The Seymour Medal

The Seymour Medal, named in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Harold Seymour, honors the best book of baseball history or biography published during the preceding calendar year. Not more than one Seymour Medal shall be given each year. If, in the judgment of the awards committee, a worthy candidate cannot be found, no medal shall be awarded. The first three Medals were awarded at the SABR National Convention. In 1999, SABR held the first annual Seymour Medal Conference at Cleveland State University in conjunction with the awarding of the medal.

Previous Winners of The Seymour Medal

2008 Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish
published by University of Nebraska Press

2007 Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball (two-volume set) by Peter Morris
published by Ivan R. Dee

2006 Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game by David Block published by University of Nebraska Press

2005 Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution by Neil Lanctot published by University of Pennsylvania Press

2004 Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan by Peter Morris published by University of Michigan Press

2003 Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era by Charles C. Alexander published by Columbia University Press

2002 Early Baseball and the Rise of the National League by Tom Melville published by McFarland

2001 Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel, published by Oxford University Press

2000 Baseball's Pivotal Era: 1945-1951 by William Marshall, published by The University Press of Kentucky

1999 Baseball's Last Dynasty: Charlie Finley's Oakland A's by Bruce Markusen, published by Masters Press

1998 The Detroit Tigers: Club and Community, 1945-95 by Patrick Harrigan, published by University of Toronto Press

1997 Honus Wagner, the Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman" by Arthur D. Hittner, published by McFarland & Co

1996 Fleet Walker's Divided Heart, by David Zang, published by University of Nebraska Press

Criteria, Judging, and Other Seymour Medal Procedures
The Seymour Medal recognizes the author(s) of the best book of baseball history or biography first published during the preceding calendar year.

To be considered for the medal, a work must be the product of original research or analysis. The winning book shall significantly advance our knowledge of baseball and shall be characterized by understanding, factual accuracy, profound insight and distinguished writing.

“History”, for the purposes of determining the eligibility of a book for Seymour Medal consideration, shall be understood as analytical nonfiction narrative. Among the kinds of works that do not meet the criteria are encyclopedias, novels, short story collections, statistical compilations, collections of documents, personal reminiscence, interviews, simple chronicles of events, edited works, and works by multiple authors (as distinguished from works by co-authors). “Biography” is the history of a person or persons. (November, 2001)

Single volumes of multi-volume works are eligible. Multi-volume works as a whole are also eligible if at least one of the volumes was published during the preceding calendar year and if the author has not received a medal for any of the works separately.

No more than one Seymour Medal shall be given each year. If, in the judgment of the award committee, a worthy candidate cannot be found, the medal shall not be awarded.

There is no limit to the number of times an individual may win the award, but it must be awarded each time for a wholly new work.

The award

The winner of the Seymour Medal will receive a bronze medal honoring baseball historians Harold and Dorothy Seymour.

The award committee

The Seymour Medal award committee shall consist of three persons, appointed by the President, who shall serve three-year terms, staggered so that one person rotates off the committee each year.

Procedure for selecting medal candidate

Before the end of January each year, and as necessary throughout the year, the Executive Director will write to all publishers known for issuing books on baseball history and biography, and to all publishers known from advertisement to have published a book on baseball history and biography and to publishers of any other books of baseball history and biography regarded by any member of the award committee as worthy of consideration. The correspondence will include: (1) a one-page announcement of the Seymour Medal competition for the year, which sets forth criteria and invites submissions; (2) a cover letter urging submissions and asking that review copies of the books be sent to each of the award committee members, whose addresses are provided. Members of the award committee shall assist the Executive Director by recommending books for review. Recommendations by other SABR members will be welcomed; they will be reviewed by the award committee, and if any committee member determines that the book qualifies for medal competition, it shall be added to the list of books to be judged, and review copies shall be requested. Reminder letters will be sent to publishers of books deemed important by any committee member but not submitted.

Judging the Candidates

Members of the Seymour Medal award committee shall confer among themselves to evaluate the books submitted for the competition, and shall select at least three books as finalists, from which the medal winner will be chosen. At least six weeks before the medal is to be presented, the committee will confer in person or via a conference call set up by the SABR office, to select the medal winner.

Notifying the winner and contributing publishers of the results of the competition

The Executive Director will promptly send letters of congratulation to (1) the medal winning author (s) and (2) the publisher of the winning book, and will (3) send letters to all other participating publishers, thanking them for their interest and support, and announcing the winning author and book.