Roger Angell named as 2014 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced that Roger Angell, a senior editor at The New Yorker magazine who has been writing about baseball for more than 50 years, was elected by the membership as the the 2014 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.
Dec 9, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; A Christmas tree is decorated for visitors in the lobby of the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort at MLB Winter Meetings. Image Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
Angell becomes the first non-BBWAA member to be honored with the award. He beat out two finalists–late Furman Bisher and retired syndicated columnist Mel Durslag. All three finalists were announced during the All-Star Game festivities.

From the BBWAA bio on his being named the recipient:

"Angell, 93, is the first winner of the award who was never a member of the BBWAA, which limits its membership to writers covering Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, wire services and some Internet outlets. The Spink Award is not limited to BBWAA members, however. Roger was nominated for the award by the San Francisco-Oakland Chapter. Many of the native New Yorker’s numerous Sporting Scene pieces are found in his best-selling books that include The Summer Game (1972), Five Seasons (1977), Late Innings (1982), Season Ticket (1988), Once More Around the Park (1991), A Pitcher’s Story (2001) and Game Time (2003).Roger wrote revealing profiles of remote superstar Bob Gibson and the mysteriously afflicted Steve Blass. He spoke to 23 players for a 1981 analysis on hitting, One Tough Way to Make a Living. In his 1971 piece, The Interior Stadium, Angell wrote: “Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young.”"

Angell’s profile, “Distance,” on Bob Gibson can be read here. Other articles by Angell can be read here.

Other profiles that Angell wrote can be found here.