| Jeff Passan | |
| Birth Date: | 21 September 1980 |
| Birth Place: | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Syracuse University |
| Occupation: | Sportswriter Author |
Jeffrey Scott Passan (born September 21, 1980) is an American baseball columnist with ESPN and author of New York Times Best Seller The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports. He is also co-author of Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series.[1]
After graduating from Solon High School near Cleveland, Ohio, Passan attended Syracuse University, where he wrote for The Daily Orange.[2] Passan covered Fresno State basketball. He began covering baseball in 2004 at The Kansas City Star,[3] before moving to Yahoo! two years later. After 13 years at Yahoo! (2006–18), he announced that he was joining ESPN's Baseball team in January 2019. In early 2022, Passan signed a four-year, $4 million contract with ESPN.[4] While working at ESPN, he makes guest appearances on SportsCenter, Get Up, The Rich Eisen Show, The Pat McAfee Show and other ESPN studio shows.[5]
In 2018, while working for Yahoo!, Passan refused to cast his ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame due to a letter that Joe Morgan wrote to the voters asking that steroid users be excluded.[6] He has voiced negative opinions of the Baseball Hall of Fame due to its exclusion of players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens that were involved in performance-enhancing drug scandals.[7]
Passan has been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2004, while he was at The Kansas City Star.[8] The National Sports Media Association named Passan as the 2021 National Sportswriter of the Year.[9] He won the award again in 2023.[10]
Passan received the 2022 Dan Jenkins medal for Excellence in Sportswriting for his ESPN article, "San Francisco Giants Outfielder Drew Robinson's Remarkable Second Act."[11]
Passan's family is Jewish.[12] Passan graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2002 with a degree in journalism.[13]
After a lull in posting in 2023, Passan announced via Twitter that he had been struck by a falling tree limb after a storm, fracturing his back. He retained the use of his limbs and extremities.[14]