The Seymour Medal

The Dr. Harold and Dorothy Seymour Medal honors the best book of baseball history or biography published during the preceding calendar year.

Not more than one Seymour Medal shall be given each year. If, in the judgment of the awards committee, a worthy candidate cannot be found, no medal shall be awarded.

To learn the history of the Seymour Medal, its idea and origin, the preparation of the unique medal and how it was created, click here. To read Dorothy Seymour Mills’ article “A Woman’s Work: Doing Research With Harold Seymour,” click here.

The first three Medals were awarded at the SABR National Convention. In 1999, SABR held the first Seymour Medal Conference at Cleveland State University in conjunction with the awarding of the medal. Today, SABR awards the Seymour Medal at the banquet of the annual NINE Spring Training conference in Tempe, Arizona.

The selection committee consists of Lisa Alexander (chair), Elena Elms, and R.J. Lesch.

To view more detailed criteria on selecting the Seymour Medal winners, click here.


2025 award nominations

Stay tuned for more details on the 2025 award nominations soon.


Seymour Medal winners

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

  • Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye (Random House)

2009

  • Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star, by Tom Swift (University of Nebraska Press)

2008

  • Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman, by Lee Lowenfish (University of Nebraska Press)

2007

  • A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball, (two-volume set) by Peter Morris (Ivan R. Dee)

2006

  • Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block (University of Nebraska Press)

2005

  • Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution, by Neil Lanctot (University of Pennsylvania Press)

2004

  • Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan, by Peter Morris (University of Michigan Press)

2003

  • Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era, by Charles C. Alexander (Columbia University Press)

2002

  • Early Baseball and the Rise of the National League, by Tom Melville (McFarland)

2001

  • Past Time: Baseball as History, by Jules Tygiel (Oxford University Press)

2000

  • Baseball’s Pivotal Era: 1945-1951, by William Marshall (The University Press of Kentucky)

1999

  • Baseball’s Last Dynasty: Charlie Finley’s Oakland A’s, by Bruce Markusen (Masters Press)

1998

  • The Detroit Tigers: Club and Community, 1945-95, by Patrick Harrigan (University of Toronto Press)

1997

  • Honus Wagner, the Life of Baseball’s “Flying Dutchman”, by Arthur D. Hittner (McFarland)

1996

  • Fleet Walker’s Divided Heart, by David Zang (University of Nebraska Press)

 


Seymour Medal finalists

2024

  • Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers, by Erik Sherman (University of Nebraska Press)

2023

  • Baseball Rebels: The Players, People and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America, by Peter Dreier and Robert A. Elias (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Red Barber: The Life and Legacy of a Broadcasting Legend, by Judith R. Hiltner and James R. Walker (University of Nebraska Press)

2022

  • The Best Team Over There: The Untold Story of Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Great War, by Jim Leeke (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Comeback Pitchers: The Remarkable Careers of Howard Ehmke & Jack Quinn, by Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg (University of Nebraska Press)

2021

  • How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed, by Thomas W. Gilbert (David R. Godine)
  • Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, by Mitchell Nathanson (University of Nebraska Press)
  • The Called Shot: Babe Ruth, the Chicago Cubs, and the Unforgettable Major League Baseball Season of 1932, by Thomas Wolf (University of Nebraska Press)

2020

  • Pastime Lost: The Humble, Original, and Now Completely Forgotten Game of English Baseball, by David Block (University of Nebraska Press)
  • The Workingman’s Game: Waverly, New York, the Twin Tiers and the Making of Modern Baseball, 1887–1898, by William H. Brewster (Luminare Press)
  • Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know about Baseball, by Christopher J. Phillips (Princeton University Press)

2019

  • Gehrig and the Babe: The Friendship and the Feud, by Tony Castro (Triumph Books)
  • The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne Keene (Sports Publishing)
  • Tom Yawkey: Patriarch of the Boston Red Sox, by Bill Nowlin (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Invisible Ball of Dreams: Literary Representations of Baseball behind the Color Line, by Emily Ruth Rutter (University Press of Mississippi)
  • The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House, by Curt Smith (University of Nebraska Press)

2018

  • Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character, by Marty Appel (Doubleday)
  • The Streak: Lou Gehrig, Cal Ripken Jr., and Baseball’s Most Historic Record, by John Eisenberg (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
  • Home Team: The Turbulent History of the San Francisco Giants, by Robert Garratt (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers, by Debra Shattuck (University of Illinois Press)

2017

  • God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy of Dick Allen, by Mitchell Nathanson (University of Pennsylvania Press)
  • Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-Era Detroit, by Tom Stanton (Lyons Press)
  • The Selling of the Babe: The Deal that Changed Baseball and Created a Legend, by Glenn Stout (Thomas Dunne Books)

2016

  • In Pursuit of Pennants: Baseball Operations from Deadball to Moneyball, by Mark Armour and Dan Levitt (University of Nebraska Press)
  • A Game of Their Own: Voices of Contemporary Women in Baseball, by Jennifer Ring (University of Nebraska Press)
  • The Colonel and Hug: The Partnership that Transformed the New York Yankees, by Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz (University of Nebraska Press)

2015

  • Baseball on Trial: The Origin of Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption, by Nathaniel Grow (University of Illinois Press)
  • The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession, by Rick Huhn (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Johnny Evers: A Baseball Life, by Dennis Snelling (McFarland & Co.)

2014

  • The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption, by Stuart Banner (Oxford University Press)
  • The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych, by Doug Wilson (Thomas Dunne Books/St.Martin’s Press)
  • Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball’s Color Line, by Tom Dunkel (Atlantic Monthly Press)

2013

  • One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season, by Tony La Russa and Rick Hummel (William Morrow)
  • Connie Mack: The Turbulent and Triumphant Years, 1915-1931, by Norman Macht (University of Nebraska Press)

2012

  • Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella, by Neil Lanctot (Simon & Schuster)
  • Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, by John Thorn (Simon & Schuster)

2011

  • Joe Cronin: A Life in Baseball, by Mark Armour (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Fifty-nine in ’84, by Edward Achorn (Smithsonian)
  • The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy (Harper)

2010

  • After Many A Summer, by Robert E. Murphy (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Yogi Berra, by Allen Barra (W. W. Norton & Company)

2009

  • The Father of Baseball: A Biography of Henry Chadwick, by Andy J. Schiff (McFarland)
  • Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees’ First Dynasty, by Daniel R. Levitt (University of Nebraska Press)

2008

  • Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball by Norman Macht (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Playing America’s Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line by Adrian Burgos, Jr. (University of California Press)

2007

  • A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports, by Brad Snyder (Viking)
  • Spalding’s World Tour: The Epic Adventure that Took Baseball Around the Globe – And Made It America’s Game, by Mark Lamster (Public Affairs)
  • The Origins and History of The All American Girls Professional Baseball League, by Merrie Fidler (McFarland)
  • “When to Stop The Cheering?: The Black Press, the Black Community, and the Integration of Professional Baseball, by Brian Carroll (Routledge)

2006

  • Breaking into Baseball, Women and the National Pastime, by Jean Ardell (Southern Illinois University Press)
  • Luckiest Man, The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig (Simon & Schuster)
  • Tris Speaker, The Rough and Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend, by Timothy M. Gay (University of Nebraska Press)

2005

  • The Golden Game: The Story of California Baseball, by Kevin Nelson and Hank Greenwald (Heyday Books)
  • The Numbers Game: Baseball’s Lifelong Fascination with Statistics, by Alan Schwarz (Thomas Dunne)

2004

  • 1924: Baseball’s Greatest Season, by Reed Browning (University of Massachusetts Press)
  • The Tour to End All Tours: The Story of Major League Baseball’s 1913-1914 World Tour, by James E. Elfers (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Saying It’s So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal, by Daniel Nathan (University of Illinois Press)
  • Beyond the Shadow of the Senators, by Brad Snyder (Contemporary Press/McGraw Hill)

2003

  • The End of Baseball as We Knew It: The Players Union, 1960-81, by Charles P. Korr (University of Illinois Press)
  • Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston, by Howard Bryant (Routledge)
  • Before They Were Cardinals: Major League Baseball in Nineteenth Century. St. Louis, by Jon David Cash (University of Missouri Press)
  • Louis Sockalexis: The First Cleveland Indian, by David L. Fleitz (McFarland)
  • The Negro Leagues 1869-1960, by Leslie A. Heaphy (McFarland)
  • Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy (Harper Collins)
  • Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia, by Joseph A. Reaves (University of Nebraska Press)

2002

  • Much More than a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball Since 1921, by Robert F. Burk (University of North Carolina Press)
  • Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man, by James F. Giglio (University of Missouri Press)
  • Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook, by Martin Donell Kohout (McFarland & Company)

2001

  • Cy Young: A Baseball Life, by Reed Browning (University of Massachusetts Press)
  • More than Merkle: A History of the Best and Most Exciting Baseball Season in Human History, by David W. Anderson (University of Nebraska Press)
  • Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life, by Richard Ben Cramer (Simon & Schuster)
  • Lefty Grove: American Original, by Jim Kaplan (SABR)
  • Sunday at the Ballpark: Billy Sunday’s Professional Baseball Career, 1883-1890, by Wendy Knickerbocker (Scarecrow Press)
  • Victory Faust: The Rube Who Saved McGraw’s Giants, by Gabriel Schechter (Charles April Publications)
  • Red Sox Century: One Hundred Years of Red Sox Baseball, by Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson (Houghton Mifflin)

2000

  • The Independent Carolina Baseball League, 1936-1938: Baseball Outlaws, by R.G. “Hank” Utley and Scott Verner (McFarland)
  • Brushing Back Jim Crow: The Integration of Minor League Baseball in the American South, by Bruce Adelson (University Press of Virginia)
  • Chris Von der Ahe and the Saint Louis Browns, by J. Thomas Hetrick (Scarecrow Press)
  • A Clever Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward, by Bryan DiSalvatore (Johns Hopkins University Press)
  • The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball, by Roberto Gonzales-Echevarria (Oxford University Press)
  • Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball, by Mark Rucker and Peter Bjarkman (Total Sports Publishing)

1999

  • Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, by Leonard Koppett (Temple University Press)
  • Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, by David Pietrusza (Diamond Communications)
  • When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870, by William J. Ryczek (McFarland)
  • Baseball’s Radical for All Seasons: A Biography of John Montgomery Ward, by David Stevens (Scarecrow Press)
  • The League that Failed, by David Q. Voigt (Scarecrow Press)

1998

  • Big Red Dynasty, by Greg Rhodes and John Erardi (Road West Publishing)
  • Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Laredos, by Alan M. Klein (Princeton University Press)
  • Jackie Robinson: A Biography, by Arnold Rampersad (Knopf)
  • New York Yankee Openers, by Lyle Spatz (McFarland)

1997

  • Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike”King” Kelly, Baseball’s First Superstar, by Marty Appel (Scarecrow Press)
  • Honus Wagner: A Biography, by Dennis DeValeria and Jeanne Burke DeValeria (University of Pittsburgh Press)
  • Brooklyn’s Dodgers: The Bums, The Borough, and the Best of Baseball for 1947-1957, by Carl E. Prince (Oxford University Press)
  • Creating the National Pastime: Baseball Transforms Itself 1903-1953, by G. Edward White (Princeton University Press)

1996

  • Rogers Hornsby: A Biography, by Charles Alexander (Henry Holt and Co)
  • Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson from Baseball to Birmingham, by David Falkner (Simon & Schuster)
  • Diamonds of the North: A Concise History of Baseball in Canada, by William Humber (Oxford University Press)
  • The Beer and Whisky League: An Illustrated History of the American Association-Baseball’s Renegade Major League, by David Nemec (Lyons Press)
  • Walter Johnson: Baseball’s Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas (Phenom Press and University of Nebraska Press)