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Perspective: The Bill Weiss Award

Longtime Minor League historian and statistician deserves a tribute
July 2, 2008
SAN MATEO, Calif. -- These days there are few people I meet in this business with whom I am impressed. Having covered sports for more than two decades, both on the internet and with newspapers, I've gotten to know quite a few people in the sporting world.

Except for former Army football coach Bob Sutton, who defines class, I tend to view people through my own inimitable rose-colored glasses. Then I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Weiss, who is one of the most important people in Minor League Baseball over the past 60 years.

Weiss never hit 50 home runs or won 20 games. He never really picked up a bat or ball in any kind of meaningful setting. Yet the impact he's had on the lower leagues, particularly those west of the Mississippi River, should earn him a place in Cooperstown. At the very least, he deserves the gratitude of the people he's served so faithfully for the last six decades as the premier statistician and record keeper in Minor League Baseball.

I also think the Pacific Coast League or the California League should name an award in his honor, perhaps even the MVP award for the league. Throw the Northwest and Pioneer Leagues into that hopper as well because Weiss, now 83, is simply a great and honorable man, emblematic of a time in baseball history that is forgotten by most.

I've been writing history stories for MiLB.com the past few years and wouldn't have been able to accomplish half of what I have without Weiss' assistance. When I called a certain league office -- which I will not name -- looking for historical information on that circuit, they were not very helpful and directed me to a third party who put me in touch with Weiss.

From the moment we began talking on the phone, it was easy to see that this guy knew his stuff. I was working on a story about what a player had done in 1965 and initially was a bit skeptical about whether Weiss could help. But, when I asked him if he could tell me, he put on hold and a moment later returned with a box score from the game in question. I was officially impressed.

Weiss has been at this for so long -- before MiLB.com's parent company MLBAM, before SportsTicker and Howe Sports Data and ESPN and just about everyone else, he was the man keeping the stats and writing the record books. The Chicago native -- he was at the last World Series game the Cubs ever won -- began his career in 1948 as the official statistician for the Class D Longhorn League and served as the box office manager for the Class C Abilene Blue Sox of the West Texas-New Mexico League.

He moved to California in 1949 and became the statistician for the California and Far West Leagues. A year later he was doing the same job for the Pacific Coast League, and at the height of his career, he was doing statistics for no less than seven leagues at one time.

Remember that this was in the age before computers, television still hadn't taken off and there was no USA Today or Baseball America to keep people updated. Weiss and his wife of 54 years, Faye, who has helped him and shared his passion every step of the way, subscribed to dozens of newspapers and had dozens of beat writers around the country clipping box scores and game stories, sending them articles in an effort to keep their numbers current.

This was a time-consuming, arduous job that took almost all of Weiss' waking hours. He found time to get out to games once in a while, but he devoted most of his life to the game he loved. His house is a museum with so much research packed into it that a discussion needs to be had about what to do with all of his material when the time comes. Weiss owns baseball history, stories and box scores and magazines and books concerning people and events that can no longer be found anywhere else.

During Weiss' career he also prepared "sketch books" -- biographies and records -- for several leagues and Major League teams, more than 200 in all. He was the Cal League secretary for years and was in charge of writing that league's record book from 1950 through 2004. He also wrote the California League newsletter from 1971-2003.

Weiss served on the National Association's scoring rules committee for years and also was the president of the Peninsula Winter League, a now-forgotten precursor to the Arizona Fall League, which played in the San Francisco Bay area. He was and is the official historian of the PCL, was the secretary of the independent Golden League and edited the Northwest and Pioneer League record books.

Weiss was named as "The King of Baseball" at the 1977 Winter Meetings in Hawaii.

As I write this, Weiss is in an assisted living center in San Mateo. He's got some health problems but nothing that should keep him there beyond another week or two. I spent several hours with him Sunday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed my time with him, reminiscing about the players and events he witnessed or wrote about -- things that I can only imagine.

He's 83 years old but he's as sharp as he was 50 years ago. His eyes are clear and bright and his grip is strong. I hope he lives for another 20 years and gets to share what he's accomplished with as many people as possible.

Weiss' closest friend in baseball was Bob Freitas, the man for whom an annual award is given at the Winter Meetings. It's time that Weiss is recognized in similar fashion. Here's my plea: if the powers-that-be won't put him in Cooperstown -- and he deserves to be there as a builder and contributor to the game -- then name an award after him and honor what he has done for baseball over the past 60 years.

This is a great and honorable man, a person of great import in the game and someone for whom I have the utmost respect. And that's something I never say lightly.

Kevin Czerwinski is a reporter for MLB.com.