ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian honored by Baseball Hall of Fame with Career Excellence Award

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The love affair that ESPN's Tim Kurkjian has enjoyed for decades with the sport of baseball — and everyone associated with it — reached its pinnacle on Saturday when he was honored as this year's recipient of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award.

«This is the greatest honor of my professional life,» Kurkjian told ESPN's Outside the Lines. «There is not a close second. And I wake every day saying what Cal Ripken said after breaking Lou Gehrig's record: 'It can't be happening to me.'»

In accepting the award, which is presented annually to a sportswriter «for meritorious contributions to baseball writing,» Kurkjian takes his place alongside the list of heroes, mentors and friends who have been previously honored.

«When you look at the names on that list from way back and then coming forward with Peter Gammons, Dan Shaughnessy, Jayson Stark, I'm just so honored,» Kurkjian said.

Baseball has been a key thread in the fabric of Kurkjian's life, tracing back to his baseball-loving father and two older brothers who played for Catholic University. A native of Bethesda, Maryland, Kurkjian played baseball and basketball at Walter Johnson High School — named after the Hall of Famer pitcher. While there, he wrote for the school paper called «The Pitch.»

«This is something that I've been interested in my entire life,» Kurkjian said. «This is not something that I got interested in after high school.»

Kurkjian was honored during a private ceremony at the Alice Busch Opera Theater at Glimmerglass Festival outside of Cooperstown, along with the late Jack Graney, who won the Ford C. Frick Award, which honors broadcasters for «major contributions to baseball.»

Kurkjian, 65, has authored three books about baseball and his