AN HONOR RICHLY DESERVED

Allan Simpson’s unconventional thinking created an enduring baseball convention

- Allan Simpson

If Allan Simpson wasn’t just a little bit crazy, I would not have my career.

Neither would anyone else at Baseball America. And it’s likely that a number of draft and prospect writers at other outlets also have their vocations because one Canadian baseball fan looked at baseball differently.

If you’ve ever scanned a list of top prospects, you also have reason to thank Simpson.

Because of that, we can’t help but be thrilled that Simpson, the founder of Baseball America, is one of three finalists for the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for his “meritorious contributions to baseball writing.” The winner is selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and awarded every summer during Hall of Fame induction weekend.

Simpson’s selection would be a non-traditional choice for the Spink Award. He was never a member of the BBWAA, and only one non-BBWAA member—Roger Angell in 2014— has been honored previously. Simpson himself estimates that the number of big league games he has attended in person is fewer than 200.

But it’s fitting that Simpson’s selection would be unconventional, because nothing about Simpson’s path in baseball was ever normal. As a Canadian growing up hundreds of miles from professional or even college baseball, conventional options for a career in the game were closed to him. Even following the game was difficult. He read everything about baseball he could get his hands on—The Sporting News was his lifeline—and he listened to any baseball broadcast he could find.