{{Short description|Baseball literary magazine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox magazine | title = Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine | image_file = Spitball (magazine) logo.png | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | editor = Mike Shannon | editor_title = Editor-in-chief | founder = Mike Shannon<br />W. J. Harrison | previous_editor = | staff_writer = | frequency = Bi-Annual | circulation = | category = {{hlist|Baseball|Poetry|Literature}} | company = | publisher = | founded = {{start date|1981}} | country = United States | based = Walton, Kentucky | language = English | issn = 8755-741X }}
'''''Spitball: The Baseball Literary Magazine''''' is a quarterly literary magazine dedicated to baseball literature. Founded by Mike Shannon and W. J. Harrison, the magazine publishes baseball poetry and short stories and also reviews baseball literature, both fiction and non-fiction.<ref name=sabr>{{cite web |last1=Tomlinson |first1=Gerald |title=Spitball: Baseball's Literary Journal |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/spitball-baseballs-literary-journal/ |website=Society for American Baseball Research}}</ref>
==History== In late 1980, sportswriters Mike Shannon (not related to Mike Shannon, former third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals) and W. J. "Jim" Harrison, both living in Covington, Kentucky at the time, came up with the idea of a literary baseball magazine while having lunch at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.<ref name=sabr/>
Initially dedicated to poetry only, the magazine expanded to include short fiction, prose, art, and book reviews. Also printed in the magazine are rare photographs, articles, and interviews with authors.<ref name=sabr/>
After an irregular frequency of issues, the magazine became a quarterly publication before several decades.<ref name=sabr/> In recent years, to save cost, it has switched to being published biannually.<ref name=history>{{cite web |title=History of Spitball Magazine |url=https://www.spitballmag.com/history |website=Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine}}</ref>
==CASEY Award== {{main|Casey Award}} The CASEY Award is an annual literary given out by ''Spitball'' magazine at the annual CASEY Award Banquet held in January. The award was created by Shannon and Harrison in 1983 and named after the poem "Casey at the Bat". It was created due to there being no award given to authors and publishers of distinguished baseball literature; it is considered to be the most prestigious award that can be given to a baseball book.<ref>{{cite web |title=CASEY Award |url=https://www.baseball-almanac.com/books/bookcasey.shtml |website=Baseball Almanac}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Shannon |first1=Mike |title=The Best of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine |date=1988 |publisher=Pocket Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0671649838 |url=https://archive.org/details/bestofspitballli00shan}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.spitballmag.com/spitball-the-literary-baseball-magazine}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Baseball magazines Category:Literary magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines established in 1981 Category:Magazines published in Kentucky Category:Biannual magazines published in the United States Category:Sports magazines published in the United States