Daniel Okrent
Encyclopedia
Daniel Okrent is an American
writer
and editor
. He is best known for having served as the first public editor
of The New York Times
newspaper, for inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books, most recently Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.
in Detroit in 1965 and from the University of Michigan
where he worked on the Michigan Daily
. Most of his career has been spent as an editor, at such places as Alfred A. Knopf
; Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich
; Esquire Magazine; New England Monthly
; Life Magazine; and TIME
, Inc. His book Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center
(Viking, 2003) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history.
In October 2003, Okrent was named public editor
for The New York Times
following the Jayson Blair
scandal. He held this position until May 2005. He is known for coining "Okrent's Law" during his tenure as a comment he made about his new job. It states: "The pursuit of balance can create imbalance because sometimes something is true," referring to the phenomenon of the press providing legitimacy to fringe or minority viewpoints in an effort to appear even-handed.
, in 1979. The name comes from the fact that he pitched the idea to his friends while dining at La Rôtisserie Française restaurant in New York City
. Okrent's team in the Rotisserie League was called the "Okrent Fenokees", a pun on the Okefenokee Swamp
. He was one of the first two people inducted into the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame. Okrent was still playing Rotisserie as of 2009 under the team name Dan Druffs. Ironically, despite having been credited with inventing fantasy baseball he has never been able to win a Rotisserie League he has ever entered. His exploits of inventing Rotisserie League Baseball were chronicled as part of the ESPN
30 for 30
documentary series in 2010
.
Okrent is also credited with inventing the baseball stat, WHIP
. At the time he referred to it as IPRAT, signifying "Innings Pitched Ratio."
In May 1981, Okrent wrote and Sports Illustrated
published "He Does It by the Numbers." This profile of the then-unknown Bill James
launched James's career as baseball's foremost analyst.
In 1994, Okrent was filmed for his in-depth knowledge of baseball history for the Ken Burns
documentary Baseball. During the nine-part series, a red sweater-wearing Okrent delivered a detailed analysis of the cultural aspects of the national pastime, including a comparison of the dramatic Game 6 of the 1975 World Series
between the Boston Red Sox
and Cincinnati Reds
to the conflict and character development in Russian novels
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
. He is best known for having served as the first public editor
Public Editor
The job of the public editor is to supervise the implementation of proper journalism ethics at a newspaper, and to identify and examine critical errors or omissions, and to act as a liaison to the public. They do this primarily through a regular feature on a newspaper's editorial page. The position...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
newspaper, for inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books, most recently Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.
Education and career
Okrent graduated from Cass Technical High SchoolCass Technical High School
The Cass Tech Technicians football team is a high school football program in Division 1 Public School League, representing the prestigious Cass Technical High School in Detroit, MI. Cass Tech High School has long been recognized nationwide for its extraordinary football program dating back to its...
in Detroit in 1965 and from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
where he worked on the Michigan Daily
Michigan Daily
The Michigan Daily is the daily student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other student groups, but shares a university building with other...
. Most of his career has been spent as an editor, at such places as Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
; Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich
Harcourt Trade Publishers
Harcourt was a United States publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. The company was based in San Diego, California, with an Editorial / Sales / Marketing / Rights offices in New York City and Orlando, Florida.In 2007, the U.S...
; Esquire Magazine; New England Monthly
New England Monthly
New England Monthly was a magazine published in Haydenville, Massachusetts from 1984 to 1990. Founded by Robert Nylen and Daniel Okrent , it won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in both 1986 and 1987, and was a finalist for many other National Magazine Awards in its brief...
; Life Magazine; and TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Inc. His book Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
(Viking, 2003) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history.
In October 2003, Okrent was named public editor
Public Editor
The job of the public editor is to supervise the implementation of proper journalism ethics at a newspaper, and to identify and examine critical errors or omissions, and to act as a liaison to the public. They do this primarily through a regular feature on a newspaper's editorial page. The position...
for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
following the Jayson Blair
Jayson Blair
Jayson Blair is an American reporter formerly with The New York Times. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2003 in the wake of the discovery of plagiarism and fabrication in his stories. Since 2007 he has worked as a life coach in the field of mental health.-Background:Blair was born in...
scandal. He held this position until May 2005. He is known for coining "Okrent's Law" during his tenure as a comment he made about his new job. It states: "The pursuit of balance can create imbalance because sometimes something is true," referring to the phenomenon of the press providing legitimacy to fringe or minority viewpoints in an effort to appear even-handed.
Baseball
Okrent invented Rotisserie League Baseball, the best-known form of fantasy baseballFantasy baseball
Fantasy baseball is a game where participants manage an imaginary roster of real Major League baseball players. The participants compete against one another using those players' real life statistics to score points...
, in 1979. The name comes from the fact that he pitched the idea to his friends while dining at La Rôtisserie Française restaurant in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Okrent's team in the Rotisserie League was called the "Okrent Fenokees", a pun on the Okefenokee Swamp
Okefenokee Swamp
The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000 acre , peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border in the United States. A majority of the swamp is in Georgia and protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. The Okefenokee Swamp is considered to be...
. He was one of the first two people inducted into the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame. Okrent was still playing Rotisserie as of 2009 under the team name Dan Druffs. Ironically, despite having been credited with inventing fantasy baseball he has never been able to win a Rotisserie League he has ever entered. His exploits of inventing Rotisserie League Baseball were chronicled as part of the ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
30 for 30
30 for 30
30 for 30 is the umbrella title for a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the "ESPN era," each of which detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that...
documentary series in 2010
2010 in sports
2010 in sports will describe the year's events in world sport.-January:* Alabama defeats Texas 37–21 in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, thereby claiming the 2009 National Championship in College Football....
.
Okrent is also credited with inventing the baseball stat, WHIP
Walks plus hits per inning pitched
In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. It is a measure of a pitcher's ability to prevent batters from reaching base...
. At the time he referred to it as IPRAT, signifying "Innings Pitched Ratio."
In May 1981, Okrent wrote and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
published "He Does It by the Numbers." This profile of the then-unknown Bill James
Bill James
George William “Bill” James is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics...
launched James's career as baseball's foremost analyst.
In 1994, Okrent was filmed for his in-depth knowledge of baseball history for the Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
documentary Baseball. During the nine-part series, a red sweater-wearing Okrent delivered a detailed analysis of the cultural aspects of the national pastime, including a comparison of the dramatic Game 6 of the 1975 World Series
1975 World Series
The 1975 World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds . It has been ranked by ESPN as the second-greatest World Series ever played...
between the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
and Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
to the conflict and character development in Russian novels
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
.
Filmography
- BaseballBaseball (documentary)Baseball is an 18½ hour, Emmy Award-winning documentary series by Ken Burns about the game of baseball. First broadcast on PBS, this was Burns' ninth documentary.- Format :...
(1994), (2010) | Documentary | Directed by: Ken BurnsKen BurnsKenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs... - Sweet And LowdownSweet and LowdownSweet and Lowdown is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen which tells the story of a fictional arrogant, obnoxious, alcoholic jazz guitarist named Emmet Ray who regards himself as perhaps the best guitarist in the world, or second best, after his idol, Django Reinhardt...
(1999) | Role of: A.J. Pickman | Comedy-Drama | Directed by: Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema... - WordplayWordplay (film)Wordplay is a 2006 documentary film directed by Patrick Creadon. It features Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, crossword constructor Merl Reagle, and many other noted crossword solvers and constructors...
(2006) | Documentary | Directed by: Patrick CreadonPatrick CreadonPatrick Creadon is an American documentary filmmaker, best known for the documentary film Wordplay. A profile of New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz, Wordplay premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and became the second-highest grossing documentary of that year... - The HoaxThe HoaxThe Hoax is a 2007 American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström. The screenplay by William Wheeler is based on the book of the same title by Clifford Irving and focuses on the autobiography Irving supposedly helped Howard Hughes write...
(2007) | Role of: Real Publisher #1 | Comedy-Drama | Directed by: Lasse HallstromLasse HallströmLars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for My Life as a Dog and later for The Cider House Rules .-Life and career:... - Silly Little Game (2010) | Documentary | Directed by: Lucas Jansen and Adam Kurland