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JOHN KLIMA
John@KlimaInk.com
Published trade author, long-form narrative writer and MLB draft expert, 2009
- Author of Willie’s Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro League World Series and the Making of a Baseball Legend (John Wiley & Sons). Willie’s Boys is an “ESPN Sports Best Seller,” placed in prominent display on sports shelves in Borders Books & Music nation wide.
- Wrote two 1,000-word features for The New York Times and one 1,000-word story for Yahoo! Sports.
- Wrote 3,500-word feature on Willie Mays’s pre-Birmingham Black Barons career in Birmingham Industrial League for Alabama Heritage (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa) for Summer 2010 publication.
- Wrote 2,000-word two-day deadline Nick Adenhart obituary feature for Angels Magazine.
- Launched Baseball Beginnings, devoted to scouting professional prospects and identifying future major leaguers though video, scouting reports and narrative analysis.
- Wrote 340 items for site in the first eight months of operation. Baseball Beginnings created several pieces of original content not found anywhere else online and broke several news items before national websites, including the web’s only Aroldis Chapman scouting report, the first interview with Rockies first-round pick Tyler Matzek after his holdout, the $1 million signing of Blue Jays OF prospect Jake Marisnick, a $572,000 Marlins deal with pitcher Bryan Berglund, Oklahoma State pitcher Tyler Lyons declining to sign with the Yankees, video of Orioles first-round pick Matt Hobgood’s Camden Yards pre-draft bullpen session and his first post-draft interview.
- Served as analysts on AOL Fanhouse MLB Draft Day live chat and appeared on sports radio in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and on TV in Birmingham.
Los Angeles Newspaper Group (Torrance Daily Breeze/LA Daily News), 2004-2008
- Wrote Deal of the Century, a 6,000-word narrative on Paul Pettit, the first $100,000 bonus baby. The story was chosen by Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author David Maraniss to appear in full in the 2007 Edition in The Best American Sports Writing (pages 63-80).
- National baseball Columnist for L.A. Daily News in 2007, producing weekly column and notes.
- 2006 APSE Honorable Mention for general sports columns in under-100,000.
- “Baseball’s Blackout,” a 10-part feature about the decline of blacks in baseball, published in July, 2006, named the Los Angeles Press Club’s Best Sports Story of 2006 under 100,000 division. Blackout also won Copley “Ring of Truth” Award for newspaper chain’s best sports story of 2006.
- Five local long-form narrative pieces were selected for page A-1 of the Daily Breeze.
- Worked local prep and junior college beats for Daily Breeze.
Noteworthy newspaper, online, broadcast and book credits, 1992-2008
- Wrote two 1,000-word features for Yahoo! Sports in 2008.
- Wrote three front-panel features for MLB.com in 2007, covered games in 2007-2009.
- Wrote features for several MLB team magazines, 2007-2009.
- Wrote 7,000-word feature “The Last Wish of Jackie Robinson,” 2007.
- Wrote 1,500-word narrative about pitchers Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger, 2006.
- Wrote Scouting The Heart, a 100,000-word book industry sample manuscript, portions appeared in Willie’s Boys.
- Los Angeles Times: Downtown desk clerk, stringer, occasional filler pieces, 2003-2001.
- Los Angeles Times: Prep/JC stringer for Valley Edition, culminating in longer pieces in 2000-2001.
- Baseball Radio Broadcaster: Pepperdine University and Yakima Bears, 2002-2003.
- Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball’s Greatest Pitching Duels (McFarland publishers, 2001, 197 pages).
- Ventura County Star, 1994-2000 (Prep stringer, baseball columnist).
- Los Angeles Times: Football stringer for Valley Edition, 1993.
Other Notable Stories
Education:
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE, 2001
Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology
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