A fan with a cheer louder than the rest

Jayson Stark loved every moment of the Philadelphia Phillies being in the postseason.

As the Phillies faced the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS, Stark extends his passion for another year. The Philadelphia native and senior writer for ESPN.com has covered his favorite team for 21 years before he joined ESPN.

Stark was the source for Phillies baseball. At the Philadelphia Inquirer, covering the Phillies was his beat. In an era when a typical journalist fills in for different sections at their respective paper, Stark never strayed away from what he knew best.

In fact, in two different years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, he was named Pennsylvania’s Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

His awards weren’t given to him for standard writing skills. His ability to write standard news stories with a new twist, rose him to the top of the journalism realm. Stark adapted a way to mix captivating stories with knowledgable opinion. 

Since Stark has been around the organization for so long, he took on the role of telling his honest opinion about his favorite team. 

After game two of the NLCS, Stark acknowledged the fact that the Phillies had little hope in the team winning any away games this series.

“The Phillies hit .175 as a team in AT&T Park this year. They've played 38 games there since the park opened -- and won 14 of them. So had they lost this game, it wouldn't have been another rendition of "High Hopes" they'd have been listening to afterward. "Taps" would have been more like it. But fortunately for them, the man they handed the baseball to didn't seem to think that losing was an option.”

With stats backing up his opinion and Stark being around the organization for longer than most people, makes him reliable to his readers. He writes multiple columns a week for ESPN.com. Not all of them pertain to the Phillies, but all of them pertain to baseball. 

His columns are easy for readers to catch his points, agree with his facts and see a new light to an already spoken topic. And if readers want more of a personal take on baseball, Stark also keeps up with a blog. His blog called the “Useless Information Department” relays more opinion in his published works.

However, his blog is found on the “Insider” section of ESPN.com. This means two things.

1. ESPN labeled him as an “Insider”. If the most regularly watched television network labels someone as an insider, the public subconsciously thinks of him as somebody who knows his stuff. Apparently ESPN would agree.
2. Being on the “Insider” section means a writer’s knowledge is valuable. ESPN charges people to read his blog. This could stray away some readers.

But America does know one thing. He is a baseball guru.

Most people can catch him doing baseball analysis on a few of ESPN’s television shows. Baseball Tonight and Mike and Mike both feature Stark on a weekly basis - usually for his knowledge about Phillies baseball.

His face has become well-known to America. Seven years into being at ESPN, Stark released his first book called “The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History.”

His second book honed in on his expertise. “Worth The Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies” allowed the public to see the baseball season (when the Phillies won the World Series) as a die-hard Phillies fan.

And with the Phillies currently in the postseason, he’ll keep writing about them until somebody tells him not to. That’s what happens as a senior writer. Tough job.