'have I Got A Story!'

The one thing Goldstein won't talk about is how much money he makes. Well, he slips a little, saying it costs him $500,000 a year just to keep his office open. And, well, a guess of $750,000 in gross income, he says, wouldn't be too silly. Whatever his income is, he owns 42 pairs of shoes, 60 suits, 25 hats, 10 raincoats, and he buys only hand-stitched linen handkerchiefs. Goldstein says it's a throwback to South Carolina. "I had two pair of knickers, and I never want to get caught short again." He carries 17 credit cards.

At The New York Times, columnist George Vecsey says Goldstein's persistence does pay off, as once when Vecsey did a Goldstein-inspired piece on a "fading Soviet high jumper, who made one more good column." Others at the Times are less enthusiastic. Former golf reporter John Radosta chafes at the memories: "Time was, Joey Goldstein had the [Times] sports department in his back pocket. No more." Radosta is still bitter over being assigned to cover a horseshoe pitching contest in Pennsylvania and a snowmobile race in upstate New York, both Goldstein projects he deemed unworthy of the Times. Says Radosta, "I've always had the feeling his ethics were a little bit shadowy." Still, while not being a Goldstein fan, Radosta admits, "If I were a sponsor involved in sports, I'd look for him." Veteran sports publicist Irving Rudd snaps, "People who know me know what I think of him. I have nothing else to say." But another competitor, Mike Cohen, says, "He's my idol. I'd say his only weakness is he forgets where he leaves his shadow."

Make no mistake, Goldstein may be a dinosaur and he can be tough on his staff—screaming is his executive style—but, trust us, you want to sit next to him at a dinner party. And there he is, at New York's La Guardia Airport, dialing a call.... It's ringing.... It's answered. "Here I am," he says. He always is.