Leonard Koppett
Leonard Koppett | |
---|---|
Born | Leonid Kopeliovitch September 15, 1923 J. G. Taylor Spink Award (1992) |
Spouse |
Suzanne Silberstein (m. 1964) |
Children | 2 |
Leonard J. Koppett (born Leonid Kopeliovitch; September 15, 1923 – June 22, 2003) was a Soviet-born American
Born in
Koppett served in the
Best known were his works on baseball: Concise History of Major League Baseball (1998, updated through 2004) and The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball (originally titled A Thinking Man's Guide to Baseball, 1967, renamed for gender neutrality and updated several times through 2004) are considered definitive works on the game. The former was inspired by Koppett's conversations with contemporary athletes who had little or no knowledge about the history of their game and the great players of decades past, while the latter memorably began with a one-word paragraph — "Fear." — and then explored how the batter's instinctive fear of the thrown pitch is the key point around which most other aspects of baseball play are derived.[5]
The Essence of the Game is Deception: Thinking about Basketball took a similar approach to basketball.[citation needed]
Two weeks prior to his death, Koppett completed his final book, The Rise and Fall of the Press Box, which is part autobiography and part memoir about changes in sports media coverage since World War II when he became a sportswriter.[6]
Koppett received the
According to his daughter Katherine Koppett Richter, shortly before his death at age 79 in
Bibliography
- A Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball (1967)
- 24 Seconds to Shoot: The Birth and Improbable Rise of the National Basketball Association (1968)
- The New York Mets: The Whole Story (1970)
- All About Baseball (1973)
- The Essence of the Game is Deception: Thinking about Basketball (1974)
- Sports Illusion, Sports Reality: A Reporter's View of Sports, Journalism, and Society (1981)
- The New York Times Guide to Spectator Sports (1971)
- The New York times at the Super Bowl (1974)
- The Man In The Dugout: Baseball's Top Managers and How They Got That Way (1993)
- Koppett's Consice History of Major League Baseball (1998)
- The Rise and Fall of the Press Box (2003)
References
- ^ "Leonard Koppett '44: Hall of Fame Sports Writer". Columbia College Today. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ a b c "1992 J.G. Taylor Spink Award Winner Leonard Koppett". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (June 24, 2003). "Leonard Koppett, 79, Writer With Novel Approach to Sports". New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ "Leonard Koppett". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ Allen, Maury. "Saluting Leonard Koppett". The Columnists. Archived from the original on February 18, 2005. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ "Leonard Koppett".
- ^ "Leonard Koppett gets a standing 'O' / Memorial lauds 'sportswriter for all seasons'". 8 July 2003.
External links
- Leonard Koppett on the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)
- Leonard Koppett: 1992 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner at the Baseball Hall of Fame