Jack Lang

John Frederick Lang

• Born May 11, 1921 in New York, NY USA
• Died January 25, 2007 in Huntington, NY USA

Jack Lang was an American sportwriter based in New York. After three years of service in World War II, Lang joined the Long Island Press in 1946. He worked the Brooklyn Dodgers beat until the club moved to Los Angeles in 1957. When the Mets joined the National League, Lang covered the club for the Press.

When the Press closed in 1977, Lang was immediately hired by the New York News. He worked for the News for 12 years until his retirement in 1989. He also was a correspondent for The Sporting News. He closed his last regular column in 1997 when he left SportsTicker.

Billy Williams called Lang "The Good News Man" because Lang had the honor of calling 44 players to inform them that the BBWAA had elected them to the Hall of Fame. From 1966 to 1988, Lang was the Secretary-Treasurer of the BBWAA. He was named executive secretary in 1989 after his retiremenet from the News. During this time, he also arranged charter flights to the World Series for the BBWAA.

Lang was awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1987.

A sportswriter to the end, Lang called the Associated Press in January 2007 to ensure that the details of his life were correct as he sensed his time was up.