Keith Law

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.cite web |url = http://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030610093751999 |title = An Interview with Keith Law |work = Batter's Box |date = 2003-06-10 |accessdate=2007-11-02] He graduated with honors from Harvard University and received his Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.cite web |work = BusinessWeek |url = http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2004/bs20040824_9874_bs049_0.htm |title = 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 |month = August |year = 2004| accessdate=2007-11-02 |last = Law |first = Keith]

He began writing for "Baseball Prospectus" in 1997. 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.cite web|url = https://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1318 |title = The Imbalance Sheet: Crossing the Chasm |work = Baseball Prospectus |date=2002-01-10 |accessdate=2007-12-10 |last = Law |first = Keith]

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.cite web |url = http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/neyer_rob/1456664.html |last = Neyer |first = Rob |authorlink = Rob Neyer |date=2002-11-11 |accessdate=2007-11-02 |title = Sabermetricians slowly being added to the inner circle |work = ESPN.com] 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.cite book| last = Schwarz |first = Alan |authorlink = Alan Schwarz |title = The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics |isbn = 0312322224 |publisher = Thomas Dunne Books |location = New York | year = 2004 |pages = p. 232] 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. Law reached the position of Special Assistant to the GM before resigning in 2006.cite web |url = http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060531&content_id=1481471&vkey=pr_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor |publisher = Toronto Blue Jays |work = MLB.com |title = Blue Jays bid farewell to Keith Law |date= 2006-05-31 |accessdate=2007-11-02 |author = Press release]

After resigning, Law took a position at ESPN.com as a baseball scouting writer. 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."cite web |url = http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060821&content_id=1622373&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor |work =MLB.com |title = Jays deny Law's report: Wells denies conversation referenced on blog |last = Bastian |first = Jordan |date=2006-08-21 |accessdate=2007-11-02] The team denied that such a conversation ever took place.

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.cite web |url = http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1766&Itemid=41 |title = Bob Dutton Addresses the BBWAA Inclusion Process |work = The Biz of Baseball |last = Brown |first = Maury |authorlink = Maury Brown |date=2007-12-10 |accessdate=2007-12-11] 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.

Law's main interests outside of baseball are cuisine and literature. For these other interests, he maintains the personal website [http://www.meadowparty.com meadowparty.com] , which includes a food and literature blog.

References

External links

* [http://sports.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=keith_law Law's ESPN columns]
* [http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=law_keith Law's ESPN.com blog]
* [http://www.meadowparty.com/ Meadowparty.com - Law's non-baseball website]