The William J. Slocum Award is one of MLB’s most prestigious honors


William J. Slocum Award

The oldest professional sport in the United States, baseball remains America’s National Pastime to this day. The game’s current leagues were flourishing soon after the end of the 1800s. Every city with a team had multiple newspapers reporting their games. Sportswriters worked from stadium press boxes describing their team’s contests in great detail. The widespread news coverage helped grow the game.
In 1908 writers banded together to form the Baseball Writers Association of America. The BBWAA’s founding mission was to “ensure professional working conditions for beat writers at all MLB ballparks and to promote uniformity of scoring methods.
Early in the 1900s New York City boasted three big league teams, the Giants and Dodgers of the National League, and the Highlanders – who later became the Yankees – in the American League. The Big Apple soon became the hub of the baseball world.
One of the writers who covered the New York teams was William J. Slocum. Respected for his baseball knowledge and writing ability, Slocum quickly rose to the top of his profession. Well-liked, he helped organize the New York chapter of the BBWAA.
The Bill Slocom Award is one of the most prestigious awards baseball has to offer. The little-known honor has been given to more than 50 members of the Hall of Fame.

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Inducted into Cooperstown’s Honor Rolls of Baseball in 1946, Bill Carrigan managed Boston to back-to-back World Series titles


Bill Carrigan

Every summer the baseball world pauses as the Hall of Fame induction weekend puts the village of Cooperstown on display. Players, managers, executives, owners, and umpires who are deemed worthy receive a plaque and along with it, baseball immortality. The election process during the Hall’s infancy bears little resemblance to today. For the first decade of induction, Cooperstown recognized only its players with the exception of pioneer Henry Chadwick. The Hall establishes the Honor Rolls of Baseball Wanting to recognize non-playing personnel, the Hall established the Honor Rolls of Baseball in 1946 as a second level of induction. That year the museum’s Permanent Committee voted to include 39 non-players into the Honor Rolls. Eleven umpires, 11 executives, 12 sportswriters, and 5 managers were inducted. Of the five skippers, four have since gained full induction with plaques in Cooperstown. The lone manager not so recognized is former Red Sox pilot Bill Carrigan. Born in Maine in 1883, Carrigan broke in with Boston in 1906 as a backup catcher. In time he became a favorite of the pitching staff, catching the likes of Cy Young, Bill Dinneen and a young Babe Ruth for the Red Sox. Soon Carrigan was one of the game’s most […]

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NL owners supported the designated hitter in 1928


CooperstownExpert.com

How times have changed. Until 2022 the National League remained one of few leagues above the high school level not to employ the designated hitter rule. The Senior Circuit resisted the rule that the AL has embraced for more than four decades. That wasn’t always the case. NL owners approve the “ten-man team rule” National League president John Heydler proposed the DH at the Winter Meetings on December 11, 1928. It was originally referred to as the “Ten-Man Team Rule”. Heydler’s motivations seem clear. He was looking to capture some of the excitement the homer-happy AL harnessed with the emergence of Babe Ruth. From 1920-1928 the Bambino was a one-man wrecking crew. The Babe had seven seasons with 40 or more homers, including four of 50 or more, and one with 60. During the same span Heydler’s league had only two 40-homer seasons. Totals of 15, 21, 23, and 27 led NL in the 20’s. While the NL couldn’t match the AL in star power, Heydler felt keeping hurlers on the hill and out of the batters box might generate more offense. “Pitchers are absolutely useless as batters nowadays,” Heydler was quoted as saying in the Chicago papers. “The average […]

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ESPN profiles the collection of CooperstownExpert.com


ESPN calls the CooperstownExpert collection, “One of the most comprehensive Hall of Fame collections outside of Coopertown. The collection is home to autographs of all but three MLB Hall of Famers who debuted since 1900. This site is dedicated to the display and explanation of the collection. CooperstownExpert.com is not solely about autographs. Make your way to the Babe Ruth player page and read first-hand accounts of the “Called Shot” in the 1932 World Series, click on the Stunning Stories category on the home page and find the post on Barry Bonds. There’s something for everyone. In the video above, ESPN interviews lifelong collector Jim Smiley. Jim and his collection have been profiled on the internet, radio, television, podcasts, and newspapers coast to coast. We hope you enjoy your time spent at CooperstownExpert.com. Reach Jim Smiley, the author of this story, CooperstownExpert@yahoo.com Be sure to check out CooperstownExpert.com, the internet’s leading website for the display of museum-quality baseball autographs. Check in at our Facebook page.

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"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball…"

~Jacques Barzun, 1954