Jerome Holtzman: 1926-2008

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 21, 2008 7:28PM

The Tribune is reporting that longtime newspaperman, historian, Baseball Hall-of-Famer and Chicago native Jerome Holtzman has passed away over the weekend from a major stroke at the age of 82.

Born on December 11, 1926, Mr. Holtzman began his career as a copyboy at the Chicago Daily News. He eventually wrote for every major local daily published in this city before retiring from the Tribune in 1999 to become the official historian for Major League Baseball. Mr. Holtzman was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. He's also credited as being responsible for creating the modern save rule. He was also responsible for much of the modern makeup of the Hall of Fame inductees. Humorist Lewis Grizzard once wrote this of Mr. Holtzman: "He never smiled, but he had the keys to Cooperstown. No major leaguer ever got into the Hall of Fame if Holtzman didn't want him there." [Tribune] [Wikipedia]

Image via The Heckler.