Jeff Scott (baseball writer)


Jeff Scott was the Senior Writer for Major League Baseball Productions from 1988 until the company was dissolved in 2015. He wrote more than 1100 television shows for various networks including Fox, ESPN, MLB Network, YES Network, ABC, NBC, NESN, Spike, FS1, NBC Sports, and A&E. Included amongst those shows is a Cal Ripken-like streak of writing 450 consecutive episodes of This Week in Baseball In addition, he wrote the scripts for nearly 150 DVDs and home videos including more than 26 Official World Series films. He wrote for and directed on-camera and record sessions with many celebrities, athletes, broadcasters and voiceover talents. His writing earned him 16 New York Emmy Awards, a Boston/New England Emmy Award, 17 National Sports Emmy nominations, a Cine Golden Eagle award, and various other awards and honors some of which date back to his days writing for newspapers. Jeff Scott lives in rural New Jersey with his wife and niece. He is an avid gardener and a devoted Phillies, Eagles, 76ers and Flyers fan.

Early career

Scott’s writing career began in the early 1970s as a part-time sports writer for The Intelligencer, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In 1975 he was hired as sports editor and feature writer for the News-Herald in Perkasie – a position he held for the next five years. Following a brief period in which he drove across the country for fun and then worked as a truck driver, deejay and day cook, he landed a job at The Free Press in Quakertown, Pa. There he served as a columnist, medical writer, movie reviewer and editor of a weekly entertainment magazine. In 1981, when Free Press publisher Charles Meredith III underwent quadruple bypass surgery, Scott received permission to observe the operation directly over Meredith’s chest. He then wrote a series of award-winning articles about it for The Free Press and then adapted the series for a feature story that appeared in Philadelphia Magazine in October 1981.
In the summer of 1983, producer/director Mike Tollin and Gary Cohen hired him to write This is the USFL, the weekly highlight show for the new United States Football League, which aired on ABC from 1983-1985. Once the USFL disbanded, Scott remained with Halcyon Days Productions for several years as a freelance writer and producer. It was during this time that he and Tollin followed Phillies slugger Mike Schmidt during his quest for 500 home runs and then produced a film that chronicled the slugger’s effort. Scott was also an integral part of various other shows and videos including Men of October, Legacy, The Best of the USFL and Michael Bolton’s Winning Softball. In the late 1980s, Scott wrote more than 1,000 one-minute radio shows for John Madden’s Sports Quiz, John Madden’s Sports Calendar and Bob Costas’ Sports Flashback – before landing a job with MLB Productions writing for baseball television and the VCR/DVD industry.

Major League Baseball Productions

Jeff Scott joined MLB Productions in 1988 as the writer for ESPN’s Major League Baseball Magazine – one of the first independently produced programs for the fledgling network. Over the next four years Scott wrote 176 episodes of the widely acclaimed program which was narrated by Warner Fusselle. He began writing This Week in Baseball – the longest running sports anthology program in television history – in 1992, for Mel Allen, the legendary announcer and original voice of TWIB. After the Hall of Fame broadcaster died in 1996, Scott wrote for another Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith, who hosted the show for two seasons. When the Baseball Commissioner’s office took back MLB Productions from Phoenix Communications in 1999 Scott began writing for Buzz Brainard, who would narrate TWIB for the next 11 seasons. Scott wrote 450 consecutive episodes of the iconic show before it was discontinued at the end of the 2011 season. Scott wrote and helped create TWIB’s replacement – MLB Player Poll – which debuted on FOX and MLB Network in the spring of 2012. The program – which polls players on a variety of subjects – was hosted by MLB Network personality, Greg Amsinger during its two year run. Scott also helped create, and wrote, MLB162 for Fox Sports 1 in 2014.
Scott wrote several other weekly shows, as well as every Official World Series Film from 1988-2014. The World Series Films were often narrated by a celebrity, whom Scott recorded and directed in the voiceover sessions.
Scott played a significant role in the launching of the YES Network, NBC Sports, MLB Network, and Fox Sports 1 by writing fresh programming to help the networks garner audiences in their formative years. The YES Network, launched in 2002, premiered a new biographical documentary series on the most famous Yankee players called the Yankeeography. Scott wrote more than 50 Yankeeography episodes, as well as several other features for the YES Network. MLB Network, launched in 2009, featured a new countdown show – Prime 9 – for which Scott wrote all 68 episodes. He also wrote another 30 programs for MLB Network including behind-the-scenes reality series about both the Phillies and the White Sox He was also the senior writer for the Caught Looking series on NBC Sports during its debut season and Mission October on FS1 in 2013 and 2014.

Voices

The following is a list of some of the men and women whom Scott has written for and directed in recording sessions:
Mel AllenBob CostasE.G. MarshallOssie Davis
Richard DreyfusCurt GowdyRed BarberAl Michaels
Tim McCarverLarry KenneyJohn MaddenJack Buck
Chazz PalminteriOzzie SmithHarry KalasLen Cariou
Robert KleinJames BrownJack PerkinsMichael Bolton
Warner FusselleTim RobbinsCurt ChaplinDick Enberg
Hector ElizondoCharley SteinerRay LiottaFrank Deford
Norm N. NiteJeremy SchappDenis LearyDoug Jeffers
Mike EmrickJoe TorreDennis HaysbertDennis Quaid
Reggie JacksonJim BelushiChris KattanJohn Kruk
Michael Clarke DuncanIan EagleWilliam PetersenKarl Ravech
Jeff DanielsMichael ChiklisBuzz BrainardRoger Clemens
Amaury NolascoPowers BootheMichelle BeadleMatt Damon
Leslie GudelJim FaganBilly Bob ThorntonJoe Garagiola
Vin ScullyMatthew BroderickBob UeckerRob Schneider
John SterlingJerry FerraraTerence HowardDave Winfield
Edward NortonEsai MoralesJoe BuckJimmy Rollins
Mitch WilliamsMatt VasgersianMarty BrennanJohn Goodman
Gary CohenBilly CrystalMason PettitGreg Amsinger
Duane KuiperCurtis GrandersonSean CaseyDick Brener
Ed BurnsJohn HammBenjamin BrattBobby Moynihan
Ben AffleckJohn FrancoMorgan SpectorJohn Krasinski
Kevin BurkhardtChris MyersJulie AlexandriaHarold Reynolds

Notable shows written by Jeff Scott

This Is The USFLPrime 9This Week in Baseball-
Major League Baseball MagazineThe PenYankeeography-
Letters From JackieCardboard TreasuresDon Zimmer: I've Seen It All-
Pride & Perseverance: The Story of the Negro LeaguesTriumph and Tragedy: The 1919 Chicago White SoxJosh Hamilton: Resurrecting the Dream-
MasterCard Presents: Inside the MomentsGenerations of HeroesThe Babe & the Billy Goat: Reverse the Curse-
The 2006 World Baseball ClassicBaseball Remembers: 9/11My Father the Ballplayer-
1999 A Season of HeroesBaby Ruth Presents: Take Me Out to the BallgameThe All Century Team-
Baseball: A Latin PassionWhen Baseball Went to WarThe Science of Swing-
Michael Bolton’s Winning SoftballLegacyThe 2008 Official World Series Film-
The Mike Schmidt StoryThe Best of the USFLPalestra Pandemonium: The History of the Big Five-
Superstar ShortstopsHank Aaron: Brave HeroThe History of the World Series-
MLB Player PollMission OctoberCaught Looking
Behind The SeamsBeing MarianoDerek Jeter: 2 Witness An Icon-