Bill Farnsworth

Wilton Simpson Farnsworth

• Born June 7, 1885
• Died July 10, 1945

Biographical Information

Bill Farnsworth was an American sports writer, editor, and boxing promoter. He worked for William Randolph Hearst's newspapers from 1904 to 1937.

Farnsworth began his career as a journalist working for the Evening Gazette in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1904, he was hired by the Boston American, a newly formed newspaper that was part of William Randolph Hearst's chain of newspapers.

In 1907, Farnwsworth moved to New York to work for Hearst's New York Evening Journal. In October 1908, Farnsworth established himself when he exposed a plot to bribe umpire Bill Klem in connection with a playoff game between the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. He spent three months covering the story.

In 1912, Farnsworth was transferred to Atlanta as the sports editor of the Atlanta Georgian after it was acquired by Hearst. He returned to New York in 1914 as the sports editor of Hearst's morning newspaper, the New York American. He also covered the New York Yankees after returning from Atlanta to New York. By the early 1920s, Farnsworth had moved from the American back to Hearst's evening newspaper, The New York Evening Journal, as sports editor. In 1922, Farnsworth hired Ford Frick as a baseball writer.

Farnsworth later returned to the New York Evening Journal, serving as its sports editor for many years, and continued to hold that position after Hearst's morning and evening papers merged to become the New York Journal-American. Farnsworth continued to write during his time as an editor, and his column was published under the title "Sidewalks of New York."

Farnsworth was a friend of New York Yankees' owner Jacob Ruppert and once negotiated a contract renewal with Babe Ruth on behalf of the Yankees.

This article incorporates text licensed under the GFDL, from the Wikipedia article Wilton Farnsworth.