Spink winner, CBN founder honoured at NY writers dinner
* Bob Elliott (third from left) was honoured at the 89th annual New York writers dinner. From left to right: New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, Bob Elliott, Jr, Elliott and Arizona Diamondbacks’ GM Kevin Towers./Gene Boyars photo ….
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By Kevin Glew
If you talk to Bob Elliott long enough, he’s bound to mention his son, Bobby, and the magical bond that baseball creates between fathers and sons.
During his youth, the venerable scribe, who will be honoured with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July, fell in love with baseball while watching the Boston Red Sox on TV with his dad on Saturday afternoons.
Elliott enjoys a similar bond with his son, whom he has watched games with and coached at various levels. And if you ask the soon-to-be Hall of Fame reporter what his best baseball memory is, it’s not the World Series or no-hitters that he’s covered, it’s his son’s first home run that he saw — he missed the first two.
So it was only fitting that Elliott would attend the New York chapter’s 89th annual Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s (BBWAA) dinner with his son on January 21. Held at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan with approximately 1,200 in attendance, the event shone the spotlight on the local chapter’s annual award recipients, as well as the national BBWAA winners.
As this year’s winner of the BBWAA’s J.G. Taylor Spink Award, Elliott was asked to speak at the dinner. Though extremely grateful for the honour, Elliott would rather write the story than be the story, and public speaking makes him so nervous that he can’t eat.
Nevertheless, after being introduced by the Hall of Fame CEO Jeff Idelson, the Kingston, Ont., native rose to the podium and shared a heartfelt speech. When it was over, he was relieved to return to his seat between National League MVP Ryan Braun and Bergen Record Mets reporter Steve Popper.
“I came back and both Braun and Popper say, ‘Good job!” and each shake my hand,” recounted Elliott. “I said, ‘I’ll see how good of a job I did.’ I pulled out the six words I’d written down and said, ‘Ah crap.’ He asked me what was wrong and I told him I ad-libbed an addition to the speech and forgot to thank my son. How bad is that?”
Prior to his MVP acceptance speech, Braun asked Elliott in casual conversation over the span of a few award presentations if his son was in the audience, what his son did (an accountant at Grant Thornton) and what his name was?
“Before I get started, Bob Elliott said he forgot to thank his son, Bob Jr., during his speech and he wanted to make sure I did it for him,” Braun told the audience when he was called to the podium. “So Bob Jr., Bob Elliott truly appreciates you being a great son and supporting him.”
Elliott was thankful for Braun’s gesture.
“My jaw hit the floor when he (Braun) opened with Bobby,” said Elliott. “I asked Jack O’Connell (secretary-tresaurer of the BBWAA) how bad was that? Forgetting your own son. Jack said ‘Think about it. Would you rather have a shout out from your old man or the National League MVP?’”
Elliott said the next time he saw Brewers closer John Axford (Port Dover, Ont.) he was going to tell him Braun was leading him in saves, 1-0.
Other than forgetting to thank his son, Elliott’s address, one in a growing list of engagements that he will speak at prior to receiving the Spink award in Cooperstown on July 22, was a success. He’s at William Humber‘s spring training for fans Jan. 28 at Seneca College; at the Royal Canadian Legion for the Badlands Baseball Acadmey benefit in Oyen, Alta. on Feb. 16, at the Ukranian Hall in Ottawa Feb. 23 with proceeds to the East Nepean Little League and the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians sports club, in his hometown of Kingston at the Ambassaor Hotel Feb. 25 with proceeds to the Kingston Ponies and the Hanlan’s Point chapter of SABR on May 12.
The first Canadian to be honoured with the Spink award, Elliott proudly wears his citizenship on his sleeve and at the dinner, his New York colleagues jokingly blamed him for bringing the several inches of snow that fell in the city that day with him from Canada.
During his speech, Elliott discussed his formative years as an Expos beat writer from 1978 to 1987 and raised a can of Diet Coke – his trademark beverage – to one of his early mentors Dan Castellano, a longtime reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger.
“Danny was a mentor from my early days when I covered the Expos and he covered the Mets,” said Elliott. “He’s in an assisted living centre now.”
Elliott also told Gary Carter’s children, Christy, Kimmy and D.J., who were present to accept the Milton and Arthur Richman “You Gotta Have Heart” award on behalf of their father who’s batting brain cancer, that they would be in his thoughts and prayers.
The respected reporter also recounted the phone call that he received from O’Connell, at the baseball winter meetings in Dallas, to inform him that he had won the award.
“I said, ‘Hello,’ and Jack told me that I had won the Spink award and he spoke for a minute or so and then it was my turn and I didn’t say anything,” recalled Elliott. “Jack said, ‘Are you there?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m here … I just can’t say anything.’”
Elliott later added that he felt humbled to be in a room with so many talented reporters.
“I felt pretty good about myself that day in Dallas, and then I walk in here tonight and see all of these great writers and I figure I’m tied for 39-1/2 place for best in the room,” he joked.
Elliott closed by thanking the writers for voting for him for the Spink award and expressing his gratitude to the players for providing such an exciting 2011 season.
BBWWA awards presented went to Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander, MVP and Cy Young; Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, Cy Young, Atlanta Braves Craig Kimbrel, rookie of the year and Arizona Diamondbacks Kirk Gibson, manager of the year.
The New York chapter awards were the Willie, Mickey and the Duke award to Al Jackson, Frank Thomas and Jay Hook of the 1962 Mets; the Joan Payson award for community service to Dave Robertson, the Yankees reliever; the William J. Slocum-Jack Lang Award for Long and Meritorious Service to Gene Monahan, Yankees retiring trainer; Joe DiMaggio Toast of the Town Award to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera; the Ben Epstein-Dan Castellano Good Guy Award to former New York Met Jose Reyes; the Babe Ruth Award (Postseason MVP) to St. Louis Cardinals David Freese and the Casey Stengel You Could Look It Up Award to former Los Angeles Dodger Tommy Davis.
The program contained a page and a half story on Elliott by long-time friend Richard Griffin, plus one-page adds from Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado, the commissioner’s office, the Blue Jays, the Toronto Sun, a two-page add from WYO-Mania and 60 names of friends, scribes and scouts and finally a half-page add from former Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox.
Following the event, Elliott and his son returned to Toronto. But their weekend in the Big Apple was yet another example of how baseball had brought them together. Unable to acquire tickets to see Texas singer Robert Earl Keen, they went to Madison Square Garden to see the Milwaukee Bucks beat the New York Knicks at $170 per ticket — in their first trip to the famous arena.
And with five minutes remaining in the game Phil Rogers and his wife Annie from Chicago sent a text he had acquired tickets. Arriving at the door they had two sets of comp tickets from baseball friends in Houston and Atlanta.
“Robert Earl played better than the Knicks,” said Bob, Jr.
“At the risk of being stopped at customs when I return to the Pearson International Airport, how could baseball not be the best game?” said Elliott in his speech. “Did you see what happened on the final day of the season? Did you see what happened in Game 6 of the World Series in St. Louis?”
