2001 J. G. Taylor Spink Award Winner Joe Falls

A veteran of over 50 years as a sportswriter, the colorful Joe Falls began his newspaper career in 1945, when he went to work in the New York office of the Associated Press. In 1953, he became an AP bureau chief in Detroit, and three years later he joined the staff of the Detroit Times.

In 1960, he moved to the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming the newspaper’s sports editor, and he remained there until 1978, when he joined the staff of the Detroit News. Falls's columns, always enthusiastic and often humorous, also appeared regularly in The Sporting News.

Known for his popular blue-collar approach to writing, Falls covered and interviewed numerous Hall of Famers, including Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams.