RIP Anthony Bourdain, Passionate Baseball Fan
Like half my social-media feed, I woke up to the awful news of the suicide of Anthony Bourdain, whose work I have loved going all the way back to the 1999 New Yorker piece that became Kitchen Confidential, his first book. The chef-turned-writer-turned-television-journalist had a remarkable gift for illuminating any corner of the world he wandered via A Cook’s Tour, No Reservations, The Layover, and Parts Unknown, bringing a rare and genuine empathy, compassion and gusto along with him. His career-changing discovery of his writing voice was among the many that inspired me as I embarked upon my own change from graphic design to writing about baseball.
Bourdain’s globe-trotting sent me on journeys I’d have never otherwise taken, both figuratively and literally. Among the latter was Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans, for the best fried chicken I’ll ever eat and the Estancia Del Puerto parrilla in Montevideo, Uruguay, for an all-you-can-eat bucket of grilled meats and entrails. (Nobody, before or since, has been able to convince me to eat kidneys or tripe.) One of my all-time favorite celebrity sightings in 23 years of living in New York City was spotting him strutting — and I mean strutting — down Avenue B in the East Village, circa 2005-06, just south of Tompkins Square Park. The 6-foot-4 Bourdain cut an unmistakable figure, a bad-ass mofo wearing a sleeveless black tank top and jeans, cigarette dangling from his lip.
Bourdain was many things, among them a passionate baseball fan. While sorting through the numerous tributes and obituaries today, a few of his baseball-related clips came to my mind as worth sharing.
From No Reservations‘ Osaka episode (Season 1, Episode 11, starts around 2:35), here he is in a sports bar, dining with rabid fans of the Hanshin Tigers and discussing their rivalry with the Yomiuri Giants:
In that same episode, he takes in the frenzy at a Hanshin Tigers game (a longer version of that starts at 36:15 in the clip above):
From No Reservations‘ Southwest episode (Season 4, Episode 15, start around 11:20), he visits Cooperstown. That’s not the central New York baseball museum but a Phoenix restaurant owned by rock star (and fellow fan) Alice Cooper and Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson. Here he chows down on a two-foot hot dog known — yes, I’m afraid so — as “The Big Unit”:
Here he’s discussing Detroit’s bygone Tiger Stadium, the Joe Torre-era Yankees and the 2001 World Series, as well as the Red Sox breaking their curse, with Cooper:
His No Reservations Cuba episode (Season 7, Episode 9) has multiple baseball scenes. In this one (beginning about 27:00), he visits “La Esquina Caliente” (“The Hot Corner”) of Havana’s Central Park, where Cuba’s official baseball fans — licensed by the government to assemble publicly — debate all manner of baseball issues. Guiding him around the park is Cuban baseball expert Peter Bjarkman, who drops the names of Jose Abreu and Yoenis Cespedes as potential major-league stars a few years before each would defect and fulfill that destiny:
Finally, here’s Andrew McCutchen interviewing Bourdain for the Inside Pirates TV show circa 2013:
Count me as somebody who would have killed to eat a hot dog and drink an overpriced beer at a ballgame with Bourdain. It breaks my heart that his voice has been silenced. May he rest in peace.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting 741741.
Brooklyn-based Jay Jaffe is a senior writer for FanGraphs, the author of The Cooperstown Casebook (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017) and the creator of the JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score) metric for Hall of Fame analysis. He founded the Futility Infielder website (2001), was a columnist for Baseball Prospectus (2005-2012) and a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated (2012-2018). He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011, and a Hall of Fame voter since 2021. Follow him on BlueSky @jayjaffe.bsky.social.
Anyone who thinks baseball is dull has a dull mind.
Always a saying that stuck out to me and I thought of it when hearing of his passing.
Gone too soon.
Did he say that in one of the videos above?
Big baseball fan and big Bourdain fan here. As with many others, I was incredibly sad when I woke up this morning. Thanks for adding another layer to a truly unique and cool guy. RIP
Thanks for the essay and all the links. So terribly sad. RIP Anthony Bourdain.
Sad news upon waking today. Wasn’t aware of this baseball content. haven’t read the above yet due to time crunch but bookmarked to read/watch later. Kudos for putting together what seems like a nice little tribute so quickly.
His unbelievable ability to demonstrate the unifying power of food worldwide was mesmerizing. I learned so much about so many cultures through his work. The news was stunning this morning, a man with such an eloquent voice and seemingly profound perspective is senselessly gone.
Not senseless if it was depression. In a biography of Teddy Roosevelt, I read that he slayed his psychological demons by hunting and other outdoor activities.
I sincerely hope the drinking he did with his meals had nothing to do with his suicide.
He’ll be missed—such a colorful character.
I have anxiety and depression. It went undiagnosed until my 30s. I used to drink before making phone calls, and I could work myself up so tightly, I couldn’t think. I’m lucky to have survived the deepest, darkest times, but I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. My wish is that those of you that have it, talk to somebody. Don’t hold it in. Those that don’t have it, be understanding. I’ve been through it and even I’m not sure why some of us make it and some of us don’t. It’s not for lack of love of your family or selfishness. It’s a chemical imbalance, and I swear to God, really messes with your head.
Always loved his work, I remember that episode of the Hanshin Tigers well. I will miss him.
This death hit me hard. Rest in peace Mr. Bourdain.
It’s not Dave Cameron, but It was a well done piece on a very sad topic. I also enjoyed Bourdain’s programs on tv. May he rest in peace as he is will be missed for a long time,
What a great tribute to Anthony. While I didn’t realize he was into baseball, I can’t say that I’m the least bit surprised. RIP AB.
Among other things, Anthony Bourdain really understood people in a way that few others do. …so of course he was a Yankees fan.
I like the clip of him discussing the 2008 Yankees with Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper (a past his prime rock star) could not understand how the 2008 Yankees team of All Stars had trouble winning. I think Cooper’s once-an-all-star-always-an-all-star mentality is admirable in a way.
I was wondering what year they were talking about. Obviously, I knew it was after 2004, but other than that, wasn’t sure. I love the way he spoke about the Red Sox winning, and how he was happy for them, even being a Yankees fan himself. He really was a great guy, as well as all his other talents.
Bourdain’s suicide is a great loss to the world. He had a sharp edge on him, he properly hated pretension, and he taught the world that to have the best meal or the best life that you had to tell people and things to **** off.
I’ll miss him.
I wrote this for my friends. I’ll share it and you can downvote it to Hell.
Bourdain was well-loved for his work and his personality. His “Kitchen Confidential” shook New York to its core and changed the genre of books about cooking forever. His “No Reservations” show was just fucking brilliant: one of my favorite shows of all time is his food travelogue on Rome, shot in black and white in the manner of Fellini. It is a work of art.
Bourdain taught me how not to get advice about where not to eat when traveling – that if you ask at your hotel where a nice place to eat dinner is they will promptly refer to a place that tourists like, and that’s not what you want. And also how to really do it – to watch and see where the locals are going to eat and go there, or to disparage a local restaurant you’ve never visited to locals and then listen carefully when they tell you where you should’ve eaten instead. He later refined that into an online tactic.
He was a Leftist, but he was a decent human being and tolerant, and he was smart enough and classy enough not to make everything political. He loved his daughter with all his heart – and all other women not so much – and it showed. He was also a serious smartass – a brilliant man with a very sharp edge on him who clearly just did not give a fuck – and I love that in people. The world has far too few of them.
His death was a loss to the world, and to me.
I strongly recommend that you watch the “Roma” episode of his show “No Reservations.” It will explain everything, and it’s a work of art:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3b3k67
“He was a Leftist, but” sorry, this made me laugh… there’s plenty of decent human beings on both sides. There’s nothing wrong with being leftist or on the right. It’s how you treat people. I think both sides have a lot to offer if the other is willing to listen. (to be clear, not criticizing)
Bourdain was a tolerant Leftist; I don’t know any others in real life and I know a lot of people. Nor are there any tolerant Leftist politicians anymore . As a Southerner, whether it’s Obama insulting us for our guns and our religion or Hillary calling us a “basket of deplorables,” all we get from the Left is intolerance and insults.
But not from Bourdain. He was a classic East Coast Leftist, but he was the rare tolerant one.
Bourdain: “The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we’re seeing now. I’ve spent a lot of time in gun-country, God-fearing America. There are a hell of a lot of nice people out there, who are doing what everyone else in this world is trying to do: the best they can to get by, and take care of themselves and the people they love. When we deny them their basic humanity and legitimacy of their views, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good. Nothing nauseates me more than preaching to the converted. The self-congratulatory tone of the privileged left—just repeating and repeating and repeating the outrages of the opposition—this does not win hearts and minds. It doesn’t change anyone’s opinions. It only solidifies them, and makes things worse for all of us.”
I will miss his brilliance, his attitude, and his tolerance.
P.S. I’m not a Republican and I didn’t vote for Trump.
You’re accusing tens of millions of Americans of being intolerant. One of Bourdain’s strengths was his ability for self reflection (as evidenced in the quote you provided).
I’m telling you what I have experienced: nothing but intolerance from every Leftist politician and every Leftist I’ve ever met in real life. That’s a fact resulting from self-reflection, not an accusation. I admire Bourdain for criticizing the Left for its massive intolerance.
And you can actually conclude *I’m* intolerant of Leftists after having read a letter I wrote praising one to the skies? LOL, pull the other leg now.
@johnston The amount of space and time you’ve dedicated to espousing your ridiculous views on a post about honoring a man we just lost to suicide is a damning indictment of your character
Sorry, my initial comment to Johnston wasn’t intended to start a fight. I don’t think either side does a good job of understanding the other. I come from a family full of conservatives that are very tolerant. I have witnessed some of the left mocking some of the right. At the same time, I shifted away from the Republican party based on their own intolerance, and most lefties I know are only hoping for everybody to have a chance in this country, and have everybody treated well. There are a lot of “decent human beings and tolerant” on either side of the aisle, as well as plenty of assholes. I’m live in IL, a blue state, I have family from WI, a purple state, Johnston is from the south, mostly red states. Where we come from is part of who we are, but we’re all capable of of being decent humans. But we will keep having problems if we blame everything on one side.
I have a feeling if we had this discussion with a couple of beers and a plate of nachos, we’d find a lot of similarities and things we could agree one.
Your characterization-stereotyping- of “Leftists” is flawed in the same way that any small sample size generalization is. (Think baseball.)
It says more about two things: one is the nature of the people with whom you associate and two is the tendency of all of us to interpret what others do and say into pre-determined compartments. Thus, what you interpret as being intolerant or self-congratulatory may simply be a misreading of what was said or done or an oversimplification of someone else’s complex outlook.
There are a lot of tolerant leftists if you mean tolerant of different worldviews, folks coming from different backgrounds, etc. If you mean tolerance for people being revanchist, hateful assholes who believe their own rights supersede those of others on the basis of skin color, gender or sexual identification, etc, I can’t help you much.
I particularly liked his comments on Bill Maher, “Insufferably smug. Really the worst of the smug, self-congratulatory left. I have a low opinion of him. I did not have an enjoyable experience on his show. Not a show I plan to do again. He’s a classic example of the smirking, contemptuous, privileged guy who lives in a bubble. And he is in no way looking to reach outside, or even look outside, of that bubble, in an empathetic way.”
He will be missed.
I had the privilege of being on a segment of no reservations and hanging out with him for a few hours before and after filming (no, I’m nobody important). He was genuinely interested in the conversation, and exactly the same guy he presents on camera: smart, straightforward and passionate. The thing that sticks with me was how he talked about quitting smoking because he wanted to live a long time now that he had a daughter. R. I. P.