James Isaminger

Who was James Isaminger?

James Campbell "Jimmy" Isaminger was an American sportswriter for newspapers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1905 to 1940. He played a major role, along with Hugh Fullerton and Ring Lardner, in breaking the story of the Black Sox scandal in 1919. In 1934, he was elected president of the Baseball Writers Association of America. In September 1940, Isaminger suffered a stroke while attending a baseball game at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. He retired after the stroke.

Isaminger was born in Hamilton, Ohio and worked for the Cincinnati Times-Star from 1895 to 1905. He died in June 1946 at his home in Maryland.

In 1974, Isaminger was posthumously honored by the Baseball Writers Association of America with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for distinguished baseball writing. Recipients of the Spink Award are recognized at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in what is commonly referred to as the "writers wing" of the Hall of Fame.