PHILADELPHIA – While a dream is often viewed as fantasy, for Jayson Stark it is reality.
Stark has been a senior baseball writer for ESPN since 2000. Prior, six years removed from earning his bachelor’s degree in newspaper journalism at Syracuse University in 1973, Stark joined The Philadelphia Inquirer to serve as the Philadelphia Phillies beat writer.
“I’m doing something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was 10 years old,” said Stark. “I’m still not sure how it happened or why I dreamed it.”
Stark later became a national baseball writer and columnist at the Inquirer – where he worked for a total of 21 years. In 1986 and 1994, Stark was named Pennsylvania’s Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
“From the time I was 10, I was a huge sports fan and, especially, a baseball fan,” said Stark. “I kept my own stats, made scrapbooks, had my own little newspaper that I wrangled a few neighbors into buying subscriptions for. Looking back, I guess I was on this path at a really young age.”
Stark, who grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, is grateful for what his career has become. “I know I’m not the only one who dreamed that dream. So I appreciate all the time how lucky I am that it actually came true.”
While he has covered countless numbers of baseball games in his career, Stark identifies one game as being his most memorable – Game 5 of the 2008 World Series between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.
“[Game 5] was a classic on many levels,” said Stark. “There was the way part one ended, in pouring rain, with small lakes accumulating in the infield, with Bud Selig already having made a decision that the game couldn’t be rain-shortened but nobody else knowing it! Wow. That was sheer insanity.
“And then there was part two. The incredible intensity of literally having the World Series decided by a three-inning mini-game,” Stark continued. “The Chase Utley play. The emotion in the ballpark and the city in that ninth inning, when it hit these people that a team from Philadelphia had actually won a title, in front of their eyes.
“Of all the games I’ve covered in Philly, none was more memorable than that.”
Although Stark grew up in Philadelphia, writing objectively has always remained his top priority.
“I don’t root for any team. It never matters to me, on any sort of emotional fan level, who wins any game or any series I’m covering,” said Stark. “I only root for great games, great moments and great stories. . . . I try to tell those stories with a feel for what they mean to the people who really care about them, first and foremost.”
“So while I’m not a Phillies fan, I understood the magnitude of that 2008 postseason and what it meant to Philadelphia,” said Stark. “I did my best to tell that story through that perspective. I don’t look at that as not being objective. I look at it as understanding the audience and the true meaning of the story.”
In addition to writing for ESPN.com, Stark also appears as a television and radio analyst for “Baseball Tonight” and “ESPN Radio,” respectively. Remaining objective on these mediums, in addition to his published work online, is equally as important for Stark.
“This is a fascinating age to be in the media. In my job, I report news, but I also write columns and express opinions on TV and radio, not to mention social media,” said Stark. “So, people often wonder how I can express those opinions but not be biased in some way. Look, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I understand that complete objectivity isn’t really possible.
“We’re human beings. We like certain people we cover more than others. Some people are great to deal with in this profession. Others aren’t. I would never pretend that has zero influence on the opinions we express, myself included. . . . I don’t root for any team. And it’s important to me to do my best to make that apparent.”
In addition to writing and appearing as an analyst for ESPN, Stark has recently authored the following three books: “The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History,” “Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies,” and “Wild Pitches: Rumblings, Grumblings, and Reflections on the Game I Love.”
Brandon Apter, who was Stark’s book signing assistant in 2009 through an internship with the Reading Phillies, views him as “one of ESPN’s most talented and down-to-earth writers.”
“Jayson's writing is something I always enjoyed reading because he mixes facts and opinion in a professional and flowing manner,” said Apter, who is the son of well-recognized wrestling journalist, Bill Apter. “The way he goes about constructing his articles really shows how passionate he is about the sport he covers.”
With the journalism profession evolving, Stark believes “versatility” is the key to success.
“I wanted to be a sportswriter when I was a kid. But now, we don’t live in an age where anyone should just want to grow up and type on a keyboard,” said Stark. “If you want to be employed, you have to learn to talk into a microphone and talk on camera.
“You have to be comfortable with the nonstop evolution of the industry, which means jumping into social media on multiple platforms, podcasting, understanding the exploding importance of analytics in sports, keeping up with everything, etc.”
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
