- Home
- Our Stories
- 1967 BBWAA Career Excellence Award Winner Damon Runyon
1967 BBWAA Career Excellence Award Winner Damon Runyon
A reporter, sports columnist, and popular short story writer, 1967 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner Damon Runyan was described by Connie Mack as "a master of characters and plots such as we see every day in our grandstands." Runyon was a moody man who always showed just a hint of a smile.
As Fred Lieb recalled, "you felt he was laughing at the world, not with it."
Born in Manhattan, Kan., in 1884, Runyon arrived in New York in 1910 and covered the New York Giants for the New York American from 1911-1920. As author Gene Fowler put it, Runyon "underscored excitement by casting his stories in the present tense." Runyon was responsible for nicknaming Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson "Uncle Wilbert."
Following his career as a baseball reporter, Runyon turned to literature. Called "a master of the art of anonymity in the first person," Runyon became best known for his short stories that later became successful musicals and movies such as Guys and Dolls and Little Miss Marker. In the language of Reader's Encyclopedia, he "interpreted the semiliterate in slangy Americanese and with unusual observation."
Throat cancer in 1944 left Runyon unable to speak, but he continued to write until his death on Dec. 10, 1946.
More BBWAA Career Excellence Award Winners
Hall of Fame Awards
Related Stories
Bring Your Little Ghosts and Goblins to Hall of Fame for Halloween Celebration
Steve Carlton passes Bob Gibson atop the NL's all-time strikeout list
Larkin and Santo join baseball’s elite
#ShortStops: The Sultan of Southpaw Shutouts
#CardCorner: 1993 Topps Kevin Mitchell
Cubs trade Hoyt Wilhelm to Braves for Hal Breeden
The Wright Stuff
Library research a hallmark of Museum’s mission
Fan Favorite Ozzie Smith Hosts 14th Edition of Hall of Fame Weekend Tradition PLAY Ball
01.01.2023
Jack White's Hall of Fame Tour
01.01.2023
Robin Yount and Dave Winfield were picked No. 3 and No. 4 overall in the MLB Draft
01.01.2023
BA MSS 67, Folder 21, Corr_1958_12_28
01.01.2023