Remembering trailblazing Jays reporter Alison Gordon on what would be her 81st birthday

January 19, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Alison Gordon, who became the first full-time female beat reporter in major league history when she covered the Blue Jays for the Toronto Star in 1979, would’ve turned 81 today.

Born in New York City, Gordon attended schools in Tokyo, Cairo and Rome while her Canadian father, John King Gordon, travelled in his role as a diplomat for the United Nations.

In 1960, Gordon enrolled in Queen’s University and later worked as a producer for CBC’s As It Happens, where she contributed to a weekly sports segment called “Jock Talk.”

Gordon, who would become a Canadian citizen, also worked as a freelance writer and earned a National Magazine Award for humour writing in 1978, before being hired by the Toronto Star as their Blue Jays beat reporter in 1979.

In accepting this job, she became the first female admitted into the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Her membership card identified her as “Mr.” Alison Gordon because the organization didn’t have gender neutral or female-specific cards.

Gordon was also the first full-time female beat reporter in major league history. In her first year, she had to fight to get into male dominated clubhouses and once inside, she regularly endured harassment and hostility, but her courage, integrity, work ethic and fairness in reporting ultimately won the respect of the majority of the players, coaches and managers she covered. Her trailblazing efforts and strong coverage of the Blue Jays in 1979 earned her a National Newspaper Award citation for sportswriting.

Gordon would work as a Blue Jays beat reporter for five years and she documented her challenges in her 1984 book, Foul Balls, which garnered her a National Newspaper Award Citation of Merit.

After leaving the Blue Jays beat, she continued to write features for the Toronto Star and eventually penned five baseball mystery novels: The Dead Pull Hitter (1988), Safe at Home (1990), Night Game (1992), Striking Out (1995) and Prairie Hardball (1997). Not coincidentally, the central character in the novels was Kate Henry, a baseball reporter who ended up solving murders.

Gordon settled in Toronto and later served as the president of the Crime Writers of Canada and the North American vice-president of the International Association of Crime Writers. She was also an executive member of PEN Canada, which strongly supports freedom of expression in writing.

She passed away on February 12, 2015. Just over two years later, she was honoured with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award. Canada’s baseball shrine presents this award annually to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada through their life’s work.

“Alison Gordon was a courageous pioneer who broke down barriers for female sports reporters across North America,” said Scott Crawford, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s director of operations, in 2017. “On top of her bravery, she was also one of the most talented writers ever to work the Toronto Blue Jays beat. We’re proud to honour her memory with this award.”

Her brother, Charles Gordon, a longtime Ottawa Citizen columnist, accepted the honour on her behalf at the ceremony in St. Marys, Ont., in June 2018.

“Our family is very appreciative of this award. Alison would perhaps be surprised to be remembered after all these years, but proud to find herself in such distinguished company as the past winners of the award,” he said in a statement at the time. “While much attention was given to her struggles as a pioneer among women sportswriters, she herself was motivated most by her commitment to good writing and her love of the game. Both of those came through strongly in her work.”