Baseball writer, Northwest News Group

From APSE: Northwest News Group, which publishes NW Herald and Kane County Chronicle, looking for writer to cover Cubs and White Sox for papers and website chicagobaseball365.com.

Not as familiar with Kane County, but the times I've seen NW Herald it's been a well-produced paper. Visit apse.dallasnews.com for more details and click the job board.

Whaddya think? Doesn't sound too bad. Anyone with details, share.

 

For a chance to cover the Chicago baseball market? A lot of people, I'm guessing, will jump on this one. Maybe even Jeff Vorva, if he hasn't already caught on somewhere else.

 

Having done this kind of job elsewhere, I can suggest that it won't be easy. Sure, if your goal is to cover MLB, this is better than staying on preps. But on the other hand, if you are covering a pro beat for a suburban paper, you get the attention of the nearby metro(s) by breaking news. And that is going to be very difficult when you cover only home games and the big boys and girls travel with the team and not only have double the access you have, but there will be a perception among players, coaches and staff that you are somehow a bit less legit. My strategy was to build relationships with rookies, who didn't know any better. But then they also have less wisdom to impart to me, too. My point is, just covering a team isn't enough -- you have to prove you can compete on the beat. And you are going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I'm not saying don't apply, I'm saying be prepared for some frustrating days when no matter how hard you work, you're going to be behind.

 

I ditto everything here. I am doing a similar job right now in the Bay Area, with the Giants and A's. Parts of the job are great, like not having to travel for the bad stuff, but still getting to travel for the good stuff (playoffs, etc.) However, it is a virtually unwinnable battle to compete as a reporter against the papers that are traveling full-time.

I can't tell you how many times I've called someone, a player or an agent, and he doesn't call me back, but then I see his quotes in the big paper the next day.

Not complaining, though, because it's still a good job.

 

What's everyone's opinion on experience necessary for this job? It doesn't mention anything in the ad. Considering the location of the paper (an hour-plus outside Chicago) and the non-travel aspect, I'm assuming pro experience is a plus but not a requirement. Would a young lad with spot pro experience and a few years covering preps get a look?

 

Because of the paper's size, work expectations and (probably) pay, I can't imagine this job would get many applicants from reporters on a pro beat. So if you're young, even fresh out of college, I would certainly go for it.

This is a good (if somewhat self-important) sports section. They've won a lot of awards and had folks move up the ladder quickly.

 

What happened to Dave Brown?

 

Vorva would be a good fit for the job, and vice versa. Perhaps a reunion is in the offing.

 

Not saying the Daily Southtown made Vorva ridiculously rich, but do you think Northwest News Group is offering the same type of money for this gig that Vorva was making? My guess is Vorva would have to take a decent pay cut for this job.

 

He's still there, as far as I know.

 

Maybe this is the break that someone like me, stuck in a small paper with no help covering three high schools for peanuts and writing 10 stories a day at peak time then putting together two pages on quark, pasting two pages in composition then repeating process over and over and over...Maybe this is the type of job that can be the first step toward finally getting the pro beat I've been dreaming about since I got in this business 10 years ago...or maybe I'm just continuing to follow a pipe dream that will lead to a well underfunded retirement, boredom, followed by heavy drinking and death before 80...

 

Probably the latter.

But you don't know unless you try.