Weymouth Writer Posthumously Elected To Baseball Hall Of Fame

WEYMOUTH, MA — Longtime Patriot Ledger and Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Cafardo will be posthumously honored at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. after being voted this year's J.G. Taylor Spink Award. Cafardo, who was from Weymouth, collapsed while covering a Boston Red Sox spring training game this past season and died hours later.

Major League Baseball announced that Cafardo, who was 62 when he died, has been elected for "meritorious contributions to baseball writing." He was selected on 243 of 427 ballots for the award, which includes induction into media wing at Cooperstown, cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America. MLB.com reported that the room erupted in cheers when for more than a minute when Cafardo's name was announced as the winner.

Deep gratitude from the Cafardo family to the baseball writers. My dad @NickCafardo's favorite trip each year was to Cooperstown, and now, he'll be remembered there forever. Also thankful for the incredible body of work of fellow candidates Jim Reeves & Patrick Reusse. https://t.co/euoOToGQC8
— Ben Cafardo (@Ben_ESPN) December 10, 2019

"Cooperstown is so special to Nick," Boston Globe columnist and 2016 Spink Award winner Dan Shaughnessy, a Newton resident, told MLB.com. "That was his favorite thing of the calendar year, of the baseball year, was to go to Cooperstown in the summer. It was always understood that he covered that. Nobody else came near it. It was Nick's territory. To see him immortalized there, I just feel so great for his family and it's the right thing. Nick deserves it."