David Smith (baseball historian)
Encyclopedia
David W. Smith is a baseball researcher and historian. He is best known as the founder of Retrosheet
, an organization whose mission is to collect, digitized, and distribute play-by-play accounts from every game in Major League Baseball
history. Smith's work has been widely praised as a huge boon to baseball research and he has received a number of awards for his work, most notably the SABR Bob Davids Award in 2005. http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,1388,40,0
Smith was a contributor to Total Baseball
and was co-author of the book The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball's All-Star Game (with David Vincent and Lyle Spatz). That book received The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award in 2001.
Since 1975, Smith has been a professor of biology at the University of Delaware
, and is director of the Department of Biological Sciences’ undergraduate program. He won the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1977. Smith did his undergraduate work at the University of California, San Diego
and received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
.
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a non-profit organization whose website features major league baseball box scores and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest from 1871–1872, 1874, 1911 NL, and 1918–2010...
, an organization whose mission is to collect, digitized, and distribute play-by-play accounts from every game in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
history. Smith's work has been widely praised as a huge boon to baseball research and he has received a number of awards for his work, most notably the SABR Bob Davids Award in 2005. http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,1388,40,0
Smith was a contributor to Total Baseball
Total Baseball
Total Baseball is a baseball encyclopedia first compiled by John Thorn and Pete Palmer in 1989. The latest edition, published in 2004, is its eighth...
and was co-author of the book The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball's All-Star Game (with David Vincent and Lyle Spatz). That book received The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award in 2001.
Since 1975, Smith has been a professor of biology at the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
, and is director of the Department of Biological Sciences’ undergraduate program. He won the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1977. Smith did his undergraduate work at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
and received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
External links
- Retrosheet website
- New York Times article on Smith
- Wall Street Journal profile of Smith
- Remember the Game When? -- Article on Smith's work with LA Dodgers
- Biologist Also Baseball Stat Hound
- The Midsummer Classic -- publicity from publisher
- Faculty Bio from University of Delaware