The Seton Hall Sports Poll was featured in Baseball America, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Entertainment and ESPN after the poll addressed a variety of issues in Major League Baseball— including the institution of protective netting to shield fans from foul balls, the use of a computer to call balls and strikes instead of an umpire, expansion of MLB to include more teams and whether or not baseball players who have been found to have used PEDs should be banned from admission into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baseball America is one of the leading baseball publications in the nation (it’s 2016 Prospect Handbook, for instance, made The New York Times Best-Seller list) and featured the Sports Poll’s findings on its cover with the headline “State of the Game, Fans Weigh in About the Sport and Potential Changes.”
B.J. Schecter, who came to Seton Hall in August as part of the Professionals-in-Residence Program in the College of Communication and the Arts, is Baseball America’s editor and publisher. Schecter, a veteran journalist who spent 20 years at Sports Illustrated (most recently as its executive editor) was appointed to develop a collaborative and uniquely interdisciplinary Sports Media program at Seton Hall, and to that end is working with the Stillman School of Business‘ Center for Sport Management as well as the Sports Poll. A number of the poll questions featured in this special issue of Baseball America were inspired by students in Schecter’s Intro to Sports Media class.
“This issue of Baseball America, featuring a unique partnership with the Seton Hall Sports Poll, is one of the first steps in forging a multi-media, interdisciplinary program that will bring students to the forefront of how sports media works in the 21st century,” said Schecter. “As we bring in additional resources through WSOU, our award-winning radio station, and the Pirate Sports Network, students will have expanded opportunities to engage in professional-level sports media work at Seton Hall.”
Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall Sports Poll and former Executive Producer and Senior Vice President of CBS Sports, agreed. “In addition to Baseball America, the Sports Poll is regularly featured in top media outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, AP, Reuters, Forbes, ESPN and Bleacher Report to name just a few,” he said. “Our students have the opportunity to be a part of that, and these opportunities are growing now as the new Sports Media program takes hold. It’s a win-win for Seton Hall, and students especially.”
In addition to the special feature “State of the Game,” Sports Poll findings also appeared in an article in the most recent edition of Baseball America, “Drive For Netting Continues Across Baseball,” that discusses the support among baseball fans for protective netting in baseball stadiums to shield spectators from foul balls.
The most recent release from the Sports Poll was also featured in Yahoo Entertainment and Yahoo Sports, “New poll affirms Americans don’t want steroid users in Hall of Fame,” as well as ESPN.
You can see here the most recent release from the Sports Poll, “By 49% to 35% Americans Say ‘No’ to Bonds and Clemens for Hall of Fame; 62% Agree with Joe Morgan’s Call to Ban Drug Users.”
Learn more about the Sports Poll, and the Stillman School of Business.