Christina Kahrl

Kahrl in 2009.

Christina Kahrl is one of the co-founders of Baseball Prospectus. She is the former executive editor of the think tank's website, BaseballProspectus.com, the former managing editor for their annual publication, and is currently writing and editing for ESPN.com. She is a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Kahrl is an activist on civil rights issues for the transgender community in her hometown of Chicago and a Board Director of Equality. The story of her publicly coming out as a transsexual sportswriter in 2003 was part of a GLAAD award-nominated segment entitled "Transitions" on HBO's Real Sports that aired in 2010.

Career

Kahrl earned an AB in History at the University of Chicago (1990) and an MA in Public History at Loyola University Chicago and now resides in Chicago, Illinois. Kahrl has co-edited several of the Baseball Prospectus annual books of forecasts and analysis and has been involved in the writing of every edition since the first in 1996 (for a list, see Baseball Prospectus).

Since the launch of BaseballProspectus.com in 1996, she has contributed a regular column entitled "Transaction Analysis," listing and analyzing the transactions (player trades, contract signings, promotions and demotions) by all Major League Baseball teams for the site. In 2011, she kicked off a new standalone opinion and argument column for the site entitled "Purpose Pitches." He has also written for SportsIllustrated.com, ESPN.com, the New York Sun, Salon.com, Slate, Playboy, and the Washington Blade, and is an associate editor of The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia. He is also the former Acquisitions Editor of Brassey's Sports, a mid-list publisher that focused on sports history and analysis.

In 2008, Kahrl was accepted as a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and thus became eligible to vote on Major League Baseball post-season awards and nominees for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. She voted for the American League Rookie of the Year in 2009 and for the National League Manager of the Year in 2010. Reflecting on the meaning of her election, Kahrl wrote, "While I expect to still write about transactions, I really want to try and breathe new life back into the game story as an art form, and perhaps in my conceit try to take pages from Runyon and Lardner and Pete Palmer and Keith Woolner to provide something old and something new, all at once."

In April 2011, Kahrl announced that she would be joining ESPN.com to write and edit, teaming up with David Schoenfield in penning the "SweetSpot" blog, which provides a sabermetrics-driven analysis on the goings-on in baseball.

Activism

As an activist and Board Director for Equality Illinois, Kahrl has been actively involved in an effort to curb police harassment of transgender Chicagoans, and has helped launch the Trans-Friendly Bathroom Initiative with fellow activists from Genderqueer Chicago. She has also helped organize the public observation of Transgender Day of Remembrance in Chicago. She has also discussed the nature of transsexuality at the Chicago History Museum, stating, "You have to explain to people that, no, this (being transsexual) does not mean that you are supergay, although it's sweet of you to say so. Forging acceptance in the face of inevitable confusion and concern is the diplomatic mission of a lifetime, for each and every transsexual."

References

• Christina Kahrl Archive, New York Sun.
• Ronit Bezalel, "Trans editor of 'Baseball Prospectus' tells her story," Outsports.com. [Retrieved Dec., 11, 2009]