Jane Leavy
Born (1951-12-26) December 26, 1951
Roslyn, New York, U.S.
OccupationSportswriter, Author
Alma materBarnard College (B.A.)
Columbia University (M.A.)
Spouse
Peter Isakoff
​
(divorced)​
Children2
Website
janeleavy.com

Jane Leavy (/ˈlɛvi/ LEV-vee; born December 26, 1951) is an American sportswriter, biographer, and author who previously worked as a reporter for The Washington Post. Leavy primarily writes about baseball and is best known for her biographies on baseball greats Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, and Babe Ruth.

Early life

Leavy was born into a Jewish family on December 26, 1951, in Roslyn, New York to Fay (née Fellenbaum) and Morton Leavy. She has a younger sister named Annette.[1] She attended Roslyn High School, and graduated from Barnard College in 1974 and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1976.[2]

Growing up, Leavy was a New York Yankees fan and her childhood hero was Yankees star centerfielder Mickey Mantle. Her other chilhood hero was sportswriter Red Smith of the New York Herald Tribune. Leavy wrote her master's thesis on Smith, having decided to become a sportswriter like him while studying at Barnard; it was later published in The Village Voice.[3]

Career

Before joining The Washington Post, Leavy was a staff writer at womenSports and Self magazines. She has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and The Village Voice.[3] Like many women sportswriters, particularly at the time, Leavy encountered sexism and harassment while she was working.[4]

Leavy worked at the Post for nine years, mainly covering sports (mainly baseball, tennis, and the Olympics), politics, and popular culture. She was also the beat reporter for the Baltimore Orioles, taking over the role from Thomas Boswell.[2]

In 1990, Leavy wrote a comic, semi-autobiographical novel called Squeeze Play. Partially based around her own experiences and life, it follows a young woman who is the beat writer for the new (fictitious) Washington Senators baseball team.[5] It was described by The Washington Post as a "bawdy baseball novel" and as "slapstick with the ring of truth".[6] The novel was described by Entertainment Weekly as "the best novel ever written about baseball".[7]

Leavy wrote her first best-selling baseball biography on Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, called Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy and published in 2002.[8] The biography was significant as it was written with the somewhat reluctant approval of Koufax, who is famously known for being a private person. While he did not sit down for an interview with her, he allowed her to talk to his friends and old teammates and also agreed to verify biographical facts.[9] The book was written around Koufax's perfect game and details the cultural and social changes that occurred over the course of his career.[10]

In 2010, she wrote another best-selling baseball biography called The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood on her childhood hero, Mickey Mantle.[11] It is an extensive chronicle of Mantle's off-field behavior, his battle with alcoholism, and his difficult childhood and how all of it shaped his career.[12][13] The book was partly based around a 1983 interview she did with the New York Yankees great while he was working at the Claridge Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[14]

Her third biography, The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, was published in 2018. Unlike previous biographies on Babe Ruth, Leavy's book contains previously unknown details about his childhood.[15] It also lays out how Ruth, with the help of his agent Christy Walsh, created his larger-than-life persona and became the first modern celebrity.[16][17] The book was a finalist for 'Best Biography' at the National Book Critics Circle Awards in 2018.[18]

All three of Leavy's biographies were Casey Award finalists: Sandy Koufax in 2002, The Last Boy in 2010, and The Big Fella in 2018.[19]

In 2023, Leavy announced on her social media accounts that she was working on her fifth book, due to be published in 2025 and by the Hachette Book Group, which is titled Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong and I Can Fix It. The book is about the evolution of baseball over the years and the problems the sport is facing.[20]

Personal life

Leavy primarily lives in Washington, D.C., and Truro, Massachusetts. She has two children, both of whom are adopted: Nick (born 1985) and Emma (born 1988) Isakoff.[3] Leavy was previously married to Peter Isakoff; they have since divorced.[21]

Bibliography

  • Squeeze Play (1990)
  • Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy (2002)
  • The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood (2010)
  • The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created (2018)

References

  1. ↑ Castle, George (May 30, 2019). "Nice Jewish Girl Sportswriter: How Jane Leavy came to write books about Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax". Chicago Jewish News. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Jane Leavy". Society for American Baseball Research.
  3. 1 2 3 "About Jane Leavy".
  4. ↑ Helfand, Zach (October 15, 2018). "What It Took to Write About Baseball as a Woman". The New Yorker.
  5. ↑ Squeeze Play: A Novel. Doubleday. 1990. ISBN 978-0060567743.
  6. ↑ Lichtenstein, Grace (March 25, 1990). "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". The Washington Post.
  7. ↑ Barra, Allen (April 27, 1990). "Squeeze Play (review)". Entertainment Weekly.
  8. ↑ Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. HarperCollins. 2002. ISBN 978-0061779008.
  9. ↑ Leavy, Jane (September 3, 2002). "In General, a Private Koufax". The Washington Post.
  10. ↑ "Conversation: 'Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy'". PBS NewsHour. October 21, 2002.
  11. ↑ The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood. HarperCollins. 2011. ISBN 978-0060883539.
  12. ↑ Sandomir, Richard. "Mantle Biography Delves Into Traumas and Myths". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ "Mickey Mantle, America's 'Last Boy'". NPR. November 24, 2010.
  14. ↑ Leavy, Jane (May 8, 1983). "Mickey Mantle". The Washington Post.
  15. ↑ The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created. HarperCollins. 2018. ISBN 978-0062887276.
  16. ↑ Swansberg, John (December 2, 2018). "Babe Ruth, the First Modern Celebrity". The New York Times.
  17. ↑ Leavy, Jane (October 8, 2018). "How Babe Ruth Became the Model for the Modern Celebrity Athlete". Sports Illustrated.
  18. ↑ 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award - Winner and Finalists. bookcritics.com.
  19. ↑ CASEY Award: Best Baseball Book. Spitball: The Baseball Literary Magazine.
  20. ↑ "JaneLeavy". Twitter. Coming in 2025 from Hachette: "Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong and I Can Fix It". Couldn't think of anyone else after Koufax, Mantle and Ruth.
  21. ↑ "Paid Notice: Deaths - Leavy, Morton L." The New York Times. September 3, 2003.
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