Jack Graney award winner

Longtime Toronto Star sports columnist Dave Perkins named winner of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Jack Graney Award 

Longtime Toronto Star baseball writer and columnist Dave Perkins has been named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s 2024 Jack Graney Award. 

The St. Marys, Ont.-based shrine presents this award annually to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada through their life’s work. 

“Dave Perkins has long been one of the most knowledgeable and respected sports writers in Canada,” said Jeremy Diamond, chair of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s board of directors. “His articles and columns have been essential reading for baseball fans for nearly five decades. We are proud to recognize him with this award.” 

Born in 1953 in Midland, Ont., Perkins moved to Toronto in 1958. He majored in Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and it was as a university student that he wrote his first Major League Baseball article. In 1973, he drove to New York and secured media credentials to a Yankees game to interview Canadian right-hander Dave Pagan (Nipawin, Sask.). The ambitious young Perkins also spoke with Yankees manager Ralph Houk and legendary catcher Thurman Munson for the article that was published in the Toronto Sun. 

That same year he was hired by The Globe and Mail and four years later, he moved to the Toronto Star and joined their sports department in the Blue Jays’ first season. Eight years later, he became the Blue Jays’ beat writer for the Star and he covered the Blue Jays’ division-winning teams in 1985 and 1989. 

In 1989, he became the Star’s baseball columnist where he shared his insights and opinions during the Blue Jays’ two World Series-winning campaigns in 1992 and 1993. 

Perkins was promoted to be the Star’s sports editor in 1993 where he ensured that the paper continued its extensive and industry-leading baseball coverage. He would also hire Richard Griffin, a fellow Jack Graney Award winner, to replace him as the paper’s baseball columnist. 

Perkins continued as the Star’s sports editor until mid-1996 when he returned to writing as a general sports columnist. 

Over the years, Perkins has covered 14 World Series, 10 Olympics, more than 50 golf majors and a dozen Super Bowls. 

He retired from the Toronto Star in 2013, but he has remained one of the country’s leading authorities on baseball as a frequent contributor to sports radio and as a freelance columnist for the Star. 

In 2013, he was named the winner of the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame’s Sandy Hawley Award, which is handed out annually to an individual who best exemplifies dedication to the community. In 2001, Perkins took over the Sportsman’s Corner of the Toronto Star’s Santa Claus Fund from Jim Proudfoot and renamed it Proudfoot Corner after Proudfoot passed away. Perkins helped raised more than $1 million in donations from readers for kids’ Christmas gift boxes. 

His memoir, “Fun and Games: My 40 Years Writing Sports” was published by ECW Press in 2016. 

“Nice to be considered in the same paragraph, even on the outskirts, with the names that decorate this award. I was fortunate to occupy a press box with many of them for four decades and feel the same way about sharing this honour.” said Dave Perkins

Details about the presentation of the 2024 Jack Graney Award will be announced in the coming months. 

Born in St. Thomas, Ont., Jack Graney was a scrappy leadoff hitter in the big leagues for Cleveland. His big league resume boasts a number of firsts. When he walked to the plate in a game against the Boston Red Sox on July 11, 1914, he became the first batter to face Babe Ruth. Almost two years later, on June 26, 1916, he was the first major leaguer to bat wearing a number on his uniform. After hanging up his spikes, Graney became the first ex-player to make the transition to the broadcast booth, performing radio play-by-play for Cleveland from 1932 to 1953. 

Previous Winners of the Jack Graney Award: 
1987 – Neil MacCarl – Toronto Star 
1988 – Milt Dunnell – Toronto Star 
1990 – Austin “Dink” Carroll – Montreal Gazette 
1991 – Joe Crysdale & Hal Kelly – CKEY 
1996 – Dave Van Horne – Montreal Expos 
2001 – Tom Cheek – Sportsnet 590/The Fan 
2002 – Ernie Harwell – Detroit Tigers 
2003 – Allan Simpson – Baseball America 
2004 – Jacques Doucet – Montreal Expos 
2005 – Len Bramson – TBS Sports 
2009 – Ian MacDonald – Montreal Gazette 
2010 – Bob Elliott – Sun Media & canadianbaseballnetwork.com 
2011 – W. P. Kinsella – “Shoeless Joe” novel adapted to film “Field of Dreams” 
2012 – Jerry Howarth – Sportsnet 590/The Fan 
2013 – Rodger Brulotte – Montreal Expos, Toronto Blue Jays 
2014 – Richard Griffin – Toronto Star 
2015 – Serge Touchette – Le Journal de Montreal 
2016 – Larry Millson – Globe and Mail 
2017 – Alison Gordon – Toronto Star 
2018 – Jeff Blair – Sportsnet 
2019 – Ken Fidlin – Toronto Sun 
2020 – Dan Shulman – Rogers Sportsnet, ESPN 
2021 – John Lott, National Post, The Athletic 
2022 – Richard Milo, Canadian Press 
2023 – Buck Martinez, Rogers Sportsnet 
2024 – Dave Perkins, Toronto Star