TOM VERDUCCI

Biography

Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Tom Verducci, who joined the magazine in April of 1993, is one of SI's top baseball writers. He will be a regular contributor on the baseball beat for CNN/SI, the 24-hour sports news network from CNN and Sports Illustrated.

Before joining Sports Illustrated, he spent 10 years (1983-1993) as a sports reporter for Newsday, serving as its national baseball columnist from 1990-1993. He also had a one-year stint as a sports reporter for Florida Today in Cocoa, Florida.

Verducci identifies his 1995 cover story, "The Dead End Kids," profiling Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, as his most compelling Sports Illustrated feature. He broke into the business covering the Mets at the same time that both of these players bro ke into the majors. "That personal parallel made the story go deeper for me," he says.

Born in East Orange, New Jersey, and raised in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Verducci led his high school football team to a state championship, calling his catch of the winning touchdown pass in the title game as the defining sports moment of his life. He mo ved on to Penn State University, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism in 1982.

Verducci currently resides in suburban New Jersey with his wife and two sons. His hobbies include physical fitness and photography, and he is an avid golfer.