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Congratulating, Recognizing, and Honoring Philadelphia’s Jayson Stark for Receiving the 2019 J.G. Taylor Spink Award as One of the Nation’s Premier Baseball Writers.
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WHEREAS, Selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for meritorious contributions to baseball writing, Philadelphia’s Jayson Stark is the recipient of the 2019 J.G. Taylor Spink Award; and
WHEREAS, Stark’s contributions to baseball writing will be memorialized in the “Scribes & Mikemen” exhibit in the Library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He will be presented with a certificate during Hall of Fame Weekend in July, as the newest class of inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame is enshrined in Cooperstown, New York; and
WHEREAS, Jayson Stark is legendary for combining encyclopedic knowledge with a knack for revealing the humorous, wacky, and statistically and historically rare aspects of the game of baseball; and
WHEREAS, A native of Northeast Philadelphia, Jayson Stark made a name for himself while achieving a childhood dream, spending 21 years as a Philadelphia Phillies beat writer and national baseball columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer beginning in 1979-just in time to cover the Phillies’ 1980 World Series title. In 2000, he joined ESPN, where he spent the next 17 years as a writer and on-air personality. He now writes for The Athletic and appears on MLB Network; and
WHEREAS, Jayson Stark’s national platform has not diminished his love of his hometown and its Phillies. Following the Phillies’ 2008 World Series Championship, Stark wrote Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies. Reflecting on the euphoria of winning, Stark wrote, “It makes no sense that something as theoretically unimportant as sports could be the best psychotherapy ever invented. But you’ll never convince the lucky residents of the Philadelphia metropolitan area that it’s not.” His writing has enthralled Philadelphia sports fans for decades, through the highs and lows; and
WHEREAS, In addition to Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies, Jayson Stark has also authored Wild Pitches: Rumblings, Grumblings and Reflections on the Game I Love and The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History; and
WHEREAS, Jayson Stark was a 2017 inductee into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and has been twice named Pennsylvania’s Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. His work for ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” program earned him an Emmy Award; and
WHEREAS, Jayson Stark is the third writer with Philadelphia connections to receive the Spink Award in recent years. Former Philadelphia Daily News reporter Paul Hagen received the award in 2013, and former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Claire Smith was the 2017 recipient; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia, home of the most passionate sports fans in the country, is proud of Jayson Stark’s recognition as the recipient of the 2019 Spink Award and is thankful that he has given such a large portion of his time and talents to Philadelphia. He has grown the love of the game of baseball among generations of Philadelphians; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we congratulate, recognize, and honor Philadelphia’s Jayson Stark for receiving the 2019 J.G. Taylor Spink Award as one of the nation’s premier baseball writers.
RESOLVED FURTHER, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Jayson Stark, evidencing the sincere admiration and respect of this legislative body.
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