“The Astros stole signs electronically in 2017 – part of a much broader issue for Major League Baseball.” That headline ended up having an enduring impact on the game of Major League Baseball, encapsulating a detailed account of the infamous scandal penned by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic. The team utilized a complex system to discern what pitches the opponent was preparing to throw and communicated them to hitters using a trash can. After the story was published, Major League Baseball conducted an investigation and punished the Astros through forfeiture of draft picks, banning executives from the league and, in turn, leaving an indelible asterisk next to the World Series championship.
The story was worthy of more than simply being the first to tweet the information. The Athletic was new at the time and committed to storytelling in a variety of different ways. This story took time to discover the intricacies and nuance imbued in the reporting. The entire process illustrates Rosenthal’s mission at this stage in his career as a senior baseball writer and reporter: disseminating original, comprehensive content.
“My concern with that story was not that it was going to be perceived as inaccurate,” Rosenthal said. “I knew it was accurate, and we had people on the record; it could not have been better in that regard. If we had gone simply on the sources, it’s easier to challenge.”
Throughout his journalism career, Rosenthal’s internal ambitions have outweighed staunch critics, and it ultimately led him to break new ground in reporting on “America’s Pastime.” During his formative years, Rosenthal was interning at Newsday, not yet donning his signature bowtie, where he covered a variety of different sports on Long Island. He was accompanied by another intern with palpable talent and charisma evident from the very beginning, Tom Verducci, who went on to write for Sports Illustrated.
Rosenthal was aware that he was not as strong of a writer as Verducci, but actively sought out advice to try to improve at the craft. One day during the winter break in his senior year of college, he visited the Newsday offices and met with sports editor Dick Sandler. Rosenthal requested guidance on how to pursue a journalism career since he was nearing graduation, and was met with somewhat of a disheartening reality check.
“He did advise me to go to law school,” Rosenthal recalled. “It did light a fire under me, and my dad was an attorney. I remember he was pretty pissed off when I told him that. I just don’t think you should tell a young person something like that.”
The deadpan statement was a seminal moment in Rosenthal’s development. It encouraged him to apply to over 75 newspapers, most of which decided not to hire or even interview him. Recognizing the importance of networking and having industry connections, Rosenthal asked fellow University of Pennsylvania alumni John Dellapina for assistance in his job search. The request paid off when Rosenthal landed at the York Daily Record, a smaller outlet where Dellapina was working. He began reporting on high school sports, becoming familiar with the nature of the profession. From there, he spent two years with the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ where he covered horse racing and the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers.
“I love the newsroom,” Rosenthal said. “I love the action and really everything about it. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s always been kind of home to me. A lot of baseball writers, and I guess sports writers joke that really we’re not equipped or trained to do anything else, which is true. But to say this is my calling is a little strong.”
Rosenthal relocated to Baltimore and was hired to a full-time role with The Baltimore Evening Sun covering the Orioles, which were led by superstar shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. at the time. The team steadily improved during the time Rosenthal covered them. Rosenthal and Ripken Jr. had their differences over the years, as Rosenthal was a particularly aggressive reporter. His tenacity earned him a promotion to sports columnist in 1991.
The Orioles were facing the California Angels on Sep. 6, 1995. Ripken was suiting up for the 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig’s record for the most consecutive games played in Major League Baseball history. The stadium was sold out, even meriting a visit from then-President of the United States, Bill Clinton. National columnists were situated in the press box to cover the singular occasion.
At that time, The Baltimore Evening Sun had published its newspaper for the final time amid declining circulation, and moved to combine with The Baltimore Sun, which was distributed in the mornings. Rosenthal continued to write columns, but felt an inordinate amount of pressure leading up to Ripken Jr.’s record-breaking ordeal. Most local newspapers were just that, meaning out-of-town writers were rarely consumed, but Rosenthal identified because of the event, many people would be reading his work for the first time. He wanted to make a name for himself while also doing justice to the history on the field.
“I said, ‘Hey man, what do you do? What do you think? What should I do here?,’” Rosenthal remembered asking Mike Littwin, who had become a trusted part of his support system. “And he said, ‘You write how important he is to the city [and] to the sport,’ and it sounds silly in a way, but at that point to the country… he was like a true hero. That was kind of the approach I took, and it went fine.”
National outlets began to take heed of what Ken Rosenthal was doing and explored hiring him as a reporter. While in Baltimore, Rosenthal also covered the Baltimore Ravens. He hosted a weekend talk show on WJFK radio and also appeared on WBAL. He had been named Maryland Sportswriter of the Year five times. The first job offer he received from a national outlet was from CBS Sportsline, but Rosenthal decided not to go because he did not want to work intensely as would be expected.
Nonetheless, Rosenthal ended up adopting an arduous work schedule in the end, but eased into the process by joining The Sporting News in 2000. His pitch to the outlet, which was in the midst of transitioning to the internet, was how he had a network of people he knew from the Orioles. The front office experienced consistent periods of turnover, meaning executives and personnel Rosenthal had conversed with were now dispersed across different areas of the league.
“At least I knew those people and I could go forward,” Rosenthal said. “It just took a while, of course, to build to the point where I could really be comfortable in that job. You’re never comfortable, but I felt I could do the job okay.”
The Sporting News had a partnership with FOX Sports where writers would appear on various regional sports networks to discuss teams around the league. As its senior baseball writer, Rosenthal would sit in a television studio for two hours and cycle through different cities, taking questions and interacting with show hosts. He was also permitted to participate on ESPN’s morning debate show Cold Pizza, which later became First Take, working with ESPN reporter Jim Bowden.
Rosenthal began to realize that expanding his career to that medium could make sense down the road. Those television appearances were accompanied by feature stories, breaking news articles and a weekly column, further diversifying his media portfolio. His wife was the impetus that ended up compelling Rosenthal to find a television job, her entreaty occurring while watching Tim Kurkjian report for ESPN on television.
“My wife said to me, ‘Why can’t you do that?,’” Rosenthal reminisced. “I thought, ‘Okay, maybe it’s time to look into it,’ and I actually did get offers from ESPN and FOX.”
Rosenthal chose to join the team at FOX Sports because the network told him there would be a chance he could report on Game of the Week with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Before he made the decision to leave The Sporting News, Rosenthal had to consider the potential lifestyle change and be certain he wanted to take the chance. Reflecting on his time with the outlet though, Rosenthal was, perhaps somewhat unbeknownst to him, put in positions to build a demo reel for a television role by his boss, John Rawling.
“I give him endless credit for [encouraging] me to do the television,” Rosenthal said of Rawling. “He allowed me to go on Cold Pizza while I was still working for The Sporting News because he wanted me to have the greatest possible opportunity to leave if something went wrong at The Sporting News. There’s not many bosses that would do that, but he was basically setting me up to leave and I’m very grateful for that, always.”
After joining FOX Sports’ Game of the Week, his profile continued to grow. Rosenthal maintained a steadfastness to journalistic principles – hence the reason he was perturbed when FOX Sports chairman David Hill ordered him to wear a bowtie on the air during the 2010 postseason. Hill wanted to distinguish Rosenthal from other reporters.
“Even though I was on television, I always thought [that] what should distinguish me is my work,” Rosenthal said. “A look – I didn’t want any part of that. But he was the boss, and he was a very strong boss and a powerful boss.”
Following the first broadcast, Rosenthal approached FOX Sports executive and current CEO Eric Shanks to ask whether he would need to wear the bowtie again. Shanks said he should, so much to his chagrin, Rosenthal did so until the San Francisco Giants won the World Series. Entering the 2011 season, Rosenthal was prepared to shed the bowtie and let his work set him apart.
Instead, Rosenthal continues to wear bowties to this day thanks to a call from former football linebacker Dhani Jones. He founded the Bow Tie Cause to represent different nonprofit charities and asked Rosenthal if he would be willing to help support its mission.
“I never imagined that it would become, I guess, kind of part of my identity, but it is,” Rosenthal said. “When I don’t wear it now – and even if I’m at the ballpark on a Friday preparing for a Saturday broadcast in my regular clothes – some fan or somebody will say, ‘Hey, where’s the bowtie?,’ and so it is definitely part of it.”
While Rosenthal was with FOX Sports, he inked a contract to join MLB Network in 2009 after being persuaded to do so by senior vice president of production John Entz. Entz had worked at FOX Sports in the past, and he was confident that MLB Network was an ideal landing spot for Rosenthal. After he received assurance from both Tom Verducci and Bob Costas that he could continue being an objective reporter, Rosenthal decided to take them at their word and join the network.
There were no issues initially with Rosenthal appearing as a contributor and reporter across programs such as Hot Stove, MLB Tonight and MLB Now, but he says the environment ostensibly changed under Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. Rosenthal was critical of Manfred in columns he had written for The Athletic regarding the forthcoming MLB lockout, and MLB Network was concurrently in the midst of reevaluating its programming lineup. Rosenthal was one of many personalities let go by the network as it added a variety of new names, including Cameron Maybin, Hunter Pence and A.J. Andrews, and launched a new show geared towards younger fans titled Off Base.
“I was upset that, honestly, a resolution was not reached sooner because there were a few years there that just were very uncomfortable for me,” Rosenthal said. “I don’t know that I want to go into great detail, but a lot of things I did were challenged and questioned. It just wasn’t a pleasant environment, [and] it was almost a relief when it came to an end.”
“As MLB Network continues to look at fresh ways to bring baseball to our viewers, there is a natural turnover in our talent roster that takes place each year,” a league spokesperson said in a statement issued to the New York Post at the time. “Ken played a significant part at MLB Network… We thank him for his work across MLB Network’s studio, game and event programming, and wish him the very best going forward.”
When FOX Sports converted a preponderance of its digital content to video, Rosenthal was released from the portion of his contract stating he would write for the outlet’s website. Paul Fichtenbaum, the editor of The Athletic, recruited Rosenthal to join the fledgling outlet with no guarantee of success. It was a precarious decision with potentially calamitous aftershocks, and one he made after being persuaded by his son and convincing his broadcast agent that it was the right move. If it did end up falling through, Rosenthal had two television jobs to fall back on and would be able to continue to support his family.
“Being at The Athletic has been the most gratifying thing because it proved – and I was thinking along these lines – that print wasn’t dead,” Rosenthal said. “It proved there was a real value, and I think it also proved that great sports journalism could still be done – not that it’s not done in other places; of course it is – but on a level like we’re pursuing it right now.”
In his roles with The Athletic and FOX Sports, Rosenthal has only enhanced his reputation as one of the industry’s predominant newsbreakers. He frequently reports transactions before they are officially announced by teams, and many baseball fans turn on his Twitter notifications during the hours leading up to the trade deadline. Rosenthal, however, has put less of an emphasis on utilizing social media.
“On Twitter, it just seems to me to be a hamster wheel,” Rosenthal said. “I’m active on it – I’m still trying – but the real win, especially for our company, is when you can break a story that can’t be confirmed in 10 seconds and have everybody just forget who even broke it in the first place.”
There have been various stories in which Rosenthal knows there is the threat of sacrificing a relationship and/or facing immeasurable criticism. While he acknowledges that people have the right to have opinions, he tries to avoid becoming invested in comments or partaking in debates with readers. All he asks, as has been consistent throughout his career, is that people read things before making assertions – which led to a recent Twitter exchange with Amazon Prime Video and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
“Social media has only amplified people’s opinions, and I just have to kind of grin and bear it at times, and that’s fine,” Rosenthal said. “I think most people see you for what you are, but there are always going to be people that will feel otherwise, and that’s just all part of it.”
Aside from writing and appearing on television, Rosenthal interacts with baseball fans through his Fair Territory podcast. The media venture debuted in early April, and Rosenthal has been hosting weekly episodes since then and contributing to FT Live featuring Scott Braun, AJ Pierzynski, Todd Frazier and various former major league players. Rosenthal had previous experience hosting radio programs and also answered listener questions on a podcast with The Athletic, but this project is different in that he sets the agenda. It is available to listen on most audio platforms and can also be watched on YouTube.
“I just kind of go for whatever how long it is – 30 minutes or whatever,” Rosenthal said. “And that part of it is different [in] that I have to carry it like that, but I’ve done television for so long. It’s not uncomfortable or anything like that – it’s natural.”
As the media industry continues to gradually consolidate operations amid an extensive demand for niche content, Rosenthal values the versatility he cultivated from the start of his career. The specifics of his job description change on a yearly basis, and he advises aspiring professionals to keep an open mindset about their own futures. He aims to continue showcasing his adept skill set while staying true to the bedrock principles of journalism and reporting.
“I don’t ever see myself as the most talented person,” Rosenthal expressed. “I can name five people off the top of my head – 10, 15 – that write better than me, but I do work hard. I think that is what has carried me. So what I’m trying to say is I think hard work can overcome deficiencies in talent – not totally, of course – but that to me is the core of everything.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
