Everything about Daniel Okrent totally explained
Daniel Okrent (born
April 2,
1948) is an
American writer and
editor. He is best known for having served as the first
public editor of
The New York Times newspaper, and for inventing
Rotisserie League Baseball.
Daniel Okrent graduated from
Cass Technical High School in
Detroit and from the
University of Michigan. 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.
Okrent invented
Rotisserie League Baseball, the best-known form of
fantasy baseball, 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. He was still playing Rotisserie as of 2007 under the team name Dan Druffs.
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 cold, coherent, serious though sometimes pedantic analysis of the cultural aspects of the national pastime, including a comparison between 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. 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, serving much of the same function as an
ombudsman. 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.
Bibliography
- The Ultimate Baseball Book (1979)
- Nine Innings: The Anatomy of Baseball as Seen Through the Playing of a Single Game (1985)
- The Way We Were: New England Then, New England Now (1988)
- Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center (2003)
- Public Editor #1 (2006)
Filmography
Baseball (1994) | Documentary | Directed by: Ken Burns
Sweet And Lowdown (1999) | Role of: A.J. Pickman | Comedy-Drama | Directed by: Woody Allen
Wordplay (2006) | Documentary | Directed by: Patrick Creadon
The Hoax (2007) | Role of: Real Publisher #1 | Comedy-Drama | Directed by: Lasse HallstromFurther Information
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