Jeff Passan
Passan at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in 2019
Born (1980-09-21) September 21, 1980
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Alma materSyracuse University
Occupation(s)Sportswriter
Author

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.
  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. ↑ "Barry Bonds was shut out of Cooperstown -- and that's a Hall of Fame failure". ESPN.com. January 25, 2022. 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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