Robert Creamer

Robert W. Creamer
(Bob)

• Schools Fordham University, Syracuse University

• Born July 14, 1922 in Bronxville, NY USA
• Died July 18, 2012 in Saratoga Springs, NY USA

Biographical Information

Robert W. Creamer published approximately three hundred articles for Sports Illustrated during its first thirty years but established a broader reputation with a biography of Babe Ruth that New Yorker editor and baseball writer Roger Angell called in The New York Times of October 13, 1994 "perhaps the best portrait yet struck of an American sports hero." Five years in the making, the book benefited from the coincidence of its appearance in 1974 with Hank Aaron's pursuit of Ruth's career home-run record; yet twenty years later the New York Observer (on March 25, 1994) still ranked "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life" one of the top ten baseball books of all time. Also included on the list was Creamer's "Stengel: His Life and Times" (1984), making him the only author doubly honored.

Creamer fought in Germany in World War II, where he was wounded. After his discharge, he was an advertising coypwriter and an editor for Collier's Encyclopedia. He was one of the first writers hired by the newly-launched Sports Illustrated', working as an editor and writer from the magazine's inception in 1954 until his retirement as a senior editor in 1985. After his retirement, he was one of the resource persons for Ken Burns' documentary series Baseball, being interviewed on camera in a number of the segments.

His other baseball books include Baseball in '41: A Celebration of the Best Baseball Season Ever — in the Year America Went to War (1991) and Season of Glory: The Amazing Saga of the 1961 New York Yankees (co-written with Ralph Houk, 1988), as well as oral biographies of Red Barber and Jocko Conlan. He was also the ghostwriter for Mickey Mantle's autobiography, published in 1964.

He was named a recipient of the Chadwick Award in 2012. His wife, Margaret Schelz, passed away in 2001; they had four sons and a daughter. Creamer died of prostate cancer at age 90 in 2012.

Further Reading

• Dan Levitt: "Robert Creamer", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 41, Number 2 (Fall 2012), p. 99.

Related Sites

• SABR tribute page
• New York Times obituary