Mike Vaccaro

Mike Vaccaro
Born
Michael Vaccaro Jr.

(1967-01-02) January 2, 1967
West Hempstead, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationChaminade High School
Alma materSt. Bonaventure University
SubjectSports
SpouseLeigh Hursey

Michael Vaccaro Jr.[1] (January 2, 1967) has been the lead sports columnist for the New York Post since November 2002. Previously, he has worked as a columnist at The Star-Ledger, The Kansas City Star, and the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York. He was also a sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times, and was appointed to that position in 1991.

Vaccaro has won over 50 writing awards since beginning his career in 1989 as a reporter for the Olean Times Herald, where his primary beat was St. Bonaventure University basketball.

Early life and career

Born in West Hempstead, New York,[1] on January 2, 1967,[2][3][4][5] Vaccaro is the son of Michael and Ann McMahon Vaccaro.[1][6] His first published work appeared in 1979, a sports cartoon submitted at age 12 to New York Newsday's "Kidsday" page,[3] which led, that summer, to employment that summer, credited as "Kidsday Staff Artist".[7] Vaccaro later attended Chaminade High School and St. Bonaventure University,[8] graduating in 1989.[9][10]

Between 2005 and 2009, Vaccaro authored three books, including Emperors and Idiots: The Hundred Year Rivalry Between the Yankees and Red Sox, From the Very Beginning to the End of the Curse, followed, two years later, by 1941: The Greatest Year in Sports,[11] and, in 2009, by his in-depth recreation of the 1912 World Series, The First Fall Classic : The Red Sox, the Giants, and the Cast of Players, Pugs, and Politicos who Reinvented the World Series in 1912.[12] 2026 saw the publication of Vaccaro's next book, Bosses of the Bronx : The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner.[13]

Personal life

In the opening "Acknowledgments" section of his first published book (Emperors and Idiots in 2005), Vaccaro concludes with one directed towards his wife, the former Leigh Hursey,[2] whose smile on the day that work was published is characterized as "matched in my memory only by the one I wore the day I met her".[6] As of 2007, the couple resided in Hillsdale, New Jersey.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Reporter's Notebook". The Buffalo News. November 3, 1988. p. B4. Retrieved March 1, 2026. "THE WINNER of the first Maureen J. Shanahan Memorial Scholarship is Michael Vaccaro Jr., a senior mass communication major at St. Bonaventure University. Vaccaro, a native of West Hempstead, L.I., served one year as editor-in-chief of The Bona Venture and has worked for other campus media while maintaining a 3.45-grade-point average."
  2. ^ a b Vaccaro, Mike (September 28, 2019). "Open Mike: Ruth? A-Rod? Where Pete Alonso fits into NY’s home run greatness; Vac's Whacks". The New York Post. Retrieved March 1, 2026. "Fifty years ago, between Sept. 23 and Sept. 26: 1) The ’69 Mets clinched the pennant; 2) “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” opened; 3) “The Brady Bunch” premiered; 4) “Abbey Road” was released; 5) My wife, the former Leigh Hursey, was born. Best week ever for 2-year-old me."
  3. ^ a b "Sports Stuff". New York Newsday. January 23, 1979. p. 14B. Retrieved March 1, 2026. "By Mike Vaccaro, Age 12, West Hempstead [...] 'I think you'll find basketball a fairly easy game to play!' [...] Send the pictures and cartoons you draw to Art Gallery, Kidsday, Newsday, Garden City, N.Y, 11530. Send your name, age, address and telephone number. Use plain white paper and black paint or a black pen, felt-tipped marker or crayon."
  4. ^ Vaccaro, Mike (January 2, 2026). "Happy 59". Facebook. Retrieved March 1, 2026. "Why is this man smiling? Two reasons. 1) His wife absolutely NAILED Ma Vac’s famous sour cream cake for his birthday. 2) He heard from so many of you on his birthday. Kindness abounds in this world. Happy New Year."
  5. ^ Vaccaro, Mike (January 2, 2022). "Thanks so much". Facebook. Retrieved March 1, 2026. "... for all the kind birthday greetings. I suspect double-nickel is going to be a hell of a year. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2022 for everyone."
  6. ^ a b Vaccaro, Mike (2005). "Emperors and Idiots: The Hundred Year Rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox, From the Very Beginning to the End of the Curse." Broadway Books. p.  XIV. ISBN 0-7679-1910-6. "Lastly, I want to salute the two women in my life: my mother, Ann McMahon Vaccaro, who ceded me not only her grammar gene but also an unyielding belief that her boy could write a book someday. And, of course, to Leigh Hursey Vaccaro, best friend and best girl, whose smile on the day I sold this book is matched in my memory only by the one I wore the day I met her."
  7. ^ Vaccaro, Mike (Kidsday Staff Artist). "Sports Stuff". New York Newsday. July 20, 1979. p. 20B. "YOU KNOW THAT NEW ROOKIE? HE MEASURED IN AT 6 FOOT 4 ... HE'S ACTUALLY 5-11 IF HE'D JUST STEP OFF HIS WALLET."
  8. ^ "Mike Vaccaro: Education". Facebook. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  9. ^ Sullivan, Jerry (April 4, 2004). "Unrivaled Rivalry". The Buffalo News. p. C-9. Retrieved February 28, 2026. "'The rivalry has never been as intense as it is right now,' said Mike Vaccaro, the New York Post sports columnist who is writing a book on the rivalry. 'You have it 24 hours a day.' Vaccaro, who graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1989, says the rivalry has moved to an even higher level because of the behavior of the owners."
  10. ^ "Distinguished Graduates | Jandoli School of Communication". St. Bonaventure University. Retrieved 2026-02-28.
  11. ^ Kerwick, Nike (June 10, 2007). "Sportswriter's pen is always in play". The Record (Bergen County). Retrieved December 29, 2007. But the Hillsdale resident moonlights as an author. Instead of cobbling together 700 frenzied words before deadline turns his column into a pumpkin, Vaccaro had time to weave 85,000 words into a polished narrative. His second book, "1941: The Greatest Year in Sports," hit bookshelves June 5.
  12. ^ Sullivan, Jerry (November 2009). "Nonfiction: Vaccaro offers front-row seat to the 1912 world's series' (The First Fall Classic. By Mike Vaccaro". The Buffalo News. p. F10. Retrieved February 28, 2026.
  13. ^ "Bosses of the Bronx : The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner". Worldcat. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  14. ^ Grossinger, Richard; Vaccaro, Mike (2007). The New York Mets : Ethnography, Myth, and Subtext. Berekeley, CA: Frog, Ltd. p. 315. ISBN 9781583942055. "MIKE VACCARO has been the lead sports columnist at the New York Post since 1992, after previously working at the Newark Star-Ledger, the Kansas City Star, and at newspapers in upstate New York and Arkansas. He is the author of Emperors and Idiots, the definitive history of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, and 1941: The Greatest Year in Sports. The winner of over 150 journalism awards since 1989, he is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and lives in Hillsdale, New Jersey, with his wife, Leigh."
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