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by | Mar 29, 2018 | Vernonia

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Jeffrey Scott Passan (born September 21, 1980) is an American baseball columnist with ESPN and author of New York Times Best Seller The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports. He is also co-author of Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series.[1]

Career

After graduating from Solon High School near Cleveland, Ohio, Passan attended Syracuse University, where he wrote for The Daily Orange.[2] Passan covered Fresno State basketball. He began covering baseball in 2004 at The Kansas City Star,[3] before moving to Yahoo! two years later. After 13 years at Yahoo! (2006–18), he announced that he was joining ESPN's Baseball team in January 2019. In early 2022, Passan signed a four-year, $4 million contract with ESPN.[4] While working at ESPN, he makes guest appearances on SportsCenter, Get Up, The Rich Eisen Show, The Pat McAfee Show and other ESPN studio shows.[5]

In 2018, while working for Yahoo!, Passan refused to cast his ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame due to a letter that Joe Morgan wrote to the voters asking that steroid users be excluded.[6] He has voiced negative opinions of the Baseball Hall of Fame due to its exclusion of players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens that were involved in performance-enhancing drug scandals.[7]

Awards and recognition

Passan has been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2004, while he was at The Kansas City Star.[8] The National Sports Media Association named Passan as the 2021 National Sportswriter of the Year.[9] He won the award again in 2023.[10]

Passan received the 2022 Dan Jenkins medal for Excellence in Sportswriting for his ESPN article, "San Francisco Giants Outfielder Drew Robinson's Remarkable Second Act."[11]

Personal life

Passan's family is Jewish.[12] Passan graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2002 with a degree in journalism.[13]

After a lull in posting in 2023, Passan announced via Twitter that he had been struck by a falling tree limb after a storm, fracturing his back. He retained the use of his limbs and extremities.[14]

References

  1. ^ Death to the BCS. Gotham. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59240-570-1 – via Archive.org.
  2. ^ Grossman, Connor (April 15, 2016). "Newsmakers: Jeff Passan discusses release of 'The Arm'". The Daily Orange. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  3. ^ McGowin, Daniel (October 6, 2009). "Jeff Passan, Sports Media, and the Loss of Power". Bleacher Report. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  4. ^ Conway, Tyler (April 5, 2022). "Report: Adam Schefter, Adrian Wojnarowski's ESPN Contract Details, Salaries Revealed". Bleacher Report. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  5. ^ "Jeff Passan". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  6. ^ Passan, Jeff (November 23, 2017). "I am giving up my Hall of Fame vote because of Joe Morgan's letter". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  7. ^ Passan, Jeff (January 25, 2022). "Barry Bonds was shut out of Cooperstown -- and that's a Hall of Fame failure". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  8. ^ "Jeff Passan – BBWAA". Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  9. ^ "National Awards | National Sports Media Association". National Sports Media Association. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  10. ^ Kotuby, Jeff (January 9, 2024). "Joe Buck, Andrea Kremer Headline National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame Class". Barrett Sports Media. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  11. ^ "Texas Moody Media". Texas Moody Media. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  12. ^ Gurvis, Jacob (March 1, 2023). "ESPN's Jeff Passan on Hebrew school, Sandy Koufax and Jewish baseball history". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  13. ^ Jeff Passan (2017). "Still No Cheering in the Press Box: Jeff Passan". Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism (Interview). Interviewed by Scott Gelman. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  14. ^ "BREAKING: My back". Twitter. Retrieved July 18, 2023.

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