Former Hartford Sportswriter to be Honored at Baseball Hall of Fame Inductions

COOPERSTOWN, NY — A pioneering sportswriter with extensive Hartford roots made history again Tuesday, as recipient of the annual J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Claire Smith, who was the first African-American female to regularly cover a major league baseball beat during her tenure with the Hartford Courant in the 1980s, will become the first woman to receive the prestigious award, given to a sportswriter “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing."

The award, voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, will be presented to Smith during Hall of Fame induction weekend, slated for July 28-31, 2017 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Smith, 62, covered the New York Yankees from 1983 to 1988 at the Courant, and later became a columnist for the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, being twice nominated for Pulitzer Prizes. She is currently a news editor with ESPN.

Photo credit: Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame