{"id":3299,"date":"2014-05-04T13:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T18:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=3299"},"modified":"2014-05-04T14:39:06","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T19:39:06","slug":"trailblazer-ginnetti-retires-as-sun-times-sportswriter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/05\/04\/trailblazer-ginnetti-retires-as-sun-times-sportswriter\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Trailblazer\u2019 Ginnetti retires as Sun-Times sportswriter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toni<\/a>

<\/a> Toni Ginnetti<\/p><\/div>\n

Veteran Chicago sportswriter Toni Ginnetti,<\/a> who was among the first women to cover a wide range of professional and college sports beats \u2014 including both the White Sox and the Cubs \u2014 retired Friday after 33 years at the Sun-Times.<\/a><\/p>\n

Although she\u2019ll continue to write occasionally for the paper on a freelance basis, her retirement caps a Chicago journalism career of outstanding work and groundbreaking achievement.<\/p>\n

Calling Ginnetti \u201ca true Chicago trailblazer,\u201d Jim Kirk, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times, said: \u201cToni broke into the male-dominated world of sports newspaper reporting when few women were ever seen on the sideline or in the stadium press box. She helped pave the way for other women writers especially those covering professional baseball. We are grateful we'll still carry her byline from time to time.\"<\/p>\n

Ginnetti, 63, said she chose to retire in part because the hours involved in covering baseball had become all-consuming in the age of digital journalism. \u201cI still love the job but the work time becomes tough for all of us,\u201d she told me. \u201cSo I'm fortunate that I could retire \u2014 mainly because Obamacare ensured I could get my own medical insurance \u2014 and now still be part of the paper but with a much more manageable schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur colleague Herb Gould did the same thing, \u2018retiring\u2019 last fall but continuing with the paper as a regular freelancer, so he set the precedent. It works for the paper as it continues to go through cutting staff, and it works for us individually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ginnetti joined the Sun-Times in 1981 after nine years at the Daily Herald.<\/a> She started as a city-side news reporter but gravitated to sports around the time Rupert Murdoch acquired the Sun-Times. \u201cI kept poking my head into the sports department offering ideas on features, special projects and the like,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThe Cubs were hot in 1984, so there was plenty for me to do. Then the Bears had their great 1985 season and I kept going, but was technically still assigned to news side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/a>

Mike Royko<\/p><\/div>\n

It was legendary columnist Mike Royko, who\u2019d bolted from the Sun-Times to the Chicago Tribune<\/a> because of Murdoch\u2019s ownership, who helped Ginnetti make the switch to sports permanent in 1986. \u201cI was at a Wrigley Field event with the then-managing editor Ken Towers and Mike, and we were talking,\u201d she said. \u201cMike sort of out of the blue turned to Ken and said: `When are you going to put her in sports?\u2019 It happened the next week! That was the power of Royko, bless him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that she\u2019s no longer spending days and nights in press boxes and locker rooms, Ginnetti said, she\u2019s looking forward to devoting more time to family and home interests, including volunteer work involving her beloved dogs in animal-assisted therapy.<\/p>\n

As for her tenure at the Sun-Times, Ginnetti said: \u201cI feel fortunate to have been among the \u2018survivors\u2019 through the many troubled times, and always proud of the good work we've done despite so many, shall I say odd<\/em> administrations. And I'm glad I'll still be able to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran Chicago sportswriter Toni Ginnetti, who was among the first women to cover a wide range of professional and college sports beats \u2014 including both the White Sox and the Cubs \u2014 retired Friday after 33 years at the Sun-Times. Although she\u2019ll continue to write occasionally for the paper on a freelance basis, her retirement... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3299"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3307,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3299\/revisions\/3307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}