James S. Hirsch

Jun 19, 2024 | bostonglobe.com | James S. Hirsch

In October 2016, I called Willie Mays at his home. My biography of him had been published in 2010, and I would still call him on occasion for small talk. In this case, I asked him about the World Series, which had just begun between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. “So, Willie, who you rooting for?”“Oh, no!” he bellowed in a deep, gravelly voice. “I’m not going to answer that question!”I already knew the answer. Willie was a National Leaguer, and he was rooting for the Cubs.

Mar 15, 2024 | wsj.com | James S. Hirsch

One was a pious taskmaster from rural Indiana who quoted Benjamin Franklin for moral guidance. Another was a wary teenager from New York City whose reading of Malcolm X inspired his civil-rights militancy. The third was a taciturn hippy from San Diego whose devotion to the Grateful Dead affirmed his rebellious spirit. They were an unlikely trio, but together, John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton created one of the greatest dynasties in sports history.

Jan 7, 2024 | msn.com | James S. Hirsch

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Jan 7, 2024 | wsj.com | James S. Hirsch

More than 100 years after the miraculous discovery of insulin to treat diabetes, how are things going? More people are getting the disease. (Between 1959 and 2021, the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes increased from 1.5 million to 29.7 million, according to federal government surveys.) Patients are doing worse. (Fewer than 1 in 5 Type 1 patients are achieving blood-sugar goals established by the American Diabetes Association.) Diabetes intensifies America’s economic and racial divide.

Nov 12, 2023 | wsj.com | James S. Hirsch

Two years ago the diabetes community celebrated the 100-year anniversary of insulin’s discovery—a medical miracle that saved the lives of dying patients, transformed unheralded Toronto scientists into Nobel Prize winners, and catalyzed a century of innovation for improved diabetic care.