San Jose State's Nick Peters In Baseball Hall of Fame

Cooperstown, N.Y.-----Nick Peters, a 1961 San Jose State graduate, became the first person connected with the university to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the 2009 recipient of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.

Peters is just the second person connected with Bay Area sportswriting to receive the award since its inception in 1952.

Below are excerpts from the July 26 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

National Baseball Hall of Fame master of ceremonies George Grande

“…a true gentleman. He’s helped so many young people in our business. Nick Peters, The Greek.”

Jane Clark, Chairperson of the Board for the National Baseball Hall of Fame

The J.G. Taylor Spink Award has been presented since 1952 to the sportswriter for significant contributions to print journalism in baseball.

David O’Brien, Atlanta Journal Constitution,
President of the Baseball Writers Association of America

Nick Peters grew up in Northern California before it was home to a major league team. Once the Giants arrived in 1958, Peters made up for lost time spreading the gospel around the West Coast.

He was introduced to baseball by following the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals in the late 1940’s and by listening to recreations of Major League baseball games.

To stay connected to the game, he studied journalism at San Jose State University and quickly turned his focus to covering baseball. Through his hard work, alert reporting and love for the game, Peters became a stalwart for professional baseball coverage, spent primarily on the Giants beat with the Berkeley Gazette, Oakland Tribune and Sacramento Bee from 1961 to 2007.

Traveling with the Giants as a baseball reporter for more than three decades, Peters wrote five books, served s the team’s correspondent for Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News and several San Francisco Press Club awards.

At the time of his retirement, he covered more San Francisco Giants games than anyone in history. He covered 11 Hall of Famers who played for the Giants – Steve Carlton, Gary Carter, Goose Goosage, Juan Marichal, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Gaylord Perry, Duke Snider and Warren Spahn.

…He once served as Chairman of the San Francisco-Oakland chapter of the BWAA Historical Overview Committee that helped formulate the Hall of Fame Veterans’ Committee ballot….

Nick Peters,
1961 San Jose State University graduate,
2009 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner

I’m extremely grateful and humbled to be standing here before the great players I covered to receive this recognition for doing something I loved and was fortunate to get paid for it.

My journalism professors emphasized a reporter should never be part of a story. I’m a little uncomfortable standing before you and being part of this story. It’s a great day for myself, my family and my friends.

My only regret today is my father is not here to enjoy this. He sparked my interest in baseball and didn’t realize it. He never discussed the game. We only went to one game together, because he worked constantly. The one game was in the mid-40’s, when I was about 6 or 7. It was at Seals Stadium in San Francisco and I was watching everything but the ball game. He interpreted it as a lack of interest. Boy, was he wrong!

…About 5,000 games later, I’m being honored for my longevity and interest and he certainly contributed to it. With the help of my mom, he made sure I was born in 1939, the year this great Hall of Fame opened its doors.

…Ted Williams became my idol and baseball became my passion. I learned about the game by reading The Sporting News cover to cover even the D League box scores. It’s publisher was J.G. Taylor Spink for whom this award is named.

Just as The Sporting News was the Bible of Baseball, Seals Stadium was my temple. I rarely missed a weekend game during my teens and especially enjoyed doubleheaders. When I couldn’t be there, I listened to Don Klein on the radio. In short, I was hooked. I learned math by computing batting averages and ERA’s and invented a game that taught me baseball is not a perfect science. Johnny Temple beat Ted Williams by more than 100 points for the batting title. I improved that game, but still couldn’t hit a curve ball or fast ball for that matter.

So, I started writing for the high school newspaper. It came easy. My journalism career continued at City College of San Francisco. While there the Giants came from New York. In the excitement of having Major League Baseball, there was also sadness, because we lost our beloved Seals. That last Seals team, coincidentally, was managed by Joe Gordon (the 2009 Seniors inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame).

When I was graduated from San Jose State with a degree in journalism, I was on my way. I was hired by the San Francisco Chronicle where I was influenced by Hall of Fame writer Bob Stevens. I took a job at the Berkeley Gazette so I could cover baseball. That was in August of 1961. I was soon drafted by the Army and I wrote for the weekly paper in Anchorage and I was named Alaska Sportswriter of the Year in 1961 and 1962 beating two Eskimos and a sled dog team.

And, best of all, on a clear day, I could see Russia.

Upon discharge, my professional career blossomed. I had the god fortune of being in the Golden Era of Bay Area baseball. The Giants had just moved out and the A’s soon followed from Kansas City. I was in the bleachers for the first game in 1958. One of my first professional thrills was covering the 1962 World Series. It was my first glimpse of Tony Kubek (the 2009 Ford C. Frick Broadcasting Award recipient). Nothing topped interviewing Ted Williams, who managed the Washington Senators. He treated me like a long lost friend and signed a photo, “To, hopefully, one of the good writers.” I hope he was right.

Soon, I fulfilled a dream hired as a correspondent for The Sporting News. I perfectly content being on a small daily, but the Oakland Tribune baseball beat opened up in 1979 and I couldn’t resist the opportunity.  I remained on the job until the Tribune stopped covering baseball. I immediately joined the Sacramento Bee where I covered the Giants and baseball for 20 years from 1988 to 2007.