HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bob Nightengale is an American journalist who currently is a
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) ...
insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...
and
columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...
for ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...
''. He formerly worked for ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $ ...
'', ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...
'', and the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
''. He is the incumbent chairman of the Arizona chapter 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 for ...
.


Early life

Nightengale was raised in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. He began playing baseball at 4 years old. When Nightengale was 14 years old, he was in a contest to become a batboy for the Albuquerque Dodgers.


Career

Nightengale began writing for ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $ ...
'' in November 1978, covering Phoenix-area high school sports. In September 1984, he joined ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...
'' to cover professional sports, serving as a beat writer for the Kansas City Kings of the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...
. His time as a Kings beat writer was short-lived as the team departed for
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
in 1985. Nightengale reported on the franchise's departure, including team owner Gregg Lukenbill's denial that the team was moving despite signs that they were. Following the departure of the Kings, Nightengale was assigned to cover the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expa ...
of Major League Baseball. In June 1989, Nightengale was hired by the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' to cover the
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...
. During his time at the newspaper, he worked alongside baseball journalism contemporary Bill Plaschke. On May 29, 1997, the Times fired Nightengale. He sued the newspaper later that year for the firing, claiming that they fired him due his criticism of the Dodgers organization's relations with the black community, including an April 1997 article that highlighted the lack of black players on the Dodgers roster relative to other teams at the time as well as the 1940s Dodgers teams that broke baseball's
color barrier Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
. The lawsuit alleged that people within the Dodgers organization, including team owner Peter O'Malley, pressured the newspaper into firing Nightengale. Nightengale also claimed that Times sports editor Bill Dwyre told him that the articles were "too harsh" and that Nightengale was "too close to the subject" because of his marriage to a black woman. The Times stated that Nightengale was fired for doing freelance work with ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...
'', but Nightengale said the claim was "pretextual." In 1998, Nightengale was hired to cover league-wide MLB news at ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...
''. He became an insider, often breaking stories about various players and teams. In May 2009, he joined
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and has since used the platform to break league news, mostly transactions. On February 4, 2021, Nightengale tweeted that Trevor Bauer would sign a deal with the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...
, a news-break that later proved to be false when Bauer signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nightengale later revealed that Bauer's representatives had told him that there was a deal in place with the Mets and that they had even disclosed contract details of the supposed agreement. In August 2021, Nightengale was criticized by fans after urging his Twitter followers to "find" a Rockies fan who had been accused of shouting a racial slur and called for the fan's imprisonment. Nightengale later deleted the tweets and apologized after an investigation found that the fan was trying to get the attention of the Rockies mascot Dinger for his grandchildren. During the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, Nightengale was on the scene at the February negotiations that took place at
Roger Dean Stadium Roger Dean Stadium (officially known as Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium) is a baseball stadium located in the Abacoa community of the town of Jupiter, Florida. The stadium was built in 1998, holds 6,871 people, and features luxury sky-box seating, ...
in
Jupiter, Florida Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the town had a population of 61,047 as of April 1, 2020. It is 84 miles north of Miami, and the northernmost community in the Miami met ...
, providing updates and details via Twitter. He received fanfare from online baseball fans for his reporting on the lockout.
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
insider
Jeff Passan 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 ...
commended Nightengale's coverage of the lockout, tweeting "Bob rules."


Personal life

Nightengale is based in Phoenix. His son, Bobby, is currently a
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
beat writer for ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...
''. Nightengale has often been outspoken about race relations in baseball. In a New York ''Daily News'' interview, he said that having a black wife and biracial children have shaped his views, particularly instances where his family was subjected to housing discrimination in
Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nightengale, Bob Living people American male journalists Major League Baseball broadcasters The Kansas City Star people Los Angeles Times people USA Today journalists Writers from Albuquerque, New Mexico Year of birth missing (living people)