J. G. Taylor Spink Award


The J. G. Taylor Spink Award is the highest award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The award was instituted in and named after J. G. Taylor Spink, publisher of The Sporting News from 1914 to 1962, and first recipient. The honoree does not have to be a member of the BBWAA, but every recipient from the award's inception through had been a BBWAA member at some time; the first recipient to have never have been a member was recipient Roger Angell.
The Spink Award is presented at the induction festivities of the Baseball Hall of Fame in the year following the selection of the recipient. Through 2010, the award was presented during the actual induction ceremony; since then, it has been presented at the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation, held the day before the induction ceremony. In recent years, the Hall of Fame has announced the finalists for the award and final vote totals. Previously, the results were kept secret.
Winners are not considered to be members of the Hall. They are not "inducted" or "enshrined", but are permanently recognized in an exhibit at the Hall's library. For several years in the early 2000s, Spink Award honorees became life members of the Veterans Committee, which elects players whose eligibility for BBWAA consideration has ended, and is also the sole body that elects non-players for induction into the Hall. Starting with elections for induction in, voting on the main Veterans Committee, which then selected only players whose careers began in 1943 or later, was restricted to Hall of Fame members. After further changes announced for the and elections, Spink Award winners are eligible to serve on all of the era-based voting bodies that replaced the Veterans Committee.
Among the well-known Spink Award winners are Fred Lieb, Shirley Povich, Jerome Holtzman, Ring Lardner, Wendell Smith, Warren Brown, Sam Lacy, and Peter Gammons.

Recipients

Note: For the years below — through 2006 — the year reflects when the recipient was announced; the award is formally presented the following year. In 2007, the BBWAA changed the year designation for the award to coincide with the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, i.e., the year after the award is announced. This makes it appear as though 2007 was skipped, though it was not.
YearHonoreeBeat
1962St. Louis
1963Chicago
1964Chicago
1965Chicago
1966New York City
1967New York City
1968Detroit
1969New York City
1970New York City
1971New York City
1972New York City
1972New York City
1972St. Louis
1973Chicago
1973New York City
1973New York City
1974Chicago
1974Philadelphia
1975New York City
1975Washington, D.C.
1976Boston
1976New York City
1977Cleveland
1977Chicago
1978Boston
1978New York City
1979St. Louis
1979New York City
1980New York City
1980New York City
1981Philadelphia
1981Washington, D.C.
1982Dayton, Ohio
1983New York City
1984Kansas City, Missouri
1985Cincinnati
1986New York City
1987Los Angeles
1988Los Angeles
1989Philadelphia
1989Chicago
1990San Diego
1991Dayton, Ohio
1992New York City
1992Philadelphia
1993Pittsburgh
1994'n/a
1995New York City
1996New York City
1997Washington, D.C.
1998San Francisco
1999Cleveland
2000Los Angeles
2001Detroit
2002Dayton, Ohio
2003New York City
2004Boston
2005Denver
2006St. Louis
2007'n/a
2008Boston
2009San Francisco
2010New York City
2011Philadelphia
2012Montreal / Toronto
2013Dallas–Fort Worth / Philadelphia
2014The New Yorker
2015Detroit
2016Boston
2017New York City
2018Akron, Ohio
2019Philadelphia
2020Boston

Minor League ''J.G. Taylor Spink Award''

This award should not be confused with the identically named J.G. Taylor Spink Award, which is awarded to the Minor League Player of the Year by the Topps Company, in conjunction with Minor League Baseball.