This document provides an overview of a sports writing class on baseball. It discusses key aspects of baseball like features writing, stats like batting average and ERA, and how players are identified in a scorebook. It also covers techniques for writing interesting game stories that go beyond basic summaries, like focusing on specific plays, quotes, or innings. Students are assigned to write a 250-word baseball game story applying these techniques for a game between September 24-26, 2020.

1. JOU 3304
Sports Writing
Professor Michael Rizzo
Director, Journalism Program
Division of Mass Communication
Collins College of Professional Studies
Presentation for ASYNCHRONOUS
CLASS on September 24, 2020

2. JOU 3304
Sports Writing
Last Class - September 21
Features

3. Recap
Features typically stand-alone – they can
be published without a connection to
specific game/event but often run when
something current that makes you think of
the person/thing written about
Inform, educate but definitely entertain
audience with your story
Circular writing model works well

4. Baseball
Called “the national pastime” and
considered by some as American as
hot dogs and apple pie.
Photo created by Robert D Hale

5. Baseball is an American family
tradition…the game of baseball
supports and reflects many aspects of
American life, from culture to
economics and technological advances.
https://baseballhall.org

6. …people across the country were captivated
by playing or watching baseball games in
person or by reading accounts of it…
Baseball fans remember the players, the
teams they were on, the plays they made
and the exciting games.
If football fans get excited about a game,
baseball fans celebrate the game itself.
https://jugssports.com/blog

7. Baseball is a game of numbers.
These numbers apply to MLB:
60 feet 6 inches
90 feet
17 inches x 8 1/2 inches and
two sides of 12 inches

9. What do these terms mean?
AVG
RBI
OBP
SLG
ERA
LOB

10. AVG - Batting Average: hits divided by at bats
RBI - runs batted in
OBP - On Base Percentage - times reached
base (H + BB + HBP) divided by at bats plus
walks plus hit by pitch plus sacrifice flies (AB
+ BB + HBP + SF).
SLG - Slugging Average - total bases divided
by at-bats
ERA - Earned Run Average - earned runs
divided by innings pitched multiplied by 9
LOB - (runners) left on base

11. Do you know how players are
identified when you chart a game
using a baseball score book?

12. This is a page from a baseball score book

13. These are how players are identified.

14. What are the seven ways for a
batter to reach first base?

15. Ways for a batter to reach first
base
A walk
Hit by a pitch
Interference by the catcher
A dropped third strike
A hit
A fielder’s choice
A fielding error

16. These details are emphasized
because you MUST know the
game you are reporting on
WITHOUT relying on Google
to look things up.

17. Proper spelling of baseball terms
ballpark
center field
doubleheader
double play
home run
line drive
pinch-hit
pitchout
sacrifice fly
shut out
shutout
strikeout
strikes out

18. What makes baseball still
attractive to fans?
The duration of the baseball
season, the time of year it‘s
played, the way the game seems
easy to play, the easy recognition
of players….

19. Baseball writing can be very
technical and perhaps more
than other sports it can be
poetic.
Look at the following story from a
long time ago but consider what it
evokes to the reader.

20. Continued on next page

22. The AP covers every MLB game in
every stadium. They do it in
straightforward summaries that
typically do NOT presume the
game was seen on TV, does NOT
have a feature lead, focuses on the
MAIN POINT of the game AND
assumes the reader knows
baseball terminology.

23. Giants beat Rockies 7-2 to take lead in NL
wild-card race
By Michael Wagaman / Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mauricio Dubón hit a three-run homer
off reliever Yency Almonte in the fifth inning and the San
Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Wednesday
night to move barely in front in a crowded NL wild-card race.
Evan Longoria also went deep for San Francisco. Brandon Belt
added three hits and walked twice.
Logan Webb (3-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3
innings to win in his first career appearance as a reliever.
The Giants (28-27) have won three of four and are percentage
points ahead of Cincinnati for the first of two NL wild cards. The
Reds (29-28) won earlier against Milwaukee (27-28), another
close contender.

24. Local newspapers cover it differently
Mauricio Dubón’s three-run blast keys win,
gives Giants control of NL wild card race
By Kerry Crowley|Bay Area News Group
SAN FRANCISCO — When the Giants opened the 2020 season,
president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager
Gabe Kapler were determined to give a group of inexperienced
and young outfielders an opportunity to prove they could
contribute to winning clubs of the future.
With a three-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth
that led the Giants to a 7-2 win over the Colorado Rockies,
rookie center fielder Mauricio Dubón is playing a significant role
on a team that’s not waiting around to contend for a playoff
berth.
The full story can be found here:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/23/mauricio-dubons-three-run-blast-keys-win-gives-giants-control-of-nl-wild-card-race/

25. When you write your story, look
to highlight the unusual, even
when it’s not THAT unusual, to
draw the reader in.

26. Rocker Closes the Deal
John Rocker looked at catcher Eddie Perez with fear in his eyes.
Houston's Ken Caminiti had just hit a pitch to deep center field in the
bottom of the ninth inning with a runner on second and the Braves
clinging to a 7-5 lead.
Rocker didn't realize Andruw Jones was camped under the ball a
few yards shy of the warning track. He didn't realize the Braves were
about to wrap up their eighth consecutive trip to the National
League Championship Series.
“I grabbed my hat, like 'Gah ball, please come down,’” Rocker said.
“I didn’t get a chance to celebrate. I was still gasping for air when
Andruw caught the ball.”
Jones’ catch provided the final out of another nerve racking
victory against the Astros, who battled valiantly again Saturday but
lost the best-of-five series three games to one.
Rocker Closes The Deal, Atlanta Constitution,
October 10, 1999

27. The story’s focus is on Rocker's reaction,
holding the game result to the fourth
paragraph and instead highlights THE
MOMENT (remember our football
example) which provides a dramatic,
insightful description of something that
most fans didn’t or couldn’t see or know
about it.

28. Also think about how you can report a
Spot News game story AND still provide
analysis.

29. D-Backs Club Slumping Giants
There’s never a good time to go into an offensive
funk. Nor is there a good time for Barry Bonds to
be sitting on the bench injured. That both events
have converged bodes ill for the Giants, who left
Bank One Ballpark yesterday on the short end of a
12-3 thrashing.
D-Backs Club Slumping Giants by Henry Schulman, San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 1999

30. D-Backs Club Slumping Giants
There’s never a good time to go into an offensive
funk. Nor is there a good time for Barry Bonds to
be sitting on the bench injured. That both events
have converged bodes ill for the Giants, who left
Bank One Ballpark yesterday on the short end of a
12-3 thrashing.
D-Backs Club Slumping Giants by Henry Schulman, San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 1999
The analysis is underlined below:

31. Techniques to set your story apart from
just a summary of the result.
Focus on the small parts of the game:
What happened at the plate
What happened on the mound
What happened in the dugout
What happened on particular play
or in a newsworthy inning
What was said after the game

32. Your assignment
Pick an MLB game between tonight,
Thursday, September 24, 2020 and
Saturday September 26, 2020 and
write a 250 word game story but do
NOT write it like an AP game summary
story. Don’t make it a pure analysis
story either. Make it an interesting
game story applying what has been
presented in today’s PowerPoints.

33. Your assignment is due Sunday
September 27, 2020 by 11:59 p.m. ET
and you can write it directly into
BlackBoard.

34. STAY WELL
AND
STAY SAFE