The Leadoff Hitter

A lead in journalism is a lot like the leadoff hitter in a lineup. In baseball, the leadoff hitter needs to set the tempo for the rest of the lineup. He is usually one of the speediest and most important players on the team. The leadoff hitter is a bridge to the heavy hitters who are the meat of the lineup. The lead in journalism is the same thing. The mood of the story/piece is set by the lead. It is usually shorter than 35 words, and it is the attention grabbing transition to the major players of the story, the who-what-where-why-when-how's that will follow.

If the leadoff hitter in baseball doesn't come through, there are fewer run scoring opportunities and the team will lose more times than not. In journalism, if the lead is uninteresting, then the readers/viewers will likely not continue on reading/watching. The lead must jump out and grab out attention. It must be intriguing and it must force the reader/viewer to read/watch on.

I have been writing game stories since May for the Connecticut Post and the New York Post. What I feel like I do best is write leads. I've noticed that my leads are mostly written in a style of foreshadowing. I allude to what happened in the game with a quote from a player or a coach or maybe even a metaphor. I feel that leads like " It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, but a thunderstorm raged between the sidelines of Sid Luckman Field." or " Flushing coach Jim DeSantis wasn’t sure his team could pull out a victory against John F. Kennedy and its mammoth defense." make the readers want to read on. At least I hope they do. Questions, quotes alluding to the main actions in the story, literary devices, and shocking statements all make for really good leads.