BBWAA Career Excellence Award

The BBWAA Career Excellence Award, formerly the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, is an award given annually "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing." Balloting is conducted among member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and while winners are usually members of the BBWAA, it is not a requirement to receive the award. It is the oldest media award given by the Hall of Fame. The award was established in 1962 and J.G. Taylor Spink was the first recipient, receiving the award posthumously the year he passed away.

However, in the 21st century, Spink's association with the award became a growing embarrassment, as his overt racism and opposition to baseball's integration became better known. On February 5, 2021, the BBWAA announced the results of a vote of its members, in which 97% of those voting were in favor of dropping Spink's name from the award.

Winners receive the award and are not elected to the Hall, much like the Ford C. Frick Award. Recipients are often, even if erroneously, referred to as "Hall of Famers" and are said to be recognized as "being inducted in the writers' wing" when, in fact, their names are immortalized on a plaque in the Hall of Fame library. Even with these caveats, the award is highly prestigious.

The award was given to multiple writers regularly in the 1970s. Since 1982, multiple recipients have only happened twice. In 1994, there was no recipient. In 2007, the BBWAA changed the date of the award to reflect the year of the induction ceremony in which the award was presented. Thus, the 2006 winner, Rick Hummel, gave his speech at the 2007 Induction Ceremonies. It can be awarded posthumously.

In 2003, the Hall of Fame began to announce three finalists and their vote totals among BBWAA voters. It is generally accepted that previous finalists have an advantage in subsequent elections.

Spink Award winners are invited to give a speech at the Hall of Fame inductions the year after their award. This has sometimes taken place as part of the main induction ceremony, and sometimes at a separate event held a day earlier.

Award Winners

Year	Writer	City	First BBWAA Year
1962	J.G. Taylor Spink	St. Louis, Missouri	1912
1963	Ring Lardner	New York, New York	1910
1964	Hugh Fullerton	New York, New York	1908
1965	Charles Dryden	Chicago, Illinois	1909
1966	Grantland Rice	New York, New York	1912
1967	Damon Runyon	New York, New York	1911
1968	Harry G. Salsinger	Detroit, Michigan	1909
1969	Sid Mercer	New York, New York	1909
1970	Heywood C. Broun	New York, New York	1911
1971	Frank Graham	New York, New York	1915
1972	Dan Daniel	New York, New York	1913
	Fred Lieb	New York, New York	1911
	J. Roy Stockton	St. Louis, Missouri	1922
1973	Warren Brown	Chicago, Illinois	1922
	John Drebinger	New York, New York	1923
	John F. Kieran	New York, New York	1922
1974	John Carmichael	Chicago, Illinois	1932
	James Isaminger	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1908
1975	Tom Meany	New York, New York	1924
	Shirley Povich	Washington, D.C.	1925
1976	Harold Kaese	Boston, Massachusetts	1934
	Red Smith	New York, New York	1929
1977	Gordon Cobbledick	Cleveland, Ohio	1928
	Edgar Munzel	Chicago, Illinois	1929
1978	Tim Murnane	Boston, Massachusetts	1908
	Dick Young	New York, New York	1943
1979	Bob Broeg	St. Louis, Missouri	1942
	Tommy Holmes	Brooklyn, New York	1923
1980	Joe Reichler	New York, New York	1944
	Milton Richman	New York, New York	1946
1981	Allen Lewis	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1950
	Bob Addie	Washington, D.C.	1942
1982	Si Burick	Dayton, Ohio	1946
1983	Ken Smith	New York, New York	1927
1984	Joe McGuff	Kansas City, Missouri	1955
1985	Earl Lawson	Cincinnati, Ohio	1949
1986	Jack Lang	Brooklyn, New York	1946
1987	Jim Murray	Los Angeles, California	1961
1988	Bob Hunter	Los Angeles, California	1958
	Ray Kelly	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1946
1989	Jerome Holtzman	Chicago, Illinois	1957
1990	Phil Collier	San Diego, California	1962
1991	Ritter Collett	Dayton, Ohio	1947
1992	Leonard Koppett	New York, New York	1951
	Bus Saidt	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1967
1993	Wendell Smith	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1948
1994	No Award Given	n/a	n/a
1995	Joseph Durso	New York, New York	1964
1996	Charley Feeney	New York, New York	1946
1997	Sam Lacy	Washington, D.C.	1934
1998	Bob Stevens	San Francisco, California	1940
1999	Hal Lebovitz	Cleveland, Ohio	1946
2000	Ross Newhan	Los Angeles, California	1961
2001	Joe Falls	Detroit, Michigan	1945
2002	Hal McCoy	Dayton, Ohio	1961
2003	Murray Chass	New York, New York	1962
2004	Peter Gammons	Boston, Massachusetts	1979
2005	Tracy Ringolsby	Denver, Colorado	1976
2006	Rick Hummel	St. Louis, Missouri	1982
2007	No Award	n/a	n/a
2008	Larry Whiteside	Boston, Massachusetts	1970
2009	Nick Peters	San Francisco, California	1964
2010	Bill Madden	New York, New York	1972
2011	Bill Conlin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1966
2012	Bob Elliott	Toronto, Ontario	1978
2012	Paul Hagen	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2013	Roger Angell	New York, New York	not a member
2014	Tom Gage	Detroit, Michigan
2015	Dan Shaughnessy	Boston, Massachusetts
2016	Claire Smith	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2017	Sheldon Ocker	Akron, Ohio
2018	Jayson Stark	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2019	Nick Cafardo	Boston, Massachusetts
2020	Dick Kaegel	St. Louis, Missouri
2021	Tim Kurkjian	Darnesdown, Maryland
2022	John Lowe	Detroit, Michigan
2023	Gerry Fraley	Clearwater, Florida

Further Reading

• Associated Press: "Spink's name stripped from Hall of Fame award over racism", USA Today, February 5, 2021. [1]
• Bob Nightengale: "It’s time to remove J.G. Taylor Spink's name off baseball writers' award over his racist views", USA Today, July 1, 2020. [2]