Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 07, 2007
A Small Opening

The BBWAA is now open to internet writers. Unfortunately, it appears to be writers who used to be newsmen:

After combing through the list, my first reaction was "what about Rob Neyer?" Well, as it turns out, Rob's nomination was one of two that were turned down. How can that be? Isn't Rob full time? Is he not a baseball writer? Is ESPN not "credentialed" for the post-season? I don't get it.

While I'm happy for the 16 web-based writers who were approved (many of whom had previously been members for years, if not decades), it doesn't make sense to exclude one of the most thoughtful, knowledgeable, and level-headed writers in the business. Rob gets it. Unfortunately, the BBWAA didn't get it quite right this time.

I commend the BBWAA for opening up its membership beyond the newspaper industry and am hopeful that the organization will see fit to approve Rob and many others inside and outside of ESPN, CBS, FoxSports, SI, and Yahoo in the future.

Thanks to Jeffrey Protzel for the link.


Posted by David Pinto at 11:53 AM | News Media | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I would like to nominate a certain David Pinto, who is very knowledgeable about baseball and writes thoughtful pieces.

Posted by: rbj at December 7, 2007 11:59 AM

Seconded!

According to comments under that post, Keith Law was the other one who was not accepted. Apparently, the BBWAA's poor judgment isn't just limited to baseball awards.

Posted by: Jersey at December 7, 2007 12:19 PM

Yes, David Pinto should be a member of the BBWAA, too.

Posted by: Rich Lederer at December 7, 2007 01:06 PM

Screw that, Pinto for Commish! Down with Bud!

Posted by: Nate at December 7, 2007 01:24 PM

Why stop there? Have you been watching these idiots debate? Pinto for President.

Posted by: abe at December 7, 2007 01:36 PM

Rob Neyer is an excellent baseball writer and commentator & humble to admit mistakes in his books like picking Red Sox all time RF as Trot Nixon vice Duey Evans. Why would anyone ever doubt his credentials.

Posted by: Bob S at December 8, 2007 02:40 PM

Rob & Keith were not denied membership based on merit. The BBWAA asked ESPN if all 9 applicants needed press box access, and ESPN told them that Rob & Keith did not. ESPN's 9 applicants, if all were accepted, would have given them the most members of any paper/website/sports news entity.

Posted by: Barron at December 10, 2007 09:15 AM
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