American sportswriter
Keith Law
is an American baseball writer for
The Athletic
. He previously wrote for ESPN.com and ESPN Scouts, Inc from 2006 ? 2019.
[1]
He was formerly a writer for
Baseball Prospectus
and worked in the
front office
for the
Toronto Blue Jays
. He is a member of the
Baseball Writers' Association of America
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born on June 1, 1973, Law grew up in
Smithtown, New York
on
Long Island
.
[2]
He graduated with honors from
Harvard University
, where he majored in sociology and economics. He received his
Master of Business Administration
from
Carnegie Mellon
's
Tepper School of Business
.
[2]
[3]
Career
[
edit
]
He began writing for
Baseball Prospectus
in 1997.
[2]
Unlike many other
Baseball Prospectus
authors, Law's primary influence was not
Bill James
, but
Eddie Epstein
, the writer of the first
STATS, Inc.
Minor League Scouting Notebook.
[4]
In 2002, Law was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays as a "Consultant to Baseball Operations" after impressing Blue Jays'
general manager
J. P. Ricciardi
during the offseason
winter meetings
.
[5]
Paul DePodesta
had recommended Law to him, and Ricciardi asked Law's opinions regarding the approaching
Rule 5 draft
of that year, and, impressed with Law's answers and explanations, offered him a position with the team.
[6]
During his time with the Blue Jays, he acted as a major league and minor league
scout
, contract negotiator, and provided assistance to the team's marketing and sales staffs.
[3]
Law reached the position of "Special Assistant to the GM" before resigning in 2006 to work at
ESPN
.
[7]
At ESPN, Law worked as baseball scouting writer.
[7]
He writes baseball columns, maintains a blog, provides analysis on radio and television, and holds weekly chats on his blog. He also previously hosted a weekly ESPN podcast, Behind the Dish, and currently hosts a weekly podcast at The Athletic called The Keith Law Show.
On December 29, 2011, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that Law interviewed for a number of front office positions with the Houston Astros, including the title of Scouting Director. Despite all of this, Keith Law decided to remain with ESPN in order to spend more time with his family.
In November 2014, Law got into a day-long
Twitter
argument with pitcher
Curt Schilling
over the
creation?evolution controversy
, defending
evolution
against Schilling's
creationist
arguments, after which ESPN decided to suspend Law's Twitter account.
[8]
ESPN commented that "Keith’s Twitter suspension had absolutely nothing to do with his opinions on the subject," but it remains unclear what other motivation is behind the act, since the conversation between Schilling and Law reportedly "never really turned hostile", with many reading the details feeling that his suspension was "ridiculous".
[9]
When a bystander ordered him to 'Stick to baseball', Law replied "No, I won't. Science is infinitely more important", later emphasizing that "I haven't criticized or questioned anyone's faith. I oppose anti-science, that's all".
[10]
Law concluded by tweeting "
Eppur si muove
.", meaning "And yet it moves", apocryphally said to have been uttered by
Galileo
when the Catholic Church forced him to recant his statements about heliocentricity.
[11]
In 2017 Law released his book on baseball statistics titled
Smart Baseball: The Story behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think about Baseball
.
[12]
His second book
The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves
was released in April 2020.
[13]
Baseball Writers' Association of America
[
edit
]
In December 2007, Law was denied admission to the
Baseball Writers' Association of America
, members of whom vote for
Baseball Hall of Fame
candidates and several annual awards including the
Most Valuable Player
and
Cy Young Award
.
[14]
While 16 other internet baseball columnists were admitted in their first year of eligibility, ESPN's Law and
Rob Neyer
were refused due to the BBWAA's perception that Law and Neyer did not attend enough games in person.
[14]
In 2008, however, Law was admitted to the BBWAA along with Neyer and
Baseball Prospectus
writers
Christina Kahrl
and
Will Carroll
.
[15]
On his 2009 NL Cy Young ballot, Law listed
Javier Vazquez
in front of
Adam Wainwright
and did not include
Chris Carpenter
on the three name ballot,
[16]
which elicited strong reactions from
St. Louis Cardinals
fans.
[17]
Law stated, "Carpenter's innings total was the main reason he ended up off my ballot. He pitched extremely well when on the mound, but not well enough to close the value gap between him and the three pitchers I listed, each of whom threw at least 27 innings more than Carpenter".
[18]
The Athletic
[
edit
]
On January 6, 2020, Law joined The Athletic as a Senior Baseball Writer.
Other interests
[
edit
]
Law's main interests outside of baseball are cuisine,
German-style board games
, and literature.
[2]
For these other interests, he maintains the personal website
meadowparty.com
, which includes a food and literature blog, and reviews of board games. On the Season Four disc of
Home Movies
, he recorded two commentary tracks. Law currently lives in Delaware with his family. Law has been outspoken about his struggle and treatment of his anxiety disorder.
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"About me"
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"An Interview with Keith Law"
.
Batter's Box
. June 10, 2003
. Retrieved
November 2,
2007
.
- ^
a
b
Law, Keith (August 2004).
"In the Big Leagues Now: Keith Law's MBA, combined with his baseball knowledge, helped him to win a dynamic job with the Toronto Blue Jays"
.
BusinessWeek
. Archived from
the original
on December 3, 2007
. Retrieved
November 2,
2007
.
- ^
Law, Keith (January 10, 2002).
"The Imbalance Sheet: Crossing the Chasm"
.
Baseball Prospectus
. Retrieved
December 10,
2007
.
- ^
Neyer, Rob
(November 11, 2002).
"Sabermetricians slowly being added to the inner circle"
.
ESPN.com
. Retrieved
November 2,
2007
.
- ^
Schwarz, Alan
(2004).
The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics
. New York:
Thomas Dunne Books
. pp.
232
.
ISBN
0-312-32222-4
.
- ^
a
b
Press release (May 31, 2006).
"Blue Jays bid farewell to Keith Law"
.
MLB.com
.
Toronto Blue Jays
. Retrieved
November 2,
2007
.
- ^
John Healy (November 21, 2014).
"ESPN suspends Keith Law from Twitter after arguing about evolution with Curt Schilling: report"
.
Daily News
. Retrieved
November 23,
2014
.
- ^
Joe Lucia (November 21, 2014).
"ESPN reportedly suspends Keith law for Twitter argument with Curt Schilling (Update)"
.
Awful Announcing
. Retrieved
November 23,
2014
.
- ^
Barry Petchesky (November 21, 2014).
"ESPN Suspends Keith Law From Twitter For Defending Evolution [UPDATE]"
.
Deadspin
. Retrieved
November 23,
2014
.
- ^
"After a Brief Suspension for Defending Evolution, ESPN's Keith Law Returns to Twitter with This Gem"
.
- ^
"Smart Baseball The Story behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think about Baseball: Keith Law: HarperCollins.com: Books"
. HarperCollins.com
. Retrieved
May 10,
2019
.
- ^
"The Inside Game Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves: Keith Law: HarperCollins.com: Books"
. HarperCollins.com
. Retrieved
January 6,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Brown, Maury
(December 10, 2007).
"Bob Dutton Addresses the BBWAA Inclusion Process"
.
The Biz of Baseball
. Archived from
the original
on December 13, 2007
. Retrieved
December 11,
2007
.
- ^
Kaufman, King
(December 11, 2008).
"BBWAA votes in Prospectus, Neyer, Law"
.
Salon.com
. Archived from
the original
on December 19, 2008
. Retrieved
December 16,
2008
.
- ^
"Lincecum repeats as Cy Young winner"
. Associated Press. November 20, 2009.
- ^
Keith Law (November 20, 2009).
ESPN Radio
(Podcast). ESPN
. Retrieved
November 22,
2009
.
- ^
"My 2009 NL Cy Young ballot"
.
- ^
"Stigma Fighters: Keith Law"
. July 28, 2014.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Hosts
| |
---|
Analysts
| |
---|
Reporters
| |
---|
Correspondents
| |
---|
Former
|
- Chris Berman
(1990?2016)
- Peter Gammons
(Lead Reporter, 1990?2009)
- Jayson Stark
(Reporter, 2000?2017)
- Pedro Gomez
(2004?2021)
- Steve Phillips
(Lead Analyst, 2005?2009)
- Eric Young Sr.
(Analyst, 2007?2009)
- Dallas Braden
(Analyst, 2014-2017)
- Doug Glanville
(Analyst, 2010-2017)
- Dusty Baker
(Analyst, 2007)
- Aaron Boone
(2010?2017)
- Larry Bowa
(Analyst, 2005)
- Jeff Brantley
(Analyst, 2002?2006)
- Dave Campbell
(Lead Analyst, 1990?2004)
- Rob Dibble
(Analyst, 1998?2004)
- Orel Hershiser
(2006?2013)
- Ray Knight
(Analyst, 1998?2003)
- John Kruk
(Lead Analyst, 2004?2016)
- Barry Larkin
(Lead Analyst, 2011-2014)
- Mike Macfarlane
(Analyst, 1999)
- Tino Martinez
(Analyst, 2006)
- Brian McRae
(Analyst, 2000?2005)
- Harold Reynolds
(Lead Analyst, 1996?2006)
- Bill Robinson
(Analyst, 1990?1991)
- Buck Showalter
(Lead Analyst, 2001?2002, 2008?2010)
- Gary Miller
(Lead Host, 1990?1995)
- Dave Marash
(Host, 1990)
- Rich Eisen
(Host, 1996?2002)
- Brian Kenny
(Host, 2003)
- Chris Myers
(Host, 1991?1995)
- Steve Berthiaume
(2003?2005, 2007?2012)
- Scott Reiss (Host, 2006)
- Eduardo Perez
(Analyst, 2007?2011)
- Orestes Destrade
(Analyst, 2005?2010)
- Bobby Valentine
(Lead Analyst, 2003, 2009?2011)
|
---|
|