Larry Whiteside

Posthumous Spink Award Winner

African-American Pioneer Garners 2008 Sportswriting Honor

Larry Whiteside, a pioneer among African-American sports journalists, was elected the 2008 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. His memory will be honored with the award that is presented annually to a sportswriter “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing” during the 2008 National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum induction ceremony July 27 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Whiteside, who died June 15 of complications from Parkinson’s disease, received 203 votes from the 415 ballots cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years’ service. He became the 59th winner of the award since its inception in 1962 and named for the first recipient. Spink was the driving force of The Sporting News, known during his lifetime as the “Baseball Bible.”

Nick Peters, who retired this year from the Sacramento Bee after having been a traveling beat writer for three decades covering the San Francisco Giants, received 119 votes. Dave Van Dyck, a Chicago baseball writer for 25 years and an active member of numerous BBWAA committees, got 89. Four blank ballots were among those submitted.

The candidates were selected by a three-member, BBWAA-appointed committee and announced at the All-Star Game meeting July 10 at San Francisco. Voting was conducted in November through a mail ballot, a process that began in 2002.

Whiteside became the third African-American winner of the Spink Award. The others were Wendell Smith in 1993 and Sam Lacy in 1997. But while they were primarily columnists and feature writers, Whiteside spent a lengthy portion of his 30-year career as a beat writer.

After writing for the Kansas City Kansan (1959-63), Whiteside went to the Milwaukee Journal (1963-1973) where he was a beat writer covering the Braves in the 1960s and the Brewers in the 1970s before he joined the staff of The Boston Globe in 1973. In 1980, “Sides” became the first African-American Hall of Fame voter.

“Larry was a pioneer,” Commissioner Bud Selig said. “In 1972, I offered him a position in public relations for the Brewers, but Larry made the decision to remain a journalist and was hired at The Boston Globe a year later. He was one of the finest reporters and one of the finest people I ever encountered. He promoted baseball with his fine, fair and objective reporting for many years.”

In 1971, Whiteside created “The Black List” of African-American reporters and copy editors designed to aid sports editors in helping hire black journalists. By 1983, the list had expanded from nine to 90 names. “Sides” not only covered the Red Sox and was a national baseball writer for the Globe, but also made four trips to Japan and two to Australia covering the sport.

A three-time chairman of the BBWAA Boston chapter, Larry wasa recipient of the Dave O’Hara Award for long and meritorious service to the chapter. The National Association of Black Journalists honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.

The BBWAA this year changed the year designation for the Spink Award to coincide with that of the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. n