The Juice Blog: Carroll: Who?

As the great floating head of Watson Pritchard once said…“They’re coming for me now… and then they’ll come for you!”

But inside the industry, there are a lot of people I do know. Mostly, it’s because I’ve done radio with them in either direction. I’ve met them at the Winter Meetings, at least a lot of the beat writers. They’re actually considering BP for membership in the BBWAA this year, which should be interesting. I don’t think we’ll get in, but it’s nice to at least get a foot in the door. With newspapers collapsing, I wonder where the BBWAA will be in ten years. Someone I really respect and admire talked with me on the phone today about whether there might be a fit for him at BP. I wish I could hire the guy, because he’s the top in the field, but I don’t have that kind of influence at BP and he won’t come cheap. In this economy, it could be anyone. Murray Chass isn’t at the Times, Gordon Edes isn’t at the Globe, and who knows who’s next.

There’s a lot of great writers out there, solid writers and thinkers and hard workers. In a crowd like this, you probably wouldn’t say “who?” if I mentioned Alex Belth, Matthew Leach, Aaron Gleeman, Eric Seidman, or Sam Mellinger. But is anyone the next Peter Gammons, or is that like asking who the next Sandy Koufax is? The next Tracy Ringolsby? The next Michael Lewis? (I have an idea about that ...) And moreover, where will they be writing?

Who will I say “who?” about next? And who am I missing?