Rick Hurd began writing the Times’ “Inside Baseball” column in 2005, following three seasons as an A’s beat writer. He joined the Times in 1995 and has covered prep, college and Olympic sports, the NFL and the NHL, a sport for which he still has a soft spot after spending two years as the Sharks beat writer. A Bay Area native, he graduated from Chico State University in 2001, and worked for the Chico Enterprise-Record and Hanford Sentinel before joining the Times. He lives in Martinez with his wife, Jennifer, and sons Clayton and Noah.

Joe Stiglich has been a sports writer for the Contra Costa Times since 2000. He started out covering preps before moving into general assignment sportswriting, where his stories ranged from major league baseball and college football to golf and motor sports. He’s now in his second season covering the A’s. Joe is an East Bay native who grew up in Antioch and attended Antioch High School. He went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in mass communications from UC Berkeley and his Master’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University. He lives in Walnut Creek.