Leonard Koppett: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Soviet-born American sportswriter (1923–2003)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Leonard Koppett

| image=

| image_size=

| caption =

| birth_name = Leonid Kopeliovitch

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|9|15}}

| birth_place = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], U.S.S.R.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|6|22|1923|9|15}}

| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.

| alma_mater = [[Columbia University]] ([[Bachelors of Arts|B.A.]])

| awards = [[J. G. Taylor Spink Award]] (1992)

| occupation = Sportswriter, Author

| spouse = {{marriage|Suzanne Silberstein|1964}}

| children = 2

}}

'''Leonard J. Koppett''' (born '''Leonid Kopeliovitch'''; September 15, 1923 – June 22, 2003) was a Soviet-born American [[sportswriter]] and [[author]] who wrote 17 books on sports, mainly baseball.

Born in [[Moscow]] as Leonid Kopeliovitch,<ref>{{cite web |title=Leonard Koppett '44: Hall of Fame Sports Writer |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/sep03/obituaries2.html |website=Columbia College Today |accessdate=January 22, 2020}}</ref> Koppett moved with his family from the [[Soviet Union]] to the [[United States]] when he was five years old. They lived in [[The Bronx, New York]], a block away from [[Yankee Stadium]].<ref name="hof">{{cite web |title=1992 J.G. Taylor Spink Award Winner Leonard Koppett |url=https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/awards/spink/leonard-koppett |website=National Baseball Hall of Fame |accessdate=January 22, 2020}}</ref>

Koppett served in the [[United States Army]] before graduating from [[Columbia University]] in 1946.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |last1=Goldstein |first1=Richard |title=Leonard Koppett, 79, Writer With Novel Approach to Sports |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/sports/leonard-koppett-79-writer-with-novel-approach-to-sports.html |accessdate=January 22, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=June 24, 2003}}</ref> He then worked as a [[reporter]] and [[columnist]] for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', the ''[[New York Post]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', the ''[[Peninsula Times Tribune]]'', and ''[[The Sporting News]]'',<ref name="hof"/> and authored 22 books on sports.<ref name="sabr">{{cite web |title=Leonard Koppett |url=https://sabr.org/about/leonard-koppett |website=Society for American Baseball Research |accessdate=January 22, 2020}}</ref> He also published a number of [[magazine]] articles.

Best known were his works on [[baseball]]: ''Concise History of Major League Baseball'' (1998, updated through 2004) and ''The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball'' (originally titled ''A Thinking Man's Guide to Baseball'', 1967, renamed for [[Gender-neutral language|gender neutrality]] and updated several times through 2004) are considered definitive works on the game. The former was inspired by Koppett's conversations with contemporary athletes who had little or no knowledge about the history of their game and the great players of decades past, while the latter memorably began with a one-word paragraph &mdash; "Fear." &mdash; and then explored how the batter's instinctive fear of the thrown pitch is the key point around which most other aspects of baseball play are derived.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Allen |first1=Maury |title=Saluting Leonard Koppett |url=http://thecolumnists.com/allen/allen39.html |website=The Columnists |accessdate=January 22, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050218214853/http://thecolumnists.com/allen/allen39.html |archivedate=February 18, 2005}}</ref>

''The Essence of the Game is Deception: Thinking about Basketball'' took a similar approach to [[basketball]].{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Two weeks prior to his death, Koppett completed his final book, ''The Rise and Fall of the Press Box'', which is part [[autobiography]] and part memoir about changes in sports media coverage since [[World War II]] when he became a sportswriter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishsports.net/PillarAchievementBios/Leonard-Koppett.htm|title=Leonard Koppett}}</ref>

Koppett received the [[J. G. Taylor Spink Award]] in [[1992 in baseball|1992]] and the [[Curt Gowdy Media Award]] by the [[Basketball Hall of Fame]] in 1994.<ref name="hof"/>

According to his daughter Katherine Koppett Richter, shortly before his death at age 79 in [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], Koppett commented, "Every decade of my life has been better than the decade before."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Leonard-Koppett-gets-a-standing-O-Memorial-2566319.php|title=Leonard Koppett gets a standing 'O' / Memorial lauds 'sportswriter for all seasons'|newspaper=Sfgate |date=8 July 2003 |last1=Simon |first1=Mark }}</ref>

==Bibliography==

<!--Not complete; still looking for all titles.-->

* ''A Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball'' (1967)

* ''24 Seconds to Shoot: The Birth and Improbable Rise of the National Basketball Association'' (1968)

* ''The New York Mets: The Whole Story'' (1970)

* ''All About Baseball'' (1973)

* ''The Essence of the Game is Deception: Thinking about Basketball'' (1974)

* ''Sports Illusion, Sports Reality: A Reporter's View of Sports, Journalism, and Society'' (1981)

* ''The New York Times Guide to Spectator Sports'' (1971)

* ''The New York times at the Super Bowl'' (1974)

* ''The Man In The Dugout: Baseball's Top Managers and How They Got That Way'' (1993)

* ''Koppett's Consice History of Major League Baseball'' (1998)

* ''The Rise and Fall of the Press Box'' (2003)

==References==

{{reflist}}

*[https://sabr.org/awards/winner/leonard-koppett/ Leonard Koppett] on the [[Society for American Baseball Research]] (SABR)

*[https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/awards/spink/leonard-koppett Leonard Koppett: 1992 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner] at the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]]

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{{J. G. Taylor Spink Award}}

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[[Category:Sportswriters from New York (state)]]

[[Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States]]

[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]

[[Category:Writers from Moscow]]

[[Category:Writers from the Bronx]]

[[Category:BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients]]

[[Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni]]

[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]

[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]

[[Category:Jews from New York (state)]]

[[Category:International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees]]

[[Category:Jewish American sportswriters]]