Detroit News writer Tom Gage was selected as the winner of the 2015 J.G. Taylor Spink Award on Tuesday and will be honored at the Baseball Hall of Fame next summer.
The award is presented yearly by the Baseball Writers' Association of America "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing." Spink, the first recipient of the award in 1962, was a driving force of The Sporting News, known during his lifetime as the "Baseball Bible."
Gage, who has covered the Tigers for the Detroit News since 1979, received 167 of the record 463 ballots, including one blank, cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years' service.
The late Furman Bisher, longtime columnist for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution finished second with 161 votes in the closest vote since the mail-ballot process began in 2002. The other finalist was Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe.
Gage has covered major-league games in 54 ballparks, has written more than 11 million words on baseball and covered more than 5,000 games, including five no-hitters.
Awarded annually since 1962, the Spink Award boasts a famous roster of writers, notably Ring Lardner, Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon, Leonard Koppett, Peter Gammons, Bill Madden and last year's recipient, Roger Angell from the New Yorker.
[SportsNetwork.com]
