A relentless reporter and fearless writer who earned respect throughout baseball’s press boxes and clubhouses for his distinctive voice and incisive coverage of the game, Post-Dispatch sports columnist Joe Strauss died early Sunday morning from complications related to a yearlong battle against leukemia. He was 54.
Before becoming a sports columnist at the newspaper in 2012, Strauss spent nearly three decades covering baseball and was widely regarded as one of the finest, sharpest beat writers by his contemporaries. He wrote the first and, in many cases, the lasting words on how Cal Ripken Jr.’s historic Iron Man streak ended; how the Atlanta Braves’ dynasty of the 1990s began; and how Albert Pujols’ career was unlike any the Cardinals had seen in generations.