Dodgers hire Jon Weisman as director of digital and print content

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers added a familiar face the organization on Monday with the hiring of Jon Weisman as director of digital and print content.

Weisman will be responsible for creating and producing digital content for the club's website and will oversee Dodgers' publications, like Dodgers Magazine for instance, and integrating them online.

Weisman said he hopes to launch an insider blog of sorts on Dodgers.com "hopefully sooner rather than later."

Many readers here are intimately familiar with Weisman's work, as the founder of Dodger Thoughts and the author of "100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," a wonderful book chronicling the history of the franchise.

Weisman began Dodger Thoughts in 2002 and through various homes, including the Los Angeles Times and ESPN, has been a must-read site for over a decade.

"It’s hard to explain what it’s like to be offered an invitation to the inside of something you’ve followed so closely for nearly your whole life, but I guess what comes with it is a big sense of responsibility," Weisman said. "People ask me if I’m excited and the answer is yes, but the feeling is more of just wanting to do a great job than about any perks or childhood dreams. All I can think about right now is what I want and need to do to fulfill the mission of this job."

True Blue LA in its current form wouldn't exist without Dodger Thoughts. Where ever I am today is thanks in large part to friendships built over time with Dodger Thoughts commenters, specifically Phil Gurnee and Andrew Grant. I met fellow site writers Craig Minami and David Young, and many others, thanks to Weisman's seminal site.

Weisman spent the last seven years as a senior editor at Variety, writing about television and film, all while running Dodger Thoughts in his spare time. Now, for the first time, his main focus is the Dodgers, which is an exciting proposition.

"While it would be premature to get into specifics about my new duties with the Dodgers, I can say that one of the greatest appeals for me is that for the first time, writing about the Dodgers will move from avocation to vocation, from hobby to primary activity," Weisman wrote in a farewell post of sorts at Dodger Thoughts.

I asked Weisman how interviewing Vin Scully compared with now being a co-worker of Scully.

"If the sense of awe that I felt when interviewing Scully ever passes now that I’m his co-worker, I’ll let you know," Weisman said. "But I’m doubtful it will. But when it comes to the excitement of the job, that’s obviously a huge part of it."