Jack Lang, 85; Hall of Fame baseball writer told players of their selection for honor

Jack Lang, 85, a Hall of Fame baseball writer who for two decades had the pleasant assignment of telling players they’d been elected to Cooperstown, died Thursday in New York. He had been ill for an extended period with a variety of ailments, said his lawyer, Kevin Brosnahan.

A fixture on the New York scene who covered Jackie Robinson’s major league debut, Lang was honored by the Hall of Fame in 1986 with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.”

As secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America from 1966-88, Lang was in charge of counting the Hall of Fame votes and held the job of telling players when they’d been elected. He called 44 in all, from Red Ruffing to Steve Carlton.

Lang was born May 11, 1921, in Brooklyn and served 38 months in the U.S. Army during World War II before joining the Long Island Daily Press in 1946.

Lang began his baseball career covering the Dodgers. When the franchise left for Los Angeles after the 1957 season, Lang switched to covering the Yankees, and he moved over to the Mets starting with their expansion season in 1962. He also wrote for the Sporting News.

Lang was the author of “The Fighting Southpaw” with Whitey Ford, “Baseball Basics for Teenagers” and “The New York Mets: 25 Years of Baseball Magic.”