The Beckett Blog

I’ve had the privilege of working directly with Beckett Baseball Editor Chris Olds for the better part of six months now and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’ll cringe when he reads this.

But facts are facts, and here’s a little-known one about Chris: In addition to being an uber passionate baseball card collector and Nick Swisher devotee, Olds is fanatical about professional wrestling. Oh, it’s true, it’s true. You can look it up.

Indeed, late last month, Olds and former Orlando Sentinel colleague Andrea Adelson were honored with a 2008 Associated Press Sports Editors national writing award for their extensive coverage leading up to WrestleMania XXIV, held last March in Orlando.

Since Chris is way too modest to bring this up himself, I figured I’d do it for him.

He and Adelson teamed up on a series of pieces that ran for a couple of months in advance of the event and served as a visually compelling and thoroughly insightful build-up to World Wrestling Entertainment’s showcase event. Their work constituted one of just 10 winners selected by the APSE in the Special Projects category for newspapers with a circulation of more than 250,000. It put them alongside special projects teams from The Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News, The Kansas City Star and the Boston Globe, among others.

Although everyone at Beckett Media is happy for him, I don’t think many of us are surprised. After all, Olds is a decorated journalist and newspaper designer by way of the University of Alabama who’s been covering sports collectibles for more than a decade now. I first met him about nine years ago when he was at The Tuscaloosa News. From there he went to the San Antonio Express-News and then to the Sentinel. Thankfully, he’s in Beckett’s corner now.

Congratulations on the new hardware, Chris. In an industry and at a juncture when good news seems harder and harder to come by, your victory, like a match-winning Hulk Hogan leg drop, is perfectly timed.

– Tracy Hackler, Publisher