Keith Law
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Keith Law is a baseball writer for ESPN's Scouts, Inc. He was formerly a writer for Baseball Prospectus and worked in the front office for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Keith Law was born and raised in Smithtown, New York on Long Island.[1] He graduated with honors from Harvard University and received his Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.[1][2] He began writing for Baseball Prospectus in 1997.[1] Unlike many other Baseball Prospectus authors, Law's primary influence was not Bill James, but Eddie Epstein, the writer of the first STATS, Inc. Minor League Scouting Notebook.[3] In 2002, Law was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays as a "Consultant to Baseball Operations" after impressing Blue Jays' general manager J. P. Ricciardi during the offseason winter meetings.[4] After Paul DePodesta recommended Law to him, Ricciardi asked Law's opinions regarding the approaching Rule 5 draft of that year, and, impressed with Law's answers and explanations, offered him a position with the team.[5] During his time with the Blue Jays, he acted as a scout, contract negotiator, and provided assistance to the team's marketing and sales staffs.[2] Law reached the position of Special Assistant to the GM before resigning in 2006.[6] After resigning, Law took a position at ESPN.com as a baseball scouting writer.[6] He currently writes baseball columns, maintains a blog, and frequently participates in live chats on ESPN.com. His baseball blog generated minor controversy when he posted that "[center fielder] Vernon Wells has told Blue Jays' management that he has no intention of signing a contract extension to stay in Toronto."[7] The team denied that such a conversation ever took place.[7]
In December 2007, Law was declined admission to the Baseball Writers Association of America, members of whom vote for Baseball Hall of Fame candidates and several annual awards including the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award.[8] While 16 other internet baseball columnists were admitted in their first year of eligibility, ESPN's Law and Rob Neyer were refused due to the BBWAA's perception that Law and Neyer did not attend enough games in person.[8]
Law's main interests outside of baseball are cuisine and literature.[1] For these other interests, he maintains the personal website meadowparty.com, which includes a food and literature blog.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d An Interview with Keith Law. Batter's Box (2003-06-10). Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
- ^ a b Law, Keith (August 2004). In the Big Leagues Now: Keith Law's MBA, combined with his baseball knowledge, helped him to win a dynamic job with the Toronto Blue Jays. BusinessWeek. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
- ^ Law, Keith (2002-01-10). The Imbalance Sheet: Crossing the Chasm. Baseball Prospectus. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
- ^ Neyer, Rob (2002-11-11). Sabermetricians slowly being added to the inner circle. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
- ^ Schwarz, Alan (2004). The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, p. 232. ISBN 0312322224.
- ^ a b Press release (2006-05-31). Blue Jays bid farewell to Keith Law. MLB.com. Toronto Blue Jays. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
- ^ a b Bastian, Jordan (2006-08-21). Jays deny Law's report: Wells denies conversation referenced on blog. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
- ^ a b Brown, Maury (2007-12-10). Bob Dutton Addresses the BBWAA Inclusion Process. The Biz of Baseball. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.
