Accomando: ‘Killed by baseball’: SABR member Matthew Clifford honored for murder story
From Angela Accomando at The Times (Ottawa, Illinois) on July 28, 2017, on SABR member Matthew Clifford:
Sometimes the love for a favorite sports team — or player — can kill. And one local man can attest to this.
Matthew Clifford, a sportswriter and historian from Leland, enjoys baseball.
His passion for the sport and its history paid off earlier this summer at a Society for American Baseball Research convention in Manhattan (New York City), where he presented a research poster reflecting an incident that occurred in the early 1930s.
“On a warm October evening, in a back alley speakeasy saloon buried in the borough of Brooklyn, two baseball fanatics vocally and physically defended their opinions regarding the 1931 World Series,” he wrote.
A former Leland police officer and criminal investigator, Clifford developed a love for America’s favorite pastime at an early age, but it wasn’t until later in life when he developed his deep passion for baseball history.
He believes his experience in law enforcement and forensic investigation has afforded him an edge when researching baseball history. In many cases, he has has “righted” the wrongs of baseball reporting and history.
The posters were judged July 1 and Clifford was given an honorable mention award for his poster depicting the story he wrote about a baseball-related homicide at a Brooklyn speakeasy entitled “Fanatic Fatality.”
Read the full article here: http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/local/killed-by-baseball-local-sportswriter-honored-for-murder-story/article_9c42395a-fbf9-5407-adbc-2d34d4844f87.html
Originally published: August 3, 2017. Last Updated: August 3, 2017.