Longtime Baseball Writer Mel Antonen Dies After Year-Long Battle With Health Issues

Antonen wrote for USA Today and Sports Illustrated, and he also covered the Orioles and Nationals for MASN.

Longtime baseball writer and MASN analyst Mel Antonen died at 64 on Sunday, the Nationals confirmed. 

Antonen passed away after a battle with COVID-19 as well as a rare autoimmune disease. He detailed his battle with both illnesses in June 2020.

"In 2020, I have battled two formidable foes while facing life-and-death situations: I knocked out a rare autoimmune disease that attacked my liver and gave me—at best—a 50–50 chance of survival," Antonen wrote. "Before my treatments ended, I tested positive for COVID-19, the virus that is ravaging the United States with more than two million cases and a rising death toll that could reach 200,000 by this fall."

"The disease and the virus were a punishing duo, which I assume was much like pitching against the 1927 Yankees with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig."

We are saddened by the passing of long time baseball reporter Mel Antonen, who was a fixture in the Nationals press box for many years.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/ZcQxwCdFDm

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) January 31, 2021

The Orioles are heartbroken by the passing of decorated Baltimore sportswriter Mel Antonen. pic.twitter.com/TLBGgDi3C1

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) January 31, 2021

Mel Antonen was a friend, fellow scribe, and really nice guy. He loved life, and made me laugh hysterically each year at Winter Meetings. We'd tell stories and he dumb jokes, the two of us, usually late in a near-empty workroom. He died from COVID & other illnesses. R.I.P., Mel. pic.twitter.com/ZK6V7lC0KD

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) January 31, 2021

Antonen wrote for USA Today and Sports Illustrated in addition to his work with MASN. He covered the World Series for over 30 years, additionally reporting on the Olympics and various other sports. Antonen was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. 

“I love baseball because it always brings me home,” Antonen said at his induction ceremony, per the Argus Leader's Chuck Raasch. “A baseball park in my mind is a home. It doesn’t matter if it's next to a cornfield, as it is in Lake Norden, or if it is next to a rumbling subway, in New York.”

Antonen penned his final column for MASN in October after the Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988. You can read some of Antonen's work with Sports Illustrated below:

Hope and Nerves for Hall Candidates Smith, Morris and Raines

Cubs Legends on What a World Series Title Would Mean to Them and the City of Chicago

With Strasburg's Return, Next Year Starts Now for Nationals