It is with great pride that I am pleased to announce the winner of the Second Annual Eduardo Valero Award, honoring the writer whose piece submitted to the committee's publication, La Prensa del Beisbol Latino, this past year, best reflects the integrity and honor of our past committee chair, Eduardo Valero.

 

Kit Krieger, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, won the 2009 prize for his article that reflected on the relationships of various baseball players to Conrado Marrero, former pitcher with the Washington Senators, now a 98-year old man living meagerly in Cuba.

 

Krieger’s piece, “The Marrero Letters” (Autumn 2008, Vol. 5, No. 2), looked at his own relationship with the ballplayer, while examining the content of letters written to Marrero by former major leaguers such as Dom DiMaggio, who recently passed away; Eddie Robinson; Gus Zernial; Irv Noren; Bobby Bagan; Yogi Berra; and Tommy Lasorda, among many others.

 

The award is presented to the recipient at the Latino baseball committee meeting at SABR’s annual convention.  The 2009 SABR convention was held in Washington, DC, Wednesday, July 29 through Sunday, August 2.

 

Please join me in congratulating Kit for his fine work!