Claire Smith makes history as 2017 winner of J.G. Taylor Spink Award

From the Baseball Hall of Fame on December 6, 2016:

Claire Smith, who has been a pioneer within the baseball community as the first female to cover a major league baseball beat extensively and as an influential voice among African-American writers, was elected the 2017 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

She will be honored with the award that is presented annually to a sportswriter “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing” during the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s induction weekend July 28-31, 2017, in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Smith received 272 votes from the 449 ballots, including three blanks, cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years’ service in becoming the 68th – and first female – winner of the award since its inception in 1962 and named for the first recipient. Spink was a driving force of The Sporting News, known during his lifetime as the “Baseball Bible.”

Jim Reeves, an award-winning columnist and baseball writer in a 40-year career with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, received 118 votes. Juan Vene, who for more than 60 years both in print and on the airwaves has connected strongly with baseball fans throughout Latin America, got 56.

Read the full article here: http://baseballhall.org/news/claire-smith-2017-spink-award-winner



Originally published: December 6, 2016. Last Updated: December 6, 2016.