Jeff’s dad is ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, who has spent the last 45 years covering the sport of baseball. He began as a newspaper writer, later joined magazines, websites and then made his television debut. He has authored three books about baseball, and is now amongst the greatest to ever cover the sport.
He was honored with the the BBWAA Career Excellence Award which is given to a journalist every single year. They are then permanently added to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the journalists section and Jeff’s entire family came out to celebrate.
Here’s some more information about the award according to Baseball Writers Association of America’s website.
Since 1962, the BBWAA has recognized its best and most accomplished members, honoring them at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The BBWAA Career Excellence Award is the most prestigious award for a baseball writer.
When the award was created, it was named for J.G. Taylor Spink, the longtime editor and publisher of The Sporting News. Spink was the inaugural winner of the award.
In 2021, the BBWAA voted to remove Spink’s name from the award because of his role in supporting segregated baseball.
It was a big weekend at the National Baseball Hall of Fame because in addition to Jeff’s dad, so many players were given baseball’s biggest honor. This year, David Ortiz, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil were amongst the players honored on July 24th.
Jeff took a lot of photos of some great Philadelphia Phillies gear inside the National Baseball Hall of Fame and you can see those photos by clicking here.
Take a look at all of the photos of Jeff Kurkjian and their family honoring Tim on “the biggest day of his professional career” (that according to the now-Hall of Famer).
