Mark J. Schmetzer

Free-lance sportswriter Mark J. Schmetzer has lived in Cincinnati for all but 22 months since he was born in 1955. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1978 with a Broadcasting degree, he started a newspaper career that led to covering the Cincinnati Reds in 1984. He's been on that beat for all but two years ever since, as well as covering numerous other sports on all levels for several different publications. He is co-author of "The Comeback Kids," a book about the Reds' 2010 season published by Clerisy Press, and the author of "Before The Machine," a book about the 1961 Reds season, also published by Clerisy Press.