Hugh Roderick Beaton Jr. (September 28, 1951 – June 22, 2011) was an American sports journalist. He reported for The News Journal in the late 1970s covering ice hockey and baseball, then became one of the original writers for USA Today in 1982. He served as president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from 1985 to 1987, when voting for starters in the National Hockey League All-Star Game shifted from the sportswriters to the league's fans. He focused solely on writing about baseball for USA Today since the late 1980s. He traveled to Minor League Baseball games to watch the younger players and write about them prior to them making it to Major League Baseball. He was credited by The Washington Post for establishing a network to gather information, for writing columns that discus