Whether or not you’ve read some of his work, Marty Noble has definitely left a mark on the world of sports journalism over his decades-long career. Last week, Pace students in the “Introduction to News Media” class were lucky enough to talk to Marty Noble and learn more about his life and career.
Starting off with writing at the school newspaper, The Echo, at Waldwick High School in New Jersey, Noble was unaware at the time that this was just the beginning of his career. Initially, Noble started writing because his sister did, and eventually became editor of the paper. While at school, someone told him he had a gift for writing, so he decided to go into it. From here, Noble went on to work in the sports department for the Lyndon State College Critic from 1966-1969. Following this, he went on to briefly write for the Caledonian Record in Vermont reporting on stories like town hall meetings, community events, and other things. Eventually he went on to claim a spot in the sports department, but left after less than a year.
Still, this stint with the sports department was just the beginning for the next step in his sports writing career. After writing for the Herald News and Bergman Record in New Jersey, Noble began writing at Newsday, a daily newspaper that is widely sold throughout the New York City and Long Island areas. Discussing this job with Noble, it is extremely clear that he is proud of and enjoyed his 25 year career there. He suggests that this, perhaps, was because Newsday was considered a “writers paper” at the time because the writers had more influence than normal. Throughout his time there, he mostly covered baseball, which he has no regrets about. According to him, it’s the best sport to cover because there are 25 different players, which means you have 25 different stories to write. One thing he does regret? He says sometimes he couldn’t balance working and his personal life, which he regretted a little bit. Still, Noble enjoyed his time there, because he had a really good boss, and because he thought it was fun. He enjoyed getting to know who he was writing about, which also helped him get stories.
From 1970-2015, Noble spent his time reporting for the Mets, where he had a number of career highlights and special opportunities presented to him. As a journalist, Noble says it’s a highlight anytime you get a correct story no one else has. He was fortunate enough to have this happen at the 1986 World Series when he made a deal with the manager of the Mets that if Noble could find what hotel he was at, the manager would give him two stories that no one else had. Lucky for Noble- he found the manager, who kept his promise. Another career highlight? Noble was fortunate enough to become friends with one of his heroes, Mickey Mantle, before he passed away in 1995. Noble is extremely happy that this happened, which is visible in the way he lights up when talking about his experiences with Mantle. Following his time with Newsday, in 2004, Noble started writing for MLB.com, until he retired.
So now that he’s retired, what has Noble been up to? Nowadays, he says, he focuses on his three passions- music, baseball, and his granddaughter. He still focuses a lot of his time on baseball, but don’t try and catch him reporting on it on any social media site (he despises it). Recently, he has also focused his efforts on a new book he is writing, which will include lists of four people, dead or alive, that different baseball players want to have dinner with, including his own. Noble also focuses a lot of time on his passion for rock and roll music, which is the only other thing he would have written about if he weren’t writing about baseball (but only “the good pre-Beatles rock and roll made from ‘55-’62”, he clarifies).
So, given all of his experience in the journalism field, what is Noble’s advice to up and coming journalists? One simple answer- “Work for magazines, newspapers are crap.”
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