Journalism in Baseball

Baseball is very different than the other three major sports in America. Nobody really knows the exact history of how it started. Many think some white men watched the Indians play stickball and decided to make some changes. Others believe that Abner Doubleday, a Major General of the Union Army, was the first to create baseball. As time went on, baseball soon became the biggest sport in America and became what is known as America’s past time. 

Baseball has come a long way since it first started. So, has the reporting of baseball. At the time, newspaper was the only way for people to get their news. As new teams started to pop up, more and more reporters were needed to cover games, news, and much more. 

In the early days, journalists worked for individual teams much like they do today but rather than working from home or for a newspaper, they traveled with the team and was paid by said team. It was the team’s way of making sure nothing was in the newspaper that they didn’t approve of. 

As time moved on, the Negro League came along and black reporters were eager to be a part of a team. However once Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, black journalists weren’t allowed in press boxes during the MLB games. They had to sit in the colored seating just like the rest of the fans. For them to get their stories out on time, they had to sit with their typewriters on their knees and write from the stands. It wasn’t until the 1948 season that Wendell Smith worked for the African American-owned Pittsburgh Courier and was the first black baseball journalists that could join the BBWAA. From that point on, all baseball reporters regardless of their skin color could use tables and desks to wright their stories.

Baseball journalism has come a long way since the 1940s. Today anybody can be a “journalist” for any sport they want. All you need is some way to connect to any social media site and a way to type, but you are now a blogger with no set accountability. A lot of people are so biased to their team and they can’t accept the fact that bad things happen. A well-respected writer will write about the good and the bad, the popular and unpopular opinions, and ins and outs of their team.