Dan Connolly

Connolly has landed — at The Athletic Baltimore

So, I’ve landed.

Sorry to be vague about my announcement Monday, but it is now official. I have left BaltimoreBaseball.com to join The Athletic Baltimore as its Orioles writer.

If you are a sports fan and aren’t familiar with The Athletic, well, you should be. It is one-stop shopping for the sports fan. There is national coverage of all the primary sports – including Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark on baseball — and localized coverage of most professional teams.

Until today, The Athletic didn’t have a Baltimore bureau. That has changed. Joining me is my old Sun buddy Jeff Zrebiec, who will be covering the Ravens. I couldn’t be more excited to get the band back together.

There also will be plenty of University of Maryland coverage led by Patrick Stevens, who I jokingly refer to as a college basketball savant (though Patrick is an all-sports savant, to be fair).

Yes, it is a subscription-only, no-ads site. But we’re not talking a lot of money here. If you use the Baltimore launch link, you can get it for $3.49 per month for the first year – a 30 percent discount. That’s like the cost of a beer (non-fake beer) per month.

Now, there is also a ton of great free sites out there for Orioles’ coverage – and I, of course, am partial to this one. My buddy Rich Dubroff has taken over and he already has provided some good insight on Manny Machado and his time at the All-Star Game festivities and the resurgence of Nick Markakis.

BaltimoreBaseball.com will continue to flourish under Rich and Steve Cockey, and that excites me. But if you wanna check my stuff out — including the occasional Connolly’s Tap Room — well, that would be fantastic, too.

Regardless, I wanted to write one last piece letting you know where I’ve gone and to thank everyone again. If this is the end, it’s been a blast.

Dan Connolly

Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.

View Comments

Carl says:

July 17, 2018 at 12:42 pm

Congratulations, Dan. So glad to already have a subscription to The Athletic and to know I’ll get complete Orioles coverage both here and with you at your new home.
- Dan Connolly says:
  
  July 17, 2018 at 3:58 pm
  
  Excellent. Looking forward to it.
garyintheloo says:

July 17, 2018 at 1:00 pm

I thought this is the road you would take and I am also a subscriber to The Athletic. Congrats on a great past and future.
- Dan Connolly says:
  
  July 18, 2018 at 3:21 pm
  
  Thanks Gary. Always appreciated.
Boog Robinson Robinson says:

July 17, 2018 at 1:16 pm

It's good to know that free agency extends past the boundaries of the playing field. Good luck Dan, you'll be missed by all us cheap, old, fat, bald guys sitting at the end of the bar. I followed you from the Sun to BB.com, so I guess I'll be debating whether or not I want to pay for my fake beers and my favorite O's writer.

One last question for you: Does this mean you'll be traveling with the team on a more regular basis?
- mlbbirdfan says:
  
  July 18, 2018 at 10:40 am
  
  Boog, you should try The Athletic! I have been a subscriber for six months. It is my favorite baseball source in the country, And I have lots of them.
- Dan Connolly says:
  
  July 18, 2018 at 3:22 pm
  
  I will travel a little more. But hopefully not too much. The road was one of the reasons I left the Sun.
Dblack2508 says:

July 17, 2018 at 6:46 pm

Dan I have the Athletic and I am so glad that Baltimore is represented. They couldn't have found two better writers in you and Jeff Zebric. I will miss our discussions , but happy for you. BTW, my wife got me front row seats to see Paul McCartney.
- Dan Connolly says:
  
  July 18, 2018 at 3:23 pm
  
  Thanks DB. And I hope to keep the convos going once I figure out their site.
boss61 says:

July 17, 2018 at 6:50 pm

As previously stated, I already was a subscriber but otherwise would have become on this news. Best wishes Dan.
- Dan Connolly says:
  
  July 18, 2018 at 3:23 pm
  
  Excellent, Boss. Look forward to chatting on the other side.
trevise-en says:

July 18, 2018 at 2:16 pm

I too became a subscriber to The Athletic a few months ago in the Jayson Stark wave. Then it was decidedly disappointing that there was no Orioles correspondent. So I’m definitely happy that there now is, and that it’s none other than Dan Connolly. At Dan’s announcement on Monday that he was leaving Baltimore Baseball for other environs, I felt that The Athletic would be an obvious and perfect landing spot for him. And to wake up yesterday to find that it was true was certainly a joy!
- Dan Connolly says:
  
  July 18, 2018 at 3:24 pm
  
  Fantastic. Really appreciate the kind words. I’ll try to give you a reason to stick around.