facebook. He would make comments on my bird spottings. Sad news.

[redsmetz]

WVXU's John Kiesewater wrote an obit there.

https://www.wvxu.org/post/lonnie-whe...uthor-has-died

I got to know Lonnie when he was still at the Post after I emailed him about a story he wrote. I mentioned that he had worked at various papers papers with my wife's sister and brother-in-law; first in Anderson, SC, then Jackson, MS and finally here in Cincinnati. While Lonnie began at the Enquirer, my brother-in-law was a reporter for the Post. We struck up a friendship via email & later Facebook.

He had an account here on RZ, although I'm blanking at what his ID was. While working on his book Intangiball, he got permission from the admins to set up a separate account by his actual name as he researched the book.

One of my favorite stories he wrote was him traveling around the Cincinnati area one hot summer day looking to find people playing baseball on area ball fields. I asked him about it and he took the time to find a stored copy and sent it to me. As some of you have seen in Trent's tribute, as well as from many others, he was a great guy besides being a fantastic writer.

BTW, for all the hate we have for the Cubs, his book Bleachers, about one summer at Wrigley Field is a great book.

[redsmetz]

WVXU's John Kiesewater wrote an obit there.

https://www.wvxu.org/post/lonnie-whe...uthor-has-died

I got to know Lonnie when he was still at the Post after I emailed him about a story he wrote. I mentioned that he had worked at various papers papers with my wife's sister and brother-in-law; first in Anderson, SC, then Jackson, MS and finally here in Cincinnati. While Lonnie began at the Enquirer, my brother-in-law was a reporter for the Post. We struck up a friendship via email & later Facebook.

He had an account here on RZ, although I'm blanking at what his ID was. While working on his book Intangiball, he got permission from the admins to set up a separate account by his actual name as he researched the book.

One of my favorite stories he wrote was him traveling around the Cincinnati area one hot summer day looking to find people playing baseball on area ball fields. I asked him about it and he took the time to find a stored copy and sent it to me. As some of you have seen in Trent's tribute, as well as from many others, he was a great guy besides being a fantastic writer.

BTW, for all the hate we have for the Cubs, his book Bleachers, about one summer at Wrigley Field is a great book.

Lonnie's Redszone id was Mace.

[redsmetz]

NM

[mth123]

Lonnie's Redszone id was Mace.

I had no idea. Mace' Minor League Player of the day threads were always a highlight here. RIP.

[redsmetz]

I had no idea. Mace' Minor League Player of the day threads were always a highlight here. RIP.

Yeah, he wanted that anonymity, but you could tell he enjoyed following the minor league games and writing about them.

[Tom Servo]

Wow, mace was one of my favorite people on here given our mutual passion for reporting on the minor league going-ons. He was always nice enough to send me a polite DM reminder when I got a little too turnt up on a Friday night and was late posting the PotD results the next day lol. Certainly had no idea he was Lonnie Wheeler, but I'm not at all stunned to find out he was an accomplished writer and well liked individual.

RIP.

[RedsManRick]

We had a good offline conversation about sabermetrics about 10 years ago. I think he was working on a book at the time. He messaged me out of the blue and I got to feel like an expert on something for a bit. It was a cool interaction -- he'll be missed.

[cumberlandreds]

I never knew he was mace on here. I thought he had just posted under his own name those few times. Thanks for letting us know that.

[redsmetz]

Here's the Enquirer write-up, a nice one.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...ed/5335767002/

I checked Mace's personal page. Lonnie last logged on to RZ on June 4th in the early morning hours.

[cumberlandreds]

Here's the Enquirer write-up, a nice one.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...ed/5335767002/

I checked Mace's personal page. Lonnie last logged on to RZ on June 4th in the early morning hours.

According to Amazon his book on Cool Papa Bell is due out Feb 2021. That should be a lasting legacy for him.

[M2]

This is just sad news. The world needs all the good people it can get, and Lonnie/mace was one.

[redsmetz]

Here is the Fresh Air interview Lonnie did on NPR after Intangiball was released. I think the book had its inception here on RZ with our debates here about Sabermetrics, etc. The interview is 10 minutes long.

https://www.npr.org/2015/09/08/43856...ng-team-sports