Lang, Jack 1921-2007 (Jack Frederick Lang)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born May 11, 1921, in New York, NY; died of liver disease, January 25, 2007, in Huntington, NY. Journalist and author. Lang was a sports reporter who, as secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, spent many years informing retired players of their induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Lang was stationed in Panama and made staff sergeant. After the war, he returned to the Long Island Daily Press, which had first hired him in 1941. When that paper folded in 1977, Lang wrote for the New York Daily News until his 1989 retirement. As a sports reporter, he covered all the teams but was most avid about the Mets, about which he cowrote the book The New York Mets: Twenty-five Years of Baseball Magic (1987). His reporting skills earned him the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1986. Lang was known to all baseball players as an eminently fair and trusted reporter, which lent all the more credence to his work with the Baseball Writers' Association of America. From 1967 until 1994, it was Lang's privilege and pleasure to inform retired players that they were officially Hall of Famers. He was also the author of Baseball Basics (1981) and coauthor of The Fighting Southpaw (1962).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, January 26, 2007, p. C11.

Washington Post, January 28, 2007, p. C7.