Jayson Stark

Jayson Stark is a sports reporter who covers baseball for ESPN.

He writes columns for ESPN.com and appears frequently on Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter.

Prior to joining ESPN, Stark worked for The Philadelphia Inquirer for 21 years. He was twice named Pennsylvania's sportswriter of the year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. His "Baseball Week in Review" was a staple of the Inquirer sports section for many years before his move to ESPN. The feature, which often took up an entire page, was a look at the offbeat, humorous and trivial news around Major League Baseball. One often-included feature "Box Score Line of the Week" -- a look at the numbers behind a fantastic or dreadful performance by some player. Also making appearances was the "Steve Jeltz Fan Club," a group of Philadelphia Phillies fans who, strangely, idolized medicore shortstop Jeltz.

Stark has been criticized for trivializing the seriousness of the recent steroids scandal and is seen as somewhat of an apologist for players caught up in the controversy.