BBWAA
Posted by Sean Forman on December 10, 2009
It has been floating around the blogosphere and twitter, but I got the official word last night. I've been invited to join the Baseball Writers Association of America. I am honored by the invitation and look forward to being part of a group whose primary goal is to distribute baseball information and and a group which I hold in high esteem.
Some people are confused about me being a member since I am decidedly not a baseball writer. The BBWAA has a membership category for Statisticians. From their bylaws and qualifications for membership:
Statisticians who supply baseball records to daily newspapers, baseball public relations personnel and other specialists who may be deemed eligible by the Board of Directors of the National Association.
Thank you to all of those who offered congratulations and best wishes. See you at the ballpark!
December 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Does this mean we can expect better HOF voting?
Seriously...congrats.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Not before time. Well done - congratulations!
December 10th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
That's fantastic! Woohoo for statheads!
December 11th, 2009 at 6:26 am
This sort of thing renews my faith in the world. Sean being in the BBWAA makes an incredible amount of sense. Aside from the info Sean gave above, consider the value of Baseball-Reference.com as a tool to journalists. I would estimate that about half of all baseball opinion columns utilize B-R.com as a research tool, and not just to look up the same stats that are available everywhere else. Numerous tools made available by Sean have been game-changers, including availability of similarity scores, the Play Index, and many of the lesser-used stats such as OPS+.
This decisions makes all the sense in the world and I applaud the members of the BBWAA for recognizing Sean's considerable contributions.
December 12th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I work in "old media" -- at a newspaper, and while I'm certainly jealous, there's no question this is a well-earned honor. There are many times I read a story and see the mark of B-R all over it. And Sean, when you do write, it's clear enough you belong.