Mort Zachter’s “Gil Hodges” wins 2016 Ron Gabriel Award

SABR is pleased to announce that Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life, written by Mort Zachter and published by the University of Nebraska Press, has been selected as the winner of the Ron Gabriel Award in 2016.

Zachter, a Brooklyn native who lives in Princeton, New Jersey, will be honored at the SABR 46 convention, July 27-31, 2016, in Miami. Click here to register.

The Ron Gabriel Award annually honors the author(s) of the best research, published or unpublished, on the subject of the Brooklyn Dodgers completed during the preceding calendar year. Eligible works include but are not limited to magazine and journal articles, previously unpublished chapters or articles in anthologies or other books with multiple authors, unpublished research papers, written versions of oral presentations, books, databases and websites.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 was given to the following books:

  • Our Bums: The Brooklyn Dodgers in History, Memory and Popular Culture, by David Krell (McFarland & Co.)
  • Tearin’ up the Pea Patch: The Brooklyn Dodgers, 1953, by Andrew Paul Mele (McFarland & Co.)
  • “There Used to be a Ballpark Right Here: Washington Park,” by Tom Shieber (Baseball Researcher)
  • Havana Hardball: Spring Training, Jackie Robinson, and The Cuban League, by Cesar Brioso (University Press of Florida)

The award subcommittee included: Gary Sarnoff (chair), Rich Applegate, and Gary Cieradkowski.

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: February 16, 2016. Last Updated: February 16, 2016.