By Abby Wicker, February 19, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 19, 2025
Contact: Abby Wicker, media@thefsga.org
Ron Shandler named winner of Matthew Berry Game Changer Award
LAS VEGAS – Fantasy baseball pioneer Ron Shandler is the recipient of this year’s Matthew Berry Game Changer Award. Shandler will be honored Feb. 19 at the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA) Winter Conference in Las Vegas.
“Game Changer” – selected by and named after the celebrated NBC Sports Football Analyst – lauds moments, businesses, and innovators responsible for setting fantasy sports on a path that has made it a multi-billion-dollar industry enjoyed by more than 80 million North Americans every year.
Shandler was the first baseball analyst to develop sabermetric applications for fantasy league play, launching his Baseball Forecaster annual in 1986. He founded the industry trailblazing website BaseballHQ.com and the “First Pitch” national conference series in 1996. Shandler also spearheaded the creation of the Tout Wars national experts league (1998) and is a founding member of League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR.) His groundbreaking concepts have won him dozens of Top 3 finishes in these national competitions.
“There is perhaps no one in our industry that defines the phrase ‘Game Changer’ more than Ron Shandler,” said Berry. “There are so many accomplishments of his you can point to but his groundbreaking use of sabermetrics to predict future player performance through the lens of fantasy baseball has influenced an entire industry. Thanks to Ron, every analyst in all of fantasy sports no longer just ‘reads the box score’ but rather uses advanced metrics for their analysis. It brings me incredible joy to see him recognized for a lifetime of game-changing work.”
Shandler, who has written for ESPN.com (2007, 2015-18), USA TODAY (2008-14), and The Athletic (2019-24), was an advisor to the St. Louis Cardinals (2004) and is a member of the Fantasy Sports and Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Halls of Fame. His historical memoir, Fantasy Expert, was published in 2024. You can find him at RonShandler.com, facebook.com/ronshandler.baseball, @RonShandler, and @bb4caster.bsky.social.
“It’s an honor to be recognized and included with a group of pioneers who carved the path to the success of fantasy sports,” said Shandler. “It’s especially fitting that this award is named for Matthew, the pioneer who single-handedly instilled entertainment into the geekdom of this hobby.”
Previous Matthew Berry Game Changer Award winners include: ESPN Senior Writer and Injury Analyst Stephania Bell; FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles; live-scoring innovator Tony Fernandez; philanthropist Scott Fish; and high-stakes gaming company World Championship of Fantasy Football (Emil Kadlec and Lenny Pappano).
Prior to joining NBC Sports and the Football Night in America pre-game show in 2022, Berry spent 15 years at ESPN as its lead fantasy football expert. The Emmy award winner is one of only six people inducted into both the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the FSWA Hall of Fame. Among his many achievements, Berry wrote the New York Times best-selling book Fantasy Life in 2013 and then created the Fantasy Life fantasy and sports betting content platform.
About FSGA
The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association is the only national organization representing the interests of fantasy sports and gaming companies. We are the voice for over 80 million fantasy sports players in the United States and Canada, and for the companies that provide services, news, information, and competition to support these growing industries. Our members are sports and gaming enthusiasts, with companies that range from small startups to large media corporations. Our mission is to provide our members with essential research and data, networking opportunities and collective action to help them reach their potential. For more information, visit https://thefsga.org.