Susan Slusser is an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

who works for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', covering the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. She was the first woman to serve as president of the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908, and is known ...

Career

Slusser previously worked for the '' Dallas Morning News'' in 1995 and 1996, covering the Texas Rangers of

(MLB). She also served as a beat writer in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

. She worked in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

for the ''

Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

'', where she covered the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, and Orlando, Florida for the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'', where she covered the Orlando Magic. Beginning in 1999, Slusser worked for the ''

'', covering the Oakland Athletics of MLB. After more than two decades covering the A's, she became the San Francisco Giants beat writer for the ''Chronicle'' starting in 2021. Slusser was elected as the vice-president of the

(BBWAA) in October 2011. The next year, she was voted the president of the BBWAA, the first woman to serve in the role. In 2014, she was elected to the BBWAA board. She has published two books, ''100 Things A’s Fans Need to Know and Do Before They Die'' in 2014, and ''If These Walls Could Talk, Tales from the Oakland A’s Dugout, Locker Room and Press Box'', co-authored with

Ken Korach Kenneth Louis Korach (born January 30, 1952) is an American sports commentator for the Oakland Athletics and published author. Early life and education Korach was born in Los Angeles in 1952. He went on to attend San Diego State University ...

, in 2019.

Awards

The

National Sports Media Association The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports P ...

named Slusser and fellow ''Chronicle'' sports scribe Ann Killion co-California Sportswriters of the Year in 2019. Slusser was the first team beat sportswriter to win the award. In 2017, she won a Northern California Area Emmy for her work on "SportsTalk Live: Women in Sports Media". She has also won recognition from the San Francisco Press Club, the Peninsula Press Club, and the Association for Women in Sports Media.

Personal

Slusser graduated from

Stevenson School Stevenson School (also known as Robert Louis Stevenson School and abbreviated as RLS) is a coeducational, private school for boarding and day students in preschool through twelfth grade. Its high school and Pre-K through eighth-grade campuses are ...

Pebble Beach, California Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also notable as a resort destination, and the home of the golf cou ...

, where she did

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcing for the school radio station. She is a 1988 graduate of Stanford University, with a double major in English and history. While at Stanford, she was the sports editor of the Stanford Daily and played

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

. She also called play-by-play Stanford baseball for the campus radio station, including the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

, and served as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for football.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slusser, Susan Living people American sports journalists American columnists San Francisco Chronicle people Orlando Sentinel people Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Stanford University alumni The Dallas Morning News people The Mercury News people 1967 births American women sportswriters