The Ol' Ballfield

A terrible journalist by any other name would be as bad at being a journalist

Hard to believe Shakespeare wrote those immortal words over one million years ago.

Joe Sheehan over at BP thinks we should change the name of the BBWAA to the BBRAA; that is, the Baseball Reporters Association of America. Can't say I disagree with his logic:

The organization of professionals who cover baseball games and lay claim to the voting process for the major awards and the Hall of Fame is, to me, the Baseball Reporters Association of America. That’s not to denigrate what those people do; it’s to better describe it. The organization has made it clear that it exists as an advocacy group for the people who cover baseball games on a daily basis for print publications.

My argument is simply that they don’t get to co-opt the term “writer,” not in this era, not when they actively exclude talents like Rob Neyer and Steven Goldman and Christina Kahrl and Alex Belth and so many other people who cover baseball by means other than traveling with teams and relaying quotes to the public.

Don't forget all the awful MVP ballots, Joe!

posted by Carnival @ 11/28/2006