BBWAA Career Excellence Award

Since 1962, the BBWAA has recognized its best and most accomplished members, honoring them at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The BBWAA Career Excellence Award is the most prestigious award for a baseball writer.

When the award was created, it was named for J.G. Taylor Spink, the longtime editor and publisher of The Sporting News. Spink was the inaugural winner of the award.

In 2021, the BBWAA voted to remove Spink’s name from the award because of his role in supporting segregated baseball.

YearAward Recipient(s)
2022Tim Kurkjian
2021Dick Kaegel
2020Nick Cafardo
2019Jayson Stark
2018Sheldon Ocker
2017Claire Smith
2016Dan Shaughnessy
2015Tom Gage
2014Roger Angell
2013Paul Hagen
2012Bob Elliott
2011Bill Conlin
2010Bill Madden
2009Nick Peters
2008Larry Whiteside
2007No award
2006Rick Hummel
2005Tracy Ringolsby
2004Peter Gammons
2003Murray Chass
2002Hal McCoy
2001Joe Falls
2000Ross Newhan
1999Hal Lebovitz
1998Bob Stevens
1997Sam Lacy
1996Charles Feeney
1995Joseph Durso
1994No award
1993Wendell Smith
1992Leonard Koppett, Bus Saidt
1991Ritter Collett
1990Phil Collier
1989Jerome Holtzman
1988Bob Hunter, Ray Kelly
1987Jim Murray
1986Jack Lang
1985Earl Lawson
1984Joe McGuff
1983Ken Smith
1982Si Burick
1981Bob Addie, Allen Lewis
1980Joe Reichler, Milton Richman
1979Bob Broeg, Tommy Holmes
1978Tim Murnane, Dick Young
1977Gordon Cobbledick, Edgar Munzel
1976Harold Kaese, Red Smith
1975Tom Meany, Shirley Povich
1974John Carmichael, James Isaminger
1973Warren Brown, John Drebinger, John F. Kiernan
1972Dan Daniel, Fred Lieb, J. Roy Stockton
1971Frank Graham
1970Heywood C. Broun
1969Sid Mercer
1968H.G. Salsinger
1967Damon Runyon
1966Grantland Rice
1965Charles Dryden
1964Hugh Fullerton
1963Ring Lardner
1962J.G. Taylor Spink