Rick Hummel
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Richard Lowell Hummel (born February 25, 1946) is an American author and sports columnist best known for his work for the ''
St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...
''. Hummel was inducted into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in
Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
in 2007 when he was honored with the
J. G. Taylor Spink Award The BBWAA Career Excellence Award, formerly the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, is the highest award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It is given "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing" and voted on annually by ...
for baseball writing. Known throughout baseball by his nickname "The Commish", he is a former president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.


Early life

Richard Lowell Hummel was born on February, 25, 1946. in
Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...
. He graduated from Quincy Senior High School in 1964. At first Hummel remained in his hometown for higher education, attending
Quincy University Quincy University (formerly known as St. Francis Solanus College, and today abbreviated as QU) is a private Franciscan university in Quincy, Illinois. It was founded in 1860 and enrolls about 1,100 students. History A small group of Franciscan ...
before transferring to the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
to attend their renowned
School of Journalism A journalism school is a school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. 'J-School' is an increasingly used term for a journalism department at a school or college. Journalists in most parts of the ...
. Rick Hummel expressed an interest in sports journalism and broadcasting at an early age, having auditioned for a job at Quincy station
WGEM (AM) WGEM (1440 AM) is a radio station in Quincy, Illinois broadcasting a sports radio format. The station is owned by Gray Television and is an affiliate of ESPN Radio. The station is also broadcasting via FM translator W255CY, 98.9 FM, licensed to ...
when he was twelve years old. Hummel did not get the announcing job, but later in high school he worked as a spotter for former
MLB 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), ...
player and coach Elvin Tappe and his twin brother Melvin as they broadcast Quincy High School games. It was Melvin Tappe who also encouraged Hummel to pursue a career as a sports writer. While attending the University of Missouri Hummel returned home during two summers to work for the '' Quincy Herald-Whig''. At Mizzou, he worked on the Sports Information department's statistics crew for football games alongside another future sports notable, John Walsh, now executive vice president and executive editor of
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
.


Professional career

Following graduation from the University of Missouri in 1968, Rick Hummel served three years in the U.S. Army. While stationed in Colorado he also worked as a part-time employee for two years on the '' Colorado Springs Free Press-Sun'' After his discharge from the Army in 1971, Hummel was hired by fellow Mizzou alum
Bob Broeg Robert William Patrick Broeg (March 18, 1918 – October 28, 2005) was an American sportswriter. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, he officially covered the St. Louis Cardinals for forty years. He graduated from Cleveland High School ( ...
to work for the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''. Broeg, who himself would earn the Spink award and be inducted into Cooperstown in 1979, at first assigned Hummel to cover secondary and St. Louis regional teams for the newspaper. Hummel "made his bones" as a beat writer for the St. Louis Stars professional soccer team, the
American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...
's
Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as a charter member in 1967 as the ...
, and
St. Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...
hockey, among others. An avid amateur athlete in his younger years, Hummel earned his nickname "The Commish" or "The Commissioner" for his exhaustive knowledge of the rules involved in the softball, football, and bowling leagues he and ''Post-Dispatch'' teammates participated in. The first of Rick Hummel's big breaks at the ''Post-Dispatch'' came in 1973 when he covered around eight St. Louis Cardinals home games for the newspaper, his first being a 1-0 rain-shortened victory over the
Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
. Another milestone came in 1978 when long-time Cardinals beat writer
Neal Russo Aniello "Neal" Russo (June 12, 1920 – March 6, 1996) was an American sportswriter. Russo was one of 14 children born to Italian immigrants and grocers Thomasina and Pietro Russo in Farrell, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Farrell High School in ...
was unable to make a trip to
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio. Hummel was sent in his place and ended up covering a historic game as Hall of Famer Tom Seaver pitched his only career
no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
in a 4–0 victory for the Reds. Hummel continued to work as the game-day beat reporter until 2002 when he transitioned to the primary role of weekly baseball columnist, while still covering the occasional Cardinals game. In activities away from the ''Post-Dispatch'', in 1994 his peers elected Hummel President of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He has also served on the Baseball Hall of Fame Overview Committee, reviewing the careers of potential inductees by the Veterans Committee. In addition to his print media career Rick Hummel is often called upon for his baseball expertise and opinions by St. Louis radio and television stations as well as being a frequent on-camera contributor to
Fox Sports Midwest Bally Sports Midwest is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional e ...
's St. Louis Cardinals pre-game and post-game broadcasts. His commentary has also been featured on various ESPN shows and documentaries.


Personal

Rick Hummel's ex-wife Connie Karr, the mother of his daughter Lauren, was one of five people murdered during the Kirkwood City Council shooting in February 2008. Hummel has a total of three children, one son and two daughters.


Books

* 2012 -- ''One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season'', written with Tony La Russa * 2007 -- ''The Commish and the Cardinals: The Most Memorable Games, as Covered by Hall of Famer Rick Hummel for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' * 1989 -- ''Tom Seaver's Scouting Notebook'' written with Tom Seaver and Bob Nightengale


Awards and honors

* 2007 - J.G. Taylor Spink Award and induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. * 2008 - Inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. * 3-time "Missouri Sportswriter of the Year" as selected by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. * Member, Quincy High School Blue Devils Hall of Fame.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hummel, Rick Living people People from Quincy, Illinois Writers from Missouri Writers from Illinois Quincy University alumni Missouri School of Journalism alumni BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients St. Louis Post-Dispatch people United States Army soldiers 1946 births Journalists from Illinois Sportswriters from Illinois