Hall of Famer Writer Rick Hummel in Quincy Today

He comes to Quincy every February and brings his vast knowledge of sports, especially the St. Louis Cardinals, and is kind enough to share that knowledge with the Quincy Exchange Club. He is Rick Hummel, the Baseball Hall of Fame Sports Writer for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Hummel spoke to a huge crowd of Exchange Club members and guests today at Quincy's Stoney Creek Inn. Rick answered a variety of questions from the crowd during the noon luncheon and shared his thoughts on the upcoming 2015 Major League Baseball season.

Hummel, a Quincy native and 1964 graduate of Quincy High School, became the first Quincy person inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in July of 2007 when he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing.

Having covered his first major league game in 1973, Hummel is a past national president of the Baseball Writers Association of America and was voted Missouri Sportswriter of the Year four times by the National Sportswriters and Sportscaster’s Association. He serves on the Baseball Hall of Fame Overview Committee, which reviews the candidacies of former players for possible selection to the Hall by the Veterans Committee.

Hummel, who attended Quincy College for two years, is a 1968 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He credits the late Melvin Tappe of Quincy for steering him to become a writer rather than a broadcaster.

Rick has also authored a book, along with former Cardinal Manager Tony LaRussa, called “One Last Strike.”