Thank You, BBWAA
You may have heard by now, but today, the Baseball Writer’s Association of America officially opened their doors to FanGraphs. We would like to thank Jack O’Connell and the board of directors for allowing us to present our case before them and for considering our application despite our status as something of a non-traditional source of baseball coverage. We are honored by their decision, and look forward to being part of their organization going forward.
From a practical standpoint, we hope that you guys will see the fruits this decision over the coming year. By renewing David Laurila’s membership, the association ensured that you will be able to read his fantastic series of Q&As, and that his insights will continue to grace the pages of FanGraphs going forward. Additionally, I plan to spend significantly more time at ballparks next year, and will look for opportunities to provide perspectives from both the analytical and the on-field viewpoints.
A good example of what we’re hoping to do more of with our new found access are the Brandon McCarthy posts (part one, part two) from October, where Ryan Campbell combined Pitch F/x analysis with McCarthy’s own insights to produce a fantastic pair of articles about his transformation into a quality starting pitcher. We believe that having access to talk with players and coaches will enhance our coverage of the sport, and we look forward to supplementing what we’ve been doing with more of those types of articles, and providing the best overall coverage of the sport that we possibly can.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice dude
Congratulations. You guys are, of course, highly deserving of this status, and I look forward to what this might bring in the future.
Does this give Fangraphs writers votes on year-end awards now?
David Laurila and myself will be eligible to vote for postseason awards now, yes.
No Carson?
I guess this means Charlie Blackmon will not be receiving 2013 MVP votes
That’s nice, but what about NotGraphs?
They’ll probably start voting for their own awards, such as Most Valuable Mustache.
/nominate self
The AMI already takes care of that … congratulations are in order for John Axford.
http://www.americanmustacheinstitute.org/blog/2011/10/john-axford-2011-robert-goulet-memorial-mustached-american-of-the-year/
This is fantastic.
The Brandon McCarthy two part article was one of the best pieces I’ve ever read on FanGraphs, so this is very exciting.
Congratulations.
I think Joe Biden said it best: “This is a big f**kin’ deal.”
Congrats to all involved. It’s well deserved.
Great stuff. Congrats, everyone.
I’ll echo the above question: will we see Fangraphs authors with HOF votes anytime soon? If so, Tim Raines and Edgar Martinez’s chances just got a lot better.
I think it takes 10 years as an active BBWAA member to get a HOF vote. Could be wrong, though.
The baseball world just got a lot better.
This is terrific.
Congrats! Well deserved!
Great news! I take back some of the horrible things I said about you BBWAA!
Kudos to Fangraphs!
BBWAA just needed to wake up and smell the coffee. LOL
Congratulations. FanGraphs could be the thin edge of the wedge that allows reality-based analysis to permeate the fusty atmosphere of the BBWA
Fantastic–congratulations!! To the rest of the baseball world, say hello to your new masters, WAR and xFIP!!!
well deserved. congrats.
Kick ass. Congrats!
These are probably dumb questions, but…
– BBWAA is not opening their doors to Fangraphs, but rather two individual writers from Fangraphs? (That is, individuals are members, not media organizations?)
– Membership in BBWAA will allow you to do things like the the McCarthy interview because? … Players will be more inclined to talk to BBWAA members?
– You will be eligible to vote in postseason awards now. Cool. The BBWAA says that two writers from each major league city get votes each year. With Fangraphs being an internet entity does that mean the city where the writers then reside? I’m guessing David Cameron could represent Seattle, but if David Laurila is from New Orleans (I don’t know his location) does that rule him out from having a city to vote from?
Just wondering.
Very cool!
An organization has to be an approved entity before it can get any of its employees in. As of today, FanGraphs is now an approved entity, which allows us to apply for credentials for our individual writers.
This year, we applied for David Laurila and myself, and we were both approved. We will likely apply on behalf of more of our writers in future years.
However, the credential is essentially tied to the affiliation, so if either Laurila or myself left FanGraphs, we would then have to re-apply under our new affiliate. The credential doesn’t travel with the writer, so it’s more correct to say organizations are members than that individuals are members.
As for the McCarthy example, we were able to gain access to him because he’s a FanGraphs reader and he plays for the A’s. There are likely other similar players that we don’t know about who play for other organizations or who aren’t on Twitter, and by having access to the clubhouse, we can now talk to a broad spectrum of players and discover more Brandon McCarthys in the future.
As for the awards voting, each writer is assigned to the chapter of the team that is closest to to their location. David will be assigned to the Boston chapter, while I’ll likely be assigned to the Atlanta chapter.
Thanks for the response. Good to learn how it works.
FanGraphs!
We’re all going dateless (to BBWAA meetings)!
Well done, one and all! Continue the great work!
This is SO COOL. Major props to everyone at FanGraphs! That’s just remarkable.
Congrats!
This is a phenomenal, historic accomplishment. Huge congratulations.
While I occasionally have qualms with Dave’s analysis, he will certainly do a good job voting on awards. Anyone who is thoughtful and willing to weigh all relevant data available is an asset to the BBWAA.
I know what you mean… even at the most saber-friendly bistro you will rarely, if ever see xFIP on the check.
Congratulations, FanGraphs! You’ve been a primary source of baseball analysis for some time now, and I am thrilled to see you gain acceptance by the mainstream. I believe the BBWAA is richer for your inclusion and commend them on being forward-minded. Historic, indeed!
Great news!
Congratulations, Dave (and David), and it was good to meet you yesterday.
Congrats guys!
But it does bring up a possible negative: are we no longer going to see any critical commentaries about the BBWAA from you folks? Dave, you in particular have been vocal about their practices in the past. I’ll miss those tirades.
Dave, congratulations! This is progress. But mostly I’m happy to see you and FG get some well deserved recognition.