SABR BioProject profiles Susan Fornoff

Susan Fornoff’s childhood influenced her career choice; the location left an imprint on a particular part of that career.

Fornoff was born February 4, 1958 and grew up in Baltimore, the oldest of four children (the others were boys) to Bill Fornoff, a factory foreman at Domino Sugar, and Romaine Fornoff, a homemaker and teacher’s aide.1 Bill took Susan to Memorial Stadium to watch Johnny Unitas and the Colts and, during the warmer months, to see the Orioles with their infield of Brooks Robinson at third, Luis Aparicio and Mark Belanger at shortstop, Dave Johnson at second base, and Boog Powell at first base—a group that earned a combined 29 Gold Gloves during their years with Baltimore.

“I grew up watching a team that made plays. That was my perspective,” said Fornoff, indicating a standard of judgment that was present during the three seasons she served as an official scorer for games of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics.2

A journalism major at the University of Maryland, Fornoff covered sports for the Baltimore News-American and USA Today before moving to the Bay Area and taking over as the beat writer for the Athletics for the Sacramento Bee in 1985. “I fell in love with California and started looking for a job there the old-fashioned way (letters to sports editors), and both the Bee and the San Jose Mercury News were interested,” she said. “The Merc hired Bud Geracie to cover the A’s and the Bee hired me!”3

Read the full article, written by Stew Thornley for the Society for American Baseball Research’s BioProject.