Posnanski began his journalism career as a multi-use reporter and an editor at
The Charlotte Observer. He worked as a columnist at
The Cincinnati Post,
The Augusta Chronicle, and
The Kansas City Star. He was a senior writer for
Sports Illustrated until April 2012 when he announced that he would work for Sports on Earth, a new internet joint venture between
USA Today and
Major League Baseball Advanced Media. His first column for Sports on Earth was published on August 26, 2012. In February 2013, he became the national columnist for
NBC Sports. In February 2017, he became a national columnist for
MLB.com and contributor on the
MLB Network. A selection of his columns about the magic of sports is compiled in the book
The Good Stuff. His book ''
The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America'' was published by
William Morrow & Company and won the
CASEY Award as best baseball book of 2007. MLB.com included the book in its list of the "Best baseball books of all time" in 2021. Another book, about the
Big Red Machine, titled
The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, was published in 2009 and reached Number 17 on the
New York Times Bestseller List. Posnanski wrote a biography of longtime Penn State football coach
Joe Paterno for
Simon & Schuster, which was released on August 21, 2012 and debuted at Number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Posnanski's fourth book, The Secret of Golf, details the longstanding rivalry and friendship of golfers
Tom Watson and
Jack Nicklaus. His book
The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini was released on October 22, 2019. His latest book was
The Baseball 100 was released on September 28,2021. In October 2007, he debuted his website at joeposnanski.com, later converted to a blog and titled Joe Blog. In 2011, his blog post on
The Promise was named one of "Nearly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism" by
The Atlantic. The blog was nominated for a
National Magazine Award. == Journalism awards ==