David Waldstein Joining Metro

Over the course of more than a decade on the Sports desk, David Waldstein was well known for two sayings. The first and most important: "I've got a story."

That was the text that his editor, Ben Hoffman, loved getting from David.

"You have no idea what the story will be," Ben says, "but you know you're going to get something special." Whether it's a guy hanging basketball nets around New York City (because netless rims are no fun), or a truly Kafkaesque scene of minor-league tennis in Prague, or a teenage girl who pitches professionally in the otherwise all-male Australian baseball league, David finds the stories that resonate.

The other thing David said a lot: "I can go." When news was breaking he always raised his hand, no matter what or where the story was. And he would not just go. He'd go and do great work, time after time.

During his time on Sports, David has covered baseball, lots of tennis, some hockey, college basketball, the Paralympics and even Scrabble. Now, he will bring that broad experience to Metro, as a feature and enterprise writer focused on the culture, economy and characters of the region's sporting scene.

In every way, he is a natural fit: His eye for the delightful, the poignant, the absurd will find fertile ground.

Take, for instance, his scoop about the sports betting loophole on the bike lane of the George Washington Bridge: New Yorkers would pedal over the Hudson and out of New York, where it was illegal to gamble on football games, and into New Jersey, where it was not. Metro editors are still smarting that this appeared in Sports.

Or his more recent dispatch from Wimbledon, where thousands of fans camped out to score tickets as David patrolled the endless line.

"The queue is one of the longest, old-fashioned box office lines in the world, the sports equivalent to the infamous Studio 54 line," David wrote, "but a lot older."

Just recently, David took note of a subtle but fascinating change in the way baseball players celebrate the game's biggest hit: the walk-off. Instead of celebrating as the winning run crosses the plate, teams now sprint from the dugout to the batter.

If you'll pardon a sports metaphor: David has a lot more big hits in him, and the team on Metro is very excited to celebrate with him.

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