MLB.com hires award-winning journalist Hal Bodley

NEW YORK -- MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media and Internetcompany of Major League Baseball, announced today that it has hired longtime USA Todaybaseball columnist Hal Bodley as senior correspondent. Bodley will provide fans with his uniqueperspective of the game across various platforms as a columnist and on-air analyst on MLB.com.

"We are honored to have Hal playing an important role on our team," said Dinn Mann, executivevice president of content for MLB.com. "Over the course of his career, Hal has earned a reputationas a respected, competitive authority on baseball. His contributions to the game and to thegroundbreaking approach and coverage by USA Today cannot be overstated. Hal's background asboth a pioneer and leader in print and electronic media will serve our staff and audiencetremendously. This key addition further advances our mission to deliver the best possibleinformation and perspective."

"After covering baseball for 50 years, the last 25 for millions of USA Today readers, getting thisopportunity to remain active in the game with MLB.com and its expansive presence in the digitalarena is both exciting and challenging," said Bodley. "I can't wait to get started because this is trulybaseball's Golden Era."

Bodley, who has covered the game since 1958, has attended nearly every major event in the sport,including 43 World Series and 41 All-Star Games, has worked more than 4,000 games, has seenmore than 36,000 innings played and has interviewed thousands of baseball personnel and sixsitting Presidents of the United States. He has also written two best-selling baseball books: TheTeam That Wouldn't Die, an account of the Philadelphia Phillies 1980 championship year, andCountdown to Cobb, a chronicle of Pete Rose's 1985 pursuit of Ty Cobb's career hits record.

Prior to joining MLB.com, Bodley served as baseball editor-columnist for USA Today since prior tothe national newspaper's startup on Sept. 15, 1982. He was with Gannett Company, Inc., for 47years and prior to his work with USA Today was sports editor-columnist of the Wilmington NewsJournal newspapers for 22 years. Bodley was also a founder and former president of the AssociatedPress Editors Association. In addition, Bodley has served as a broadcast analyst for baseball withCBS Sports, NBC Sports, CNN and the Philadelphia Phillies television network.

A native of Smyrna, Del., Bodley graduated from the University of Delaware and has become themost honored sports writer in the state's history. He's won 30 regional and national writing awardsand was elected to the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Delaware Baseball Hall ofFame in 2002.