Joe Sexton, who recently made headlines by authorizing a controversial blank sports front as a commentary to recent Hall of Fame announcement, is moving on. The details from Propublica:

ProPublica editor-in-chief Stephen Engelberg announced today the appointment of Joe Sexton, a distinguished editor and reporter at The New York Times for more than two decades, as one of ProPublica’s senior editors. Sexton will manage a stable of staff reporters and oversee some of the organization’s major investigations. He will begin work at ProPublica in February.

Sexton, 53, joins ProPublica after having had a hand in three recent Pulitzer Prizes — for breaking news, feature writing and investigative reporting. Sexton, who most recently served The Times as its sports editor, ran the paper’s Metropolitan desk for five years. And once upon a time he was a pretty fair reporter and writer, his work as a sportswriter included in The Best American Sports Writing, 1992.

“Joe Sexton is one of the finest editors in the business,” said Engelberg. “His steady hand and inspirational leadership have been behind some of the biggest stories in New York and the world of sports in the past decade.

Via JimRomenesko.com, a portion of Sexton’s letter to the staff:

I’ve received a great offer; I leave you and the nyt burdened only by a great debt — of thanks and wonder. I’m in in the am. Available to chat, and I hope to sound sensible. I’m excited and sad. Hey, I’m Joe. What did you expect? With love, j