'Commissioner' Hummel wins Spink Award

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a former Pulitzer Prize nominee who has come to be known as "The Commissioner" during 33 years of baseball coverage, won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award on Wednesday from the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Hummel will be honored for meritorious contributions to baseball writing during the July 29 induction ceremonies at the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

"I'm flattered and humbled by what's happened today," he said at the meeting of the BBWAA meeting where the results of the election were announced. "I've learned a little bit from everybody in this room how to do the job, and how to do it better."

Hummel received 233 votes from BBWAA members to 112 for the late Morris "Mo" Siegel, who covered baseball in Washington even after it lost two franchises. Nick Peters of The Sacramento Bee got 66 votes.

Hummel covered his first major league game in 1973 and was the Cardinals' beat writer for the Post-Dispatch from 1978-2001 before becoming the paper's national baseball writer. He has covered 29 World Series, including the hometown Cardinals' victory over the Detroit Tigers this year.

Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty took the unusual step of visiting Tuesday's BBWAA meeting in order to congratulate Hummel -- addressing him as "The Commish," a nickname he first earned from organizing the newsroom's softball and bowling leagues.

"We're proud to call him a friend, (and) we've had our disagreements over the years," Jocketty said. "It is a very well-deserved honor."

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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