Writer · Journalist · Baseball researcher
I tell stories and make data useful. My work spans investigative journalism, baseball history, and the art of looking a little closer.
Baseball, by the numbers
I created the Lahman Baseball Database to make baseball’s history easier to explore. Its next chapter is at the Society for American Baseball Research.
An online index to historical baseball guides—a starting point for exploring the game’s printed record.
Explore the indexA SABR research resource devoted to one of baseball’s rarest plays.
Visit the databaseA guide to the 127 Van Gogh paintings at U.S. museums.
Explore the guideFrom 2010–2023, I was a watchdog reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, part of the USA Today Network. I covered public safety and the impact of technology, reported for Gannett papers across New York, and contributed to national USA Today investigations. Earlier, I was a sports reporter and columnist at the New York Sun from 2003–2008.
My reporting on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign fundraising shared the New York State Associated Press Association’s First Amendment Award, presented in 2019. Read the investigation.
Find my reporting
Democrat and Chronicle · January 2018
Kevin Flannery was shot while mowing a path behind his home. A profile of his survival, recovery, and search for justice.
Read the storyDemocrat and Chronicle · March 2017
Decades after Bertha Gawens protected three children from an oncoming car, the girls she saved reflect on the lives they went on to build.
Read the storyDemocrat and Chronicle · April 2015
Beyond Moneyball: how an explosion of data, new technology, and closer collaboration between analysts and coaches was transforming baseball.
Read the storyDemocrat and Chronicle · March 2021
What MLB’s recognition of the Negro Leagues meant for baseball’s historical record—and the Hall of Fame’s reckoning with the players segregation excluded.
Read the storyI’ve written, edited, and contributed to books about sports history. Most are now out of print, but they remain part of my work.
Published in 2008. Recipient of the Pro Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for achievement in football research and historiography.
I launched this annual series in 2002 and produced its first three editions.
Editor or contributor, 1998–2007: