Jeff Passan | |
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![]() Passan at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in 2019 | |
Born | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Alma mater | Syracuse University |
Occupation(s) | Sportswriter Author |
Jeff Passan is an American baseball columnist with ESPN and author of New York Times Best Seller The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports. He is also co-author of Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series. [1]
After graduating from Solon High School near Cleveland, Ohio, Passan attended Syracuse University, where he wrote for The Daily Orange . [2] Passan covered Fresno State basketball. He began covering baseball in 2004 at The Kansas City Star , [3] before moving to Yahoo! two years later. After 13 years at Yahoo! (2006–18), he announced that he was joining ESPN's Baseball team in January 2019. In early 2022, Passan signed a four-year, $4 million contract with ESPN. [4] While working at ESPN, he makes guest appearances on SportsCenter , Get Up , The Rich Eisen Show, The Pat McAfee Show and other ESPN studio shows. [5]
In 2018, while working for Yahoo!, Passan refused to cast his ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame due to a letter that Joe Morgan wrote to the voters asking that steroid users be excluded. [6] He has voiced negative opinions of the Baseball Hall of Fame due to its exclusion of players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens that were involved in performance-enhancing drug scandals. [7]
Passan has been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2004, while he was at The Kansas City Star . [8] The National Sports Media Association named Passan as the 2021 National Sportswriter of the Year. [9] He won the award again in 2023. [10]
Passan received the 2022 Dan Jenkins medal for Excellence in Sportswriting for his ESPN article, "San Francisco Giants Outfielder Drew Robinson's Remarkable Second Act." [11]
Passan's family is Jewish. [12] Passan graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2002 with a degree in journalism. [13]
After a lull in posting in 2023, Passan announced via Twitter that he had been struck by a falling tree limb after a storm, fracturing his back. He retained the use of his limbs and extremities. [14]
Passan has made his views surrounding Judaism well known despite circumstances surrounding world events and his faith.
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