11:12 a.m., Sept. 19, 2008----True devotees of America's national pastime know that when it comes to tracking the play-by-play history of the game, there is nobody quite like UD's David W. Smith and his group of unsung volunteer heroes.

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An associate professor of biology and undergraduate program director in UD's Department of Biological Sciences, Smith and his colleagues and volunteer helpers across the country have stored thousands and thousands of box scores at [http://retrosheet.org].

This summer, in recognition of this exemplary devotion to the preservation of baseball history, Smith received the Tony Salin Award at the 10th annual Baseball Reliquary ceremony held in Pasadena, Calif. According to its Web site, Baseball Reliquary [www.baseballreliquary.org] is “a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history and to exploring the sport's unparalleled creative possibilities.”

Established in 2002, the Tony Salin Memorial Award, named in honor of the baseball historian and researcher who died in 2001, recognizes recipients for their commitment to the preservation of baseball history.

In presenting the award, Terry Cannon, Reliquary's executive director, noted that Smith's love for baseball began with his mother and her affection for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“He attended Dodger games (the first one being in the Coliseum in 1958) and many games of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres,” Cannon said. “He [Smith] was always attracted to baseball history, both numerical and literary, and began keeping detailed records from his homemade scorecards at age 11.”

With more than 107,000 game accounts available free of charge at Retrosheet.org, this information and its public accessibility has been of extraordinary value to fans and researchers alike, Cannon said.

Retrosheet tracks down box scores and accounts of Major League Baseball games and currently has box scores for every major league game from 1957 through 2006, plus the National League in 1911, 1921, 1922 and 1954, as well as the National Association for the years 1872 and 1874.

The premise for Retrosheet begin with the desire to have available a play-by-play record of every Major League Baseball game ever played, or at least as many as possible, Smith said.

“When I began the organization, the most frequent comment I received was, 'Doesn't the Hall of Fame have all that already?'” Smith said. “Alas, this is not the case, and, in fact, there is no such thing as an official play by play account and there never has been. The totals for each player are recorded, but not the individual plays.”

Filling in the gap in baseball's historical record has involved the efforts of countless volunteers who have contributed to the information now available on Retrosheet, Smith said.

“Along the way I have had the benefit of hundreds of selfless volunteers who handle the large bulk of our very detailed work,” Smith said. “I always feel guilty that I am singled out for attention, when there are so many others who deserve recognition, as well.”

Believing that the detailed accounts of baseball history belong to everyone, and should be free, Retrosheet has remained a completely nonprofit, all-volunteer organization, Smith said.

“We have never sold information, and we give away what we have to anyone, no matter what the purpose or intended use. Our data has been used by game companies and commercial Web sites, and I am delighted by that. In addition, we have consulted with film projects by Billy Crystal and Spike Lee. All we ask is that we are acknowledged as the source of the information.”

Because of its policy of free data distribution, teams, writers, announcers, fans and collectors have been more willing to loan materials to copy, Smith said.

The information furnished also has a component that transcends the realm of the factual into that of the personal, Smith said.

“About five years ago, I received one request in particular that I will never forget. It was from a man in his forties who wanted the play-by-play details from his first game so that he could reconstruct a scorecard for the upcoming Father's Day for his seriously ill father who had taken him to that game,” Smith said. “I got him the details and he later told me that he had prepared the scorecard, framed it, and given it to his father. The report is that it was joyfully received and led to warm family reminiscences. The father died soon after that, and the man wrote me to thank me for making that Father's Day such a positive thing for his family.”

Smith won UD's Excellence in Advising Award in 2007 and UD's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1977.

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Kathy Atkinson