1977 J.G. Taylor Spink Award Winner
Gordon Cobbledick

In 1923 Gordon Cobbledick was working as a mining engineer in Morgantown, West Virginia. While visiting a sportswriter friend in Cleveland, an opportunity to join the staff at the Cleveland Plain Dealer presented itself. He took the job at $25 a week and began covering the police beat. Cobbledick eventually switched to sportswriting and later took over as the paper's sports editor.


Gordon Cobbledick (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

Personally and professionally the most stately gentleman in the press box, Gordon Cobbledick's career spanned 40 years, including time during World War II as a war correspondent. A tall man who smiled more inside than out, Cobbledick's words harnessed insight and basic truth. A personally companionable and popular man, the one-time president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America lent a touch of royalty to his profession.

As Ken Smith recalled, "Although seldom absent from our merriment, Cobby was the most respected gent in the crowd.

Complete list of J.G. Taylor Spink Award Honorees