As he heads to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, relive some of Tim's fun times. There is a time and a place for it.
The love affair that Tim Kurkjian has enjoyed for decades with the sport of baseball, and everyone associated with it, reached its highest point on Saturday when he was honored as this year's recipient of the BBWAA Career excellence Award.
The greatest honor of my professional life is this one. It is not a close second. I wake every day and say that it can't happen to me.
In accepting the award, which is presented annually to a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing," Kurkjian takes his place alongside the list of heroes, mentors and friends who have been previously honoured.
When you look at the names on that list from a long time ago, you're just so honored.
Baseball has been a major part of the fabric of his life, tracing back to his baseball-loving father and two brothers who played for Catholic University. The baseball and basketball teams at Walter Johnson High School were named after the Hall of Fame pitchers. He was a writer for the school paper.
"This is something that I've been interested in for a long time," he said. After high school, I didn't get interested in this.
Jack Graney, who won the Ford C. Frick Award, was honored with a private ceremony at the Alice Busch Opera Theater.
He has written three books about baseball and his experience in it. He joined the Washington Star in 1979 and has been a professional ever since. He began covering the Texas Rangers for the Dallas Morning News in 1981 and was there for four years.
After seven years with SportsIllustrated, Kurkjian joined ESPN. He became a prominent part of the broadcast coverage of baseball after that. He has worked as a reporter and analyst for broadcasts at Baseball Tonight and Sports Center. He has received two awards for his work in television.
By becoming one of the most beloved figures in the baseball world and a person who has a lot of joy in the game, Kurkjian has overcome his long and varied resume to become one of the most popular people in baseball. When he cut out newspaper box scores from every game and pasted them into spiral notebooks, a practice he stopped only because printed box scores became so hard to find, he was known for his methodical work habits.
Tim looked for the good in baseball, according to Cal Ripken.
The pursuit of Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played was chronicled byKurkjian during his time on the Orioles beat. They became friends because of his passion for pickup basketball, where he stood just 5-foot-412
"We got along well over basketball," he said. He used to take his NBA ball on the road with him when he was covering us. We played basketball on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
One example of the many relationships he has built during his time working in sports is his friendship with Cal Ripken, as he became known for his relentless positivity and generosity as well as for his skill in writing and broadcasting.
It has been a love affair and it's ongoing and it reached an all-new level on Saturday, whenKurkjian earned a permanent place among the immortality of the sport.
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