Hyman C. Turkin (May 9, 1915 – June 24, 1955) was a sportswriter best known for co-editing the first baseball encyclopedia.
Turkin was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, one of seven children. He joined the staff of the ''
New York Daily News'' after graduating from
Cooper Union in 1936 with a degree in
electrical engineering. Turkin covered baseball, basketball, and track for the paper.
Baseball Encyclopedia
A chance meeting with baseball researcher
S. C. Thompson in 1944 led the two to collaborate on what would become the first true baseball encyclopedia. Published by
A. S. Barnes & Company in 1951, the book contained a complete listing of every man who had played
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
, along with the years they had played, the teams they had played for, and some basic statistics. It was a remarkable contribution to the field of baseball history.
The book earned the endorsement of Commissioner
A. B. "Happy" Chandler, and nine revised editions were published after Turkin's death (the last in 1979).
Personal life
Turkin was one of the founders of the National Foundation for Muscular Dystrophy, which later became the National Foundation for Neuromuscular Diseases. He was married to the former Florence Kerr, and the couple had a daughter named Margery.
Turkin died at the age of 40, following a six-month battle with
liver disease
Liver disease, or hepatic disease, is any of many diseases of the liver. If long-lasting it is termed chronic liver disease. Although the diseases differ in detail, liver diseases often have features in common.
Signs and symptoms
Some of the si ...
. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' writer
Arthur Daley
''Minder'' is a British comedy-drama series about the London Organized crime, criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television, and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV for ten ...
described him as "a bustling little dynamo with an inquisitive turn of mind."
Following Turkin's death, the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association named an annual award after him; the Hy Turkin Memorial Award was given annually to professional basketball's rookie of the year. Winners included
Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson playe ...
in 1961, and
Lew Alcindor
Lew or LEW may refer to:
People
* Lew (given name)
* Lew (surname)
Places
* Lew, Oxfordshire, England
* River Lew, in Devon, England
Transport
* LEW Hennigsdorf, a rail vehicle factory in Hennigsdorf, Germany
* Lew (locomotive), a British n ...
in 1970.
A
Little League Baseball field in
Dongan Hills, Staten Island
Dongan Hills is a neighborhood located within the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is on the Island's East Shore. Dongan Hills is bounded by Laconia Avenue on the southeast, Jefferson Avenue on the southwest, Richmond Road on the nort ...
, was named the Hy Turkin Memorial Field.
Sources
*
*
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Photo of Babe Ruth's farewell appearance– Turkin is at right, wearing glasses and a bow tie. April 27, 1947.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turkin, Hy
American sportswriters
1915 births
1955 deaths
Cooper Union alumni
20th-century American writers