Sheldon Ocker wins 2018 J.G. Taylor Spink Award
From the Baseball Hall of Fame on December 12, 2017:
Sheldon Ocker, who covered the Cleveland Indians for 33 seasons, was elected the 2018 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He 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 27-30, 2018, in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Ocker received 168 votes from the 426 ballots, including two blanks, cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years’ service in becoming the 69th 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 143 votes. Patrick Reusse, who has spent the better part of 43 years writing about baseball in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, got 113.
Read the full announcement here: https://baseballhall.org/news/2018-spink-award
Originally published: December 12, 2017. Last Updated: December 12, 2017.