DALLAS — Thomas Boswell, a reporter and columnist for The Washington Post for 52 years until his retirement in 2021, won the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.
The honor was announced Tuesday by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America at the winter meetings. Boswell will be honored during the Hall of Fame’s induction weekend from July 25-28 in Cooperstown, New York.
Boswell, who turned 77 in October, covered every World Series game from 1975 through 2019, ending the streak in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He received 167 of 394 votes from BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of service.
Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com, an Indians/Guardians beat writer since 1983, was second with 158 and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins was third with 67 in the mail balloting.
Boswell was born in Washington, D.C., and attended St. Stephen’s School in Alexandria, Virginia, and Amherst College, where he received a degree in 1969 as an English literature major.
He was hired by The Post as a copy aide, was a general assignment sports reporter for 12 years, then became the Baltimore Orioles beat writer in 1980 and a sports columnist from 1984 until his retirement. He continues to write occasional columns.
Boswell invented a Total Average statistic in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which became total bases plus hit by pitches plus walks plus stolen bases, all divided by at-bats minus hits plus caught stealings plus grounded into double plays.
His books include “Game Day,” “The Heart of the Order,” “Strokes of Genius,” “Why Time Begins on Opening Day” and “How Life Imitates the World Series.”