James Campbell Isaminger (December 6, 1880 – June 17, 1946) was an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

for newspapers in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

from 1905 to 1940, covering every

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

during that time.

Biography

Isaminger was born in

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Cincinnati along the Great Miami River, Hamilton is the second-most populous city in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the List of municipaliti ...

, and worked for the '' Cincinnati Times-Star'' from 1895 to 1905. He moved to the '' Philadelphia North American'', and then to ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' in 1925. Isaminger played a major role, along with Hugh Fullerton and

Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries—Ernest Hemingway, Virginia W ...

, in breaking the story of the

Black Sox scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a match fixing, game-fixing scandal in Major League Baseball (MLB) in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for p ...

in 1919. In 1934, he was elected president of the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known fo ...

(BBWAA). In September 1940, Isaminger suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

while attending a baseball game at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. He retired after the stroke. Isaminger died in June 1946 at his home in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania. In 1974, he was posthumously honored by the BBWAA with the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for distinguished baseball writing.

Notes

References

External links

Baseball Hall of Fame Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Isaminger, James 1880 births 1946 deaths People from Hamilton, Ohio Baseball writers The Philadelphia Inquirer people BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients Sportswriters from Ohio Sportswriters from Pennsylvania