Anyone who ever watched John Perrotto play baseball knew that his destiny was much more likely to write about it.

After playing baseball for four seasons and golf in his senior year at Western Beaver High School, John went on to Geneva College and was the sports editor of the school newspaper before graduating in 1985.

John began his professional sports writing career as a sophomore at Western Beaver in 1978. He was serving as the statistician for the football team when legendary sports editor Joe Tronzo hired him to cover high school football and basketball games for the Beaver Falls News-Tribune.

The Beaver County Times bought the News-Tribune in 1979, and John continued his fledging career at the Times, being promoted from correspondent to a part-time member of the sports staff in 1982 before being elevated to full-time status in 1985.

John primarily covered high school sports and Geneva College athletics until becoming the Pittsburgh Pirates' beat writer prior to the 1988 season. He continued in that role through 2008, covering three consecutive National League Championship Series involving the Pirates from 1990 to 1992, as well as All-Star Games at Three Rivers Stadium in 1994 and PNC Park in 2006.

Among the highlights during John's long tenure at the Times was being named National Baseball Writer of the Year in 2001 by SportsTalk.com (now ESPN Insider), serving as an official scorer for the 2006 All-Star Game, having four top-10 finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors' writing sweepstakes, and receiving an honorary letterman's award from Geneva.

Since 2009, John has covered Major League Baseball and the National Football League for many outlets. Among those are USA TODAY, The Associated Press, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, FanRag Sports, and The Sports Xchange. John has also served as the MLB/Pirates insider for iHeart Pittsburgh radio stations since 2015.

John has covered 23 Major League Baseball All-Star Games and 22 World Series, as well as two Super Bowls and numerous PIAA and WPIAL championship games in various sports. He has been a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America since 1988, serving on various national committees during that time, and has been a baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1997.

John is a lifelong resident of Beaver County, born in New Brighton, and raised in the Fairview section of Ohioville Borough. He currently resides in Patterson Township with Brenda, his wife of 22 years.