Hall of Fame Sports Writer Claire Smith Shares Her Storied Insight

Story posted March 17, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Emma Holtz

March 15 marked a memorable Women’s History Month webinar with Claire Smith, a baseball writing pioneer and the first woman to be awarded the prestigious J.G. Taylor Spink Award through the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The John Curley Center for Sports Journalism hosted the conversation with professor John Affleck, Megan Harris and Destiny Sanchez as moderators.

A Class of 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame member in the writers’ wing, Smith graduated from Temple University and published content with the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Hartford Courant. She currently operates as ESPN’s coordinating editor for Major League Baseball coverage and is a member of the Association for Women in Sports Media, or AWSM.

Smith’s parents cultivated her passion for sports. Specifically, Smith’s mother, Bernice Anastasia Smith, held the former Brooklyn Dodgers close to her heart since 1947 in the Jackie Robinson era. Smith became enamoured with Robinson’s determination and courage to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

“I had my hero,” Smith recalled when she watched Robinson’s footage for the first time in the 1950 film “The Jackie Robinson Story” in the third grade. She fell in love with Robinson’s presence as a baseball star and prominent civil rights figure.

Smith covered Major League Baseball for one of her first newspaper positions, historically making her the first African American woman covering baseball. In the early stages of her career, Smith found very little female representation in the press rooms.

“You would have to look far and wide to see another woman,” Smith said.

Smith knew the daunting feeling of walking into a clubhouse with only her pen and paper all too well. She found a strong support system in the other female reporters.

Before standardized clubhouse rules were established, Major League Baseball organizations could set individual rules about who would be allowed in the clubhouse, even if the reporter held a credential.

Female reporters with the proper credentials like their male colleagues were frequently barred from media opportunities with general managers and coaches. Smith would help comfort those women on the opposing end of staff with traditional views of baseball as a man’s sport.

Smith described how valuable the telephone was to keep in touch with the other female reporters. Tears, anger and frustration from a situation would turn to laughter as Smith bonded with her fellow female writers and made them feel heard and valued.

In addition to having a coalition of female reporters, Smith recognized how allies for women in sports are vital to progressing the sport towards normalizing more female representation and respect. When receiving the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, she called up her fellow female colleagues to stand with her in solidarity of female prominence in baseball.

When asked about how women pursuing careers in sports could be more respected, Smith emphasized that staying true and genuine is a major priority in this business.

“Point inside,” Smith said, “If they don’t matter to you, they shouldn’t matter to anyone else.”

Smith touched upon how the preconceived notions of women in sports and in the baseball industry are improving but still need to be brought to the forefront. Smith chose gender over race as a bigger struggle to overcome in her field. She observed throughout her career how hair, makeup and clothing for women are automatically analyzed under the microscope of what is deemed “appropriate” or “professional.”

Even though women in sports are viewed through the visual lens, Smith reassured her webinar  attendees that despite the pushback from persistent critics, do not let any comments or situations define a career path.
“You’re always going to have to prove what you’re not before you can prove what you are,” Smith shared as the best advice she ever received.

2021 marks the 40th anniversary of Smith’s baseball writing career. Her very first feature was published in 1981. Her journey as a trailblazer and the baseball features she writes continue to inspire her loyal readers and a whole new generation of sports writers.

 

Emma Holtz is a freshman majoring in public relations. To contact her, email exh5337@psu.edu.