Stephen Dittmore’s ‘Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger’ wins 2026 SABR Ron Gabriel Award
SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 — SABR is pleased to announce that Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger, by Stephen W. Dittmore and published by August Publications, has been selected as the winner of the Ron Gabriel Award in 2026.
The Ron Gabriel Award, given out by SABR’s Casey Stengel Chapter in New York, honors the author(s) of the best research, published or unpublished, on the subject of the Brooklyn Dodgers completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include, but are not limited to, magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, unpublished research papers, written versions of oral presentations, books, databases and websites.
Honorable mention for the 2026 award goes to:
- A Brooklyn Guy: Otto Miller: The Greatest Brooklyn Dodger You Never Heard Of, by Noel Hynd (self-published)
- Don Drysdale: Up and In: The Life of a Dodgers Legend, by Mark Whicker (Triumph Books)
The Ron Gabriel Award Committee is looking for new committee members and accepting nominations for future awards. If you want to join the team or submit a nomination for a work completed or published in 2026, please contact Gary Sarnoff.
Ron Gabriel (1941-2009), a native of Brooklyn, New York, and longtime resident of Bethesda, Maryland, was a former Vice President of SABR and instrumental in establishing the Bob Davids Chapter, which serves the Washington-Baltimore region. He was founder and president of the Brooklyn Dodger Fan Club, and a charter elected member of the Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Fame. Gabriel, who earned his Ph.D. in Human Resource Management from American University, was a retired U.S. Government executive, having served with the Postal Service Management Institute, the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration.
For a list of past award winners, click here.
Originally published: September 2, 2026. Last Updated: September 1, 2026.