NEW YORK (AP) — Howie Rumberg, a national baseball writer and editor who has helped lead innovative efforts for The Associated Press for more than a decade, has been promoted to assistant sports editor.
Rumberg will be based in New York, where he has worked on the national sports desk in two stints over a 16-year career at the AP. He will report to Deputy Sports Editor Noreen Gillespie.
The appointment was announced Thursday by Global Sports Editor Michael Giarrusso.
Rumberg will have direct oversight over the New York headquarters sports staff and will work with fellow assistant sports editors in the four U.S. regions and with International Sports Editor Simon Haydon to make sure the AP stays on top of sports news around the world in all formats.
“Rumberg will push all of us to be more aggressive about sports news at all levels, from game coverage and breaking news to small items that will be shareable,” Giarrusso said. “He’s got a history of pushing for innovation and working with multiple formats.”
Rumberg joined the AP in 1999 as a baseball dictationist. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was one of the first journalists on scene at the World Trade Center, arriving before the second plane was flown into the South Tower.
In 2004, Rumberg was part of the team that created the prototype for asap, the cooperative’s multiformat service for young readers. He was hired as one of its first full-time staff members.
Rumberg returned to AP Sports in late 2007, focusing on coverage of baseball. Two years ago, Rumberg conceived of and helped implement the mobile-friendly game story format the AP uses now for MLB games.