Jon Pessah

Jon Pessah is a founding editor of ESPN the Magazine who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for editing and writing an examination into the role of racism in Major League Baseball. A 45-year veteran of sports and business journalism in newspapers and magazines, Pessah was Assistant Managing Editor/Sports at Newsday and Sports Editor at the Hartford Courant. Pessah was Deputy Editor at ESPN Magazine, where he directed an award-winning investigation into the rise of steroids in baseball. Pessah’s first book—The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball's Power Brokers (Little, Brown & Company, 2015)—is a New York Times bestselling portrait of the powerbrokers who built major league baseball into a multi-billion-dollar business. Pessah’s next book, a biography of American icon Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees, is due out by Little, Brown & Company on April 14, 2020. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, The Daily Beast, Newsweek and Men’s Journal. Praise for YOGI: Life Behind the Mask • “Here’s a contender for baseball book of the year. Pessah’s Yogi is as warm, winning and entertaining as its subject—certain to be the definitive biography of an American legend.” —Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man, Opening Day, and Ali: A Life. • “Jon Pessah’s meticulously sourced Yogi immediately becomes essential for anyone interested in the life of a true American icon. The book is a serious and thoughtful treatment of a life that was a good deal more complex than most people realize. Throughout, it’s Yogi’s warmth, love of his family and loyalty to them and his friends that drive this narrative. Yogi Berra was a beautiful person with a big heart, and this biography more than does him justice. Simply put—a great read for any baseball fan.” —Joe Garagiola Jr., Special Advisor to the President/CEO Arizona Diamondbacks • “Jon Pessah is not just an author who recounts history. He is a talented storyteller, as his critically acclaimed The Game illustrated. Now he has used his passion and prose to give us Yogi, a rich and poignant portrait of one of America’s most beloved sports icons.” —Claire Smith, JG Spink Award winner (2017) and ESPN Coordinating Editor/Baseball