The Pennsylvania State Senate and House on June 3 approved by unanimous consent resolutions introduced by State Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-10) and State Representative Perry Warren (D-31) that congratulate Newtown resident and nationally recognized sportswriter Jayson Stark for winning the Baseball Writers’ Association of America J.G. Taylor Spink Award and his contributions to the sport of baseball.

 

Congratulating Jayson Stark, a resident of Newtown, Pennsylvania, who was elected the 2019 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Whereas, Jayson Stark, who for more than four decades has exhibited passion and humor in equal measure in his baseball coverage, was elected the 2019 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America; and

Whereas, He will be honored with the award that is presented annually to a sportswriter “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing” during the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s induction weekend in July 2019, in Cooperstown, N.Y.; and

Whereas, Jayson Stark received 270 votes from the 463 ballots in becoming the 70th winner of the award since its inception in 1962 and named for the first recipient; and

Whereas, The Philadelphia native and Syracuse University graduate had his first taste of big-league coverage for the Providence Journal on the Boston Red Sox beat before returning to his hometown to cover the Phillies, including their first World Series championship in 1980; and

Whereas, Stark made his mark in Philadelphia for 21 years as a Phillies beat writer and national baseball columnist for the Inquirer and nationally for 17 years as senior baseball writer at ESPN.com; and

Whereas, His popular “Baseball Week in Review” is a master example of that baseball writing staple – the notes column – in which Jayson has been a curator for all things weird, wacky, unique, statistically inclined and historically rare in the game.

Whereas, He is the author of three books on baseball, has won an Emmy for his work on Baseball Tonight, is a two-time winner of the Pennsylvania sportswriter-of-the-year award and in 2017, Topps issued an actual Jayson Stark baseball card; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Senate congratulate Jayson Stark, who has been at the pinnacle of his profession for decades, on being elected the 2019 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.