1988 BBWAA Career Excellence Award Winner Ray Kelly
Ray Kelly was a newspaperman for 50 years.
He began as a copy boy in 1929 at the age of 15 with the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, having left school as a seventh grader during the Depression.
An obvious aptitude for the profession eventually led to his being assigned to cover minor sports.
But it was not until his return from the U.S. Army following World War II that he became a baseball beat writer - first for the Athletics until their departure from Philadelphia and then for the Phillies - until his retirement in 1979.
He continued to work for various local papers until passing away on Nov. 22, 1988.
