COOPERSTOWN, NY – The love affair that ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian has enjoyed for decades with the sport of baseball – and everyone associated with it – reached a climax on Saturday when he was named the received the BBWAA Career Excellence Award this year.
“This has been the most overwhelming, overwhelming experience of my life,” Kurkjian said in his statement.
Upon accepting the award, which is presented annually to a sports writer “for meritorious contributions to baseball journalism,” Kurkjian took his place along with a roster of heroes, mentors, and mentors. and friends have been honored before.
“Johnny Bench called to congratulate me. And he said ‘congratulations, Tim. Welcome to the club. You’re one of us now.” Let’s be clear, I’m not one of them. I’m not in their club. But the best player of all time called me to congratulate me. “
Baseball is the “primary language spoken” in the Kurkjian family and an important thread in the fabric of his life, dating back to his baseball-loving father and two older brothers who played for Catholic University. A native of Bethesda, Maryland, Kurkjian played baseball and basketball at Walter Johnson High School – named after the Hall of Famer pitcher. While there, he wrote for the school paper called “The Pitch.”
Kurkjian was honored in a private ceremony at the Alice Busch Opera House at the Glimmerglass Festival outside Cooperstown, along with the late Jack Graney, who won the Ford C. Frick Award, which honors broadcasters for “great contributions to baseball.”
“When you look at the names on that list from the way back and then Peter Gammons, Dan Shaughnessy, Jayson Stark, I’m really honored,” Kurkjian said on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
Kurkjian is a baseball history student and never shy away from self-deprecating humor Boston Red Sox legendary David Ortiz for entering the Hall of Fame in typical Kurkjian style.
“Congrats to David Ortiz, Big Papi. I checked with the Elias Sports Office where I do almost everything and we confirm that’s the biggest disparity in size between a player being awarded. inducted and an honored writer in the same year. I’m at least a foot and almost 200 pounds taller than David Ortiz.”
Kurkjian, 65, has authored three books about baseball and his experiences in them. His professional career began in 1979, when he joined the Washington Star. By 1981, he had covered Texas Rangers for the Dallas Morning News, followed by a four-year period that included Orioles for the Baltimore Sun.
After more than seven years with Sports Illustrated, Kurkjian joined ESPN in 1998. Since then, he has worked as a columnist and has become a prominent part of its broadcast coverage. ESPN about baseball. He has played at Baseball Tonight, contributed to SportsCenter, and worked as a reporter and analyst on match broadcasts. Kurkjian has twice been honored for his work in television.
Kurkjian has overcame his long and varied resume to simply become one of the most beloved characters in the baseball world and someone who exudes a freewheeling joy in the game. The son of a mathematician, Kurkjian has long been known for his meticulous work habits, such as a 20-year period when he cut newspaper box scores from each game and stuck them in his notebook. spiral arms, an exercise that he stopped because of a printed box’s score. becomes very difficult to find.
Cal Ripken Jr told ESPN’s Willie Weinbaum: “I’ve always thought that Tim looked for the good in baseball.
Kurkjian defended Ripken during his time playing the Orioles, recording Lou Gehrig’s pursuit of a record for consecutive matches played. They became friends because of another of Kurkjian’s passions: Pick-up basketball, where he displayed surprising acumen despite only standing 5 feet-4½.
“We stick together about basketball,” Ripken added. “I remember him often carrying his NBA ball on the road when he was covering for us, looking for some game. We connected and played basketball on Monday and Wednesday nights. and Friday.”
The friendship with Ripken is a prime example of the countless relationships that Kurkjian has built during his career in sports as he is known for his unwavering positivity and generosity as well as skill. writing and broadcasting, not to mention encyclopedic knowledge of baseball, about which no crumb is trivial in Kurkjian’s eyes.
Kurkjian’s love for baseball is still ongoing and it reached a whole new level on Saturday, when Kurkjian earned a lasting place among the sport’s immortals.
“Baseball is the greatest game, it’s the best game of all time,” Kurkjian said. “It’s the hardest game in the world to play. It’s a beautiful game and the number of people I’ve met in this game over the years will be my friends for the rest of my life.”
