Claire Smith | |
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 Smith (left) | |
| Born | (1954-07-01)July 1, 1954 (age 71) |
| Occupation | Sportswriter |
| Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University Temple University |
| Notable awards | J. G. Taylor Spink Award (2017) |
Claire Smith (born July 1, 1954) is an Americansportswriter, who coveredMajor League Baseball for theHartford Courant,The New York Times, andThe Philadelphia Inquirer. She is currently a news editor forESPN. Smith was the first woman to be honored with theJ. G. Taylor Spink Award by theBaseball Writers' Association of America.
Smith was born inLanghorne, Pennsylvania, and graduated fromNeshaminy High School. Her mother, Bernice, was a chemist who worked forGeneral Electric; Bernice was born in New York City but was raised in her family's home country ofJamaica. Smith's father, William, was an illustrator and sculptor; she credits him for sparking an interest in baseball, especially forJackie Robinson and theDodgers, even though William was aNew York Giants fan. She has an older brother, William Jr., born on the dayBobby Thomson hit the famous walk-off home run to win the pennant against theBrooklyn Dodgers.[1]
Smith attended thePennsylvania State University and thenTemple University, getting her first journalism job with theBucks County Courier Times.[2]
Smith covered theNew York Yankees from 1983 to 1987 as the first femaleMajor League Baseballbeat writer, working for theHartford Courant. She later worked as a columnist forThe New York Times from 1991 to 1998, and was an editor and columnist forThe Philadelphia Inquirer from 1998 to 2007.
| External videos | |
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 This baseball writer is in a league of her own,PBS NewsHour[3] |
After the first game of the1984 National League Championship Series against theChicago Cubs inWrigley Field, theSan Diego Padres physically removed Smith, then working for theHartford Courant, from the visitors' clubhouse despite aNational League rule requiring equal access to all properly accredited journalists during the playoffs. San Diego first basemanSteve Garvey left the clubhouse, told her she still had a job to do, and proceeded with an interview.Peter Ueberroth, the newly appointedBaseball Commissioner, declared a new rule the next day requiring equal access for all major league locker rooms.[4][5]
Smith was the2017 recipient of theJ. G. Taylor Spink Award,[5] bestowed annually by theBaseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) with recipients honored during ceremonies at theNational Baseball Hall of Fame inCooperstown, New York. Smith was the first woman to receive the Spink Award.[6]
Smith was the subject ofA League of Her Own, a short biographical documentary that was screened in 2018 at the Hall of Fame's annual Baseball Film Festival. The film was narrated by Jackie Robinson's daughter Sharon.[7]
Claire Smith was elected the 2017 recipient of theJ. G. Taylor Spink Award inballoting by theBaseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) on December 6, 2016.[8][9] She is the first woman, and fourth African-American,[10] to receive this award, the BBWAA's highest honor, presented annually since 1962 for “meritorious contributions to baseball writing.” The award is permanently celebrated in the "Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit in the Library of theNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum inCooperstown, New York.[11]
In 2023, she received theRed Smith Award for "outstanding contributions tosports journalism".[12]
"Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit in the Library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
On Saturday, she will become the first woman, and fourth African-American, voted...
"Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit in the Library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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