Mike Vaccaro

Mike Vaccaro

Background

Mike Vaccaro has been the lead sports columnist for the New York Post since November 2002. In that time he has written about every important sporting event and sports figure in New York City and covered 18 Super Bowls, 12 World Series, 10 Final Fours and 10 BCS Championship Games. He has been recognized three times as New York Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association and was recognized in 2017 by the New York Press Club for his deadline work. A 1989 graduate of St. Bonaventure University, Vaccaro previously worked at newspapers in Newark, Kansas City, Middletown, N.Y., Fayetteville, Ark., and Olean, N.Y. He is the author of three books: “Emperors and Idiots,” about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry; “1941: the Greatest Year in Sports;” and “The First Fall Classic,” about the 1912 World Series. He also makes frequent television and radio appearances. A native of West Hempstead, N.Y., Vaccaro now makes his home in Hillsdale, N.J. with his wife, Leigh, and two rambunctious terriers: a 12-pound Westy named Fiona and Desmond, a 12,000-pound (or so it seems) Airedale. He is a terrible golfer and undefeated in all games involving “Godfather” trivia.

Latest Articles

Getting a grip on sports fueled ego is not so easy

I was having one of those seasons you dream about as a Little Leaguer. It was my first taste of actually being good at sports, Mike Vaccaro writes.

Juan Soto embraced playing in New York spotlight right from the start

Juan Soto hasn’t only accepted the responsibility of stardom here, he’s embraced it, and he’s thrived.

NFL's odd-looking new kickoff rules will come with own adjustment period

We no longer have the placekicker jogging toward his teammates and picking up steam as he lays into the ball.

The Mets are taking it one Proof of Life moment at a time

When you think of last summer at Citi Field – and the first two months of this season, too – and remember what a joyless slog it was like here,...

Mets' season will be defined by this 10-game gauntlet

Starting Monday, the Mets began a 10-games-in-10-days stretch that, almost certainly, will define their season.

Why rewarding the extra wild-card spots is ultimately best for sports playoffs

Wild cards are a genuine salvation and our baseball season in New York offer the two best examples of why.

Carlos Mendoza can't waver on how he's guided Mets

Now would be a good time for Carlos Mendoza to replicate what he did between mid-May and mid-June.

What will decide everything between the Mets and Braves

Back in June, we saw it. It was real. Now they’re scuffling.

It's about time the 1962 Mets pass infamous torch to dreadful White Sox

Sometimes the eye test is all you need. The Chicago White Sox pass the eye test. They are about as bad as professional baseball players can ever be. 

The Yankees look like the Yankees again

The Yankees look far more like the team we saw in April and May, less so the team that spent more than a month in baseball purgatory in June and...

USA's 3x3 basketball embarrassment at Olympics should be a huge wakeup call

I hereby implore the United States of America to do what we did beginning right around the morning of Sept. 29, 1988.

Jalen Brunson was the Knicks' captain long before it was official

Jalen Brunson has been the captain of the Knicks from the second he signed his name at the bottom of his contract 25 months ago.

The sneaky importance of this Mets win

You get these sometimes. They sneak up on you.

Mets sure look different after deadline -- but will it be enough?

No, this wasn’t Yoenis Cespedes arriving (both literally and figuratively) on his white horse as the seconds ticked away toward the 2015 trade deadline.

Mets must prove this is who they really are

Are these the real Mets? 

Death of last player from CCNY scandal provides touching reminder of second chances

On the eve of his induction to the New York Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, Layne was the one who brought up the infamous part of his rich tapestry...

Mets' midseason turnaround has few parallels in New York sports history

As I've watched the Mets this season, I’ve kept trying to think of another example of a team that made such a remarkable in-season turnaround. 

Mets, Yankees have New York in baseball Bizarro World

White is black. Black is white. Through the looking glass, people. 

It's probably better we can't see how George Steinbrenner would have handled these Yankees

Most days, it’s just an easy punch line, a cudgel to angrily swing as you’re cursing at your television set. Most days, the reasonable fans roll their eyes and quote...

The Knicks didn't foul it up with Tom Thibodeau extension

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Jalen Brunson. Listen to Josh Har. Listen to this longtime NBA insider.