Education
As a child he attended Saint Albert the Great Elementary School in Louisville.
As a child he attended Saint Albert the Great Elementary School in Louisville.
He then went on to attend Ballard High School. He spent his freshman year at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In 1980, he received a bachelor"s degree in mass communications from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where he was the sports editor for the school"s paper, the Alestle.
Before joining the Los Angeles Times, he worked as a reporter in Fort Lauderdale and Seattle.
After joining the LAT, he mainly covered the Los Angeles Dodgers. He became a columnist in 1996.
Fellow panelist and Denver Post columnist and author Woody Paige often refers to him as "Reverend Bill."
Plaschke has been named National Sports Columnist of the Year by the Associated Press five times. He also had a cameo in the film Ali as a sports reporter before the first fight against Sonny Liston.
Plaschke also has a recurring role in the Home Box Office series Luck.
Plaschke is a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Professional Football Writers Association. He is also a regular panel member of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network"s sports-themed debate show, Around the Horn.