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McCoy to end Hall of Fame career

Award-winning Reds beat writer announces he will retire at end of season

Ron Alvey Hal McCoy in the press box at Great American Ball Park.

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By Sean McClelland, Staff Writer Updated 11:44 PM Thursday, August 6, 2009

Hal McCoy, who has covered the Cincinnati Reds for the Dayton Daily News since 1973, will retire at the end of the current season, he announced Thursday, Aug. 6.

“I do nothing but thank the paper for permitting me to cover the Reds for 37 years,” said McCoy, 68. “I always told my wife (Nadine) that someday I would have to get a job, but I never did have to.”

In 2002, McCoy was enshrined in the writers’ wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, awarded the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing. He continued to cover the Reds in 2003 despite a stroke that left him legally blind.

“For more than four decades, Hal has been one of the Dayton Daily News’ best and beloved writers,” said editor Kevin Riley. “He is one of the newspaper’s three sportswriters enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. While we have always appreciated and enjoyed his coverage of the Reds, we know his readers will miss his insights and perspectives.”

McCoy is the reigning Ohio Sportswriter of the Year as determined by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He is a 10-time winner of the award and the only non-Cincinnati journalist in the Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame.

“It’s been a great career for a poor kid who grew up in Lakemore, Ohio (outside Akron),” said McCoy. “I loved baseball, travel and writing. I got to do all three and I got paid for it.”

McCoy has covered one team longer than any baseball beat writer on the scene today. He has won 44 state and national writing awards.

Riley said the newspaper has had a long tradition of covering the Reds and will reassess it in light of McCoy’s retirement.

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