Jayson Stark (born July 19, 1951) is an American sportswriter and author who covers

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

for ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

''. He is most known for his time with ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...

Biography

Stark grew up in

Northeast Philadelphia Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of between 300,000 and 450,000, depending ...

and graduated from Syracuse University's

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

with a degree in journalism in 1973. In 1979 he joined ''

'' as a beat writer for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citizen ...

, and eventually became a national baseball writer and columnist for that paper. From 1983 to 1999 he produced a nationally syndicated ''Baseball Week in Review'' column "known for unearthing obscure, historic and humorous aspects of baseball". He was twice named Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year by the

National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports Pr ...

. His observations and analysis of the 1993 Phillies team is quoted in several books. Stark joined

in 2000. He was a senior writer for

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

. He also contributed to ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and ...

'',

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a ...

, ''

Baseball Tonight ''Baseball Tonight'' (stylized as ''Baseball Tonight presented by Chevrolet'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American television program that airs on ESPN. The show, which covers the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since ...

'', and a weekly segment during baseball season with WHB 810 in Kansas City. He appeared weekly on ''

Mike & Mike ''Mike & Mike'' (formerly ''Mike and Mike in the Morning'') was an American Sports radio, sports-talk radio Radio programming, show that was hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on ESPN networks from 2000–2017. The show aired on ESPN Radi ...

''. Beginning in 2014, Stark began co-hosting a weekly radio show during baseball season on ESPN Radio's affiliate in Philadelphia. Stark was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. Stark was laid off from ESPN on April 26, 2017, along with several other on-air personalities. On April 1, 2018, he started writing for ''

''. Stark is the 2019 recipient of the

J. G. Taylor Spink Award The BBWAA Career Excellence Award, formerly the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, is the highest award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It is given "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing" and voted on annually by ...

given by the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908, and is known fo ...

, for "meritorious contributions to baseball writing".

Personal

Stark's wife Lisa is an assistant coach for the Council Rock North volleyball team. They have three children.

Bibliography

Books

* * *

Selected articles

* * * *
Schmidt Just Made It Look Easy
, in ''The Phillies Reader'', Richard Orodenker, ed. 2005: Temple University Press, page 220. .

References

External links

ESPN Jayson Stark Blog
* *
Jayson Stark Live
CBS Local
Stark on 'Cuse Conversations Podcast in 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Jayson Living people 1951 births Writers from Philadelphia Sportswriters from Pennsylvania S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni American television reporters and correspondents Jewish American writers The Philadelphia Inquirer people 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 21st-century American journalists 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients 21st-century American Jews