Greg Baum Chief Sports Columnist, Associate Editor with The Age

In  an outstanding   career starting with a suburban  newspaper  he   then   joined    The Sun  a major newspaper in Melbourne becoming a sub- editor  at the age of 20   . He ultimately  became a full – time  sportswriter for that paper , including  ghosting a column for former footballer Lou Richards .  In 1989   he was offered a job  by the Age  the Sun’s  main rival   and  has remained there ever since     He  has received  a number of awards for his work including the prestigious  Walkley  Award  in 2008.

He has also contributed along the way  to The Guardian, Wisden Cricket  Almanack , ABC  and several magazines. Throughout  his career  Baum has attended a phenomenal amount of major  sporting events ( four summer Olympics, three Winter Olympics, nearly 40  grand finals , been on  two   Ashes tours, to two World Cups  and two  soccer World Cups , to be exact).

Pinpointing exactly which event or sport moment  has been the most memorable is a difficult task .  He says “ The Olympics feel like a pinnacle in the sense that the whole  world seems to be conscious of sport , and therefore  sports journalism at the time . If I was to pick out one day , it would be the  Cathy  Freeman  night in Sydney . But I also saw  Warne’s  ball of the century in 1993  and two drawn grand finals . ... I don’t know where to start and , let alone end !”

He also enjoys the creative aspects , “ I enjoy writing columns because  it allows a freedom  , even a license , that other parts of journalism mostly do not  .  The chance to sink my teeth into a decent length  feature also is rewarding , but is becoming  increasingly  rare “

We  are indeed privileged  to have Greg  Baum one of Australia’s  best  sporting  writers  coming  to  share  with us  some of his stories  and experiences from his outstanding career .    I am sure many of you have enjoyed his recent writings in the Age  following  Melbourne’s  Grand Final  win.  He is a wonderful  wordsmith !