BBWAA Opens Up To Web-based Writers

[HoustonGM]

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives...a_opens_up.php

The two nominations that didn't get in? Rob Neyer and Keith Law.

Anybody else see the connection there? It's sad.

[boomboom]

Well, Neyer doesn't cover games . So he doesn't qualify.

He is certainly the best writer at ESPN.

[ohms_law]

Perfect reply to that bobby:

BBWAA membership is for writers who cover games at the stadiums. A BBWAA credential gets us access to the press box, the clubhouse, etc. Most of what we do is based on keeping that access and giving out that credential to writers who need it.

Whatever the original intent of the BBWAA, its most critical function now is its role in voting for both awards recipients and Hall of Fame inductees. From an administrative standpoint, it would not be labor-intensive to separate credentialed BBWAA writers from those who merely are widely read enough and obviously follow the game closely enough to merit a vote for post-season awards and HOF inductees.

I’ve been covering baseball in New York since 1999 and I can never remember seeing Rob at a game. For him, BBWAA membership would be largely useless I suspect.

Rob lives in Portland, Oregon. Should he move so that his voice can be heard for awards and HOF voting?

Via the local chapters, writers who don’t actually cover games are excluded from time to time. Just because somebody wants a card doesn't mean they qualify for one.

I think we can all agree that only influential writers with a baseline track record of quality output would qualify.

While it's amusing that some people think it's a conspiracy, that really had nothing to do with it. ESPN is getting seven memberships. That's probably more than any media outlet in the country other than the NYC papers.

We specifically said that Rob (or anybody else for that matter) would be considered again if there was some compelling reason.

The BBWAA is around to keep the rights of working beat writers for the most part. It's not a social club. I read Rob and Keith and plenty of other people on line. But they're not working beat writers.

Hope that clears it up.

Understood. As mentioned above, there are two simple steps that address all of this.

1) You have "credentialed" and "non=credentialed" members.

2) You come up with criteria for internet writers to qualify so that members can vote for new members based on a clear set of standards.

and wait... Rob Neyer lives next door to me?


...I wonder if I can get his autograph, or something.

[HoustonGM]

Well, Neyer doesn't cover games . So he doesn't qualify.

He is certainly the best writer at ESPN.

The qualification was "full-time baseball writers who work for websites that are credentialed by MLB for post-season coverage." Rob Neyer is a full-time baseball writer that works at ESPN, a website credentialed by the MLB for post-season coverage. I don't recall seeing Jayson Stark ever cover a game, or Jim Caple, or Jerry Crasnick...etc.

Rob Neyer posts his comments over at Baseball Think Factory:

I don't know exactly what went down and probably never will. According to BBWAA president Bob Dutton, my membership was rejected because I don't go to the ballpark often enough (not that anybody really knows how often I'm at ballpark). I believe -- based on some scraps of information I've got -- that was merely a convenient pretext for blackballing me, and today I would be a member if I'd been a bit more circumspect with my opinions over the years.

But where's the fun in that?

I'm happy for Amy Nelson, and I hope the BBWAA finds room next year for not only Keith Law, but also Joe Sheehan and a bunch of other guys who are doing good work. Me? I'll wear my rejection proudly. Getting turned down for a date by Shelly Blumel in the sixth grade hurt a lot more than this.

I've got it on pretty good authority that the BBWAA's ranks include a fair number of people who aren't even "writers", including editors and assistant editors who virtually never are at the ballpark in any official capacity. As I said, that was just a convenient pretext.

But you know, it's their club. They can do what they want with it.

Neyer and Law both embrace sabermetric principles to sum extent, and they are also not at all shy to express their opinions, even if it dissents from the mainstream viewpoint. In my opinion, that is why they were turned down. The excuse that they don't see enough games is ridiculous. Like Neyer said, they don't actually know how many games he attends. And Law? That guy attends tons of games, probably more at the minor league level than the major league level, but still. He scouts players all around the country - just to write about them for ESPN. If that doesn't deserve BBWAA membership, I don't know what does.

The BBWAA views change like it's the plague. It took them a decade to even consider allowing internet writers in...

[LLP]

Sometime in the next decade or so, the newspaper industry will go bankrupt (though it will probably get a government bailout, despite the lack of demand for newspapers) and will be replaced by the new media of the Internet (which is open to anybody).

Eventually, the Award voting and Hall of Fame voting will have to be opened up to the public. The old media has already lost their position as a "gatekeeper" and they are soon going to lose completely.

The BBWAA, if it wishes to survive, will have to continue to open up its membership more and more, as offline news sources are on their way out (including TV news programs).

[HoustonGM]

Eventually, the Award voting and Hall of Fame voting will have to be opened up to the public.

To the public, as in, to any fan who wants to vote? THAT I think is a bad idea.

[dps]

To the public, as in, to any fan who wants to vote? THAT I think is a bad idea.

Agree. The voting would become even more of a popularity contest than it already is.

[HoustonGM]

Yeah, as much as I dislike the BBWAA, and as often as they make boneheaded decisions...well, if it was up to the fans, it would just be off-the-walls.

[ohms_law]

It's more likely that, eventually, the Hall Of Fame will begin an actual voting committee specifically for the purpose of inducting players.