Ray Kelly

Legacy of Excellence

Baseball Hall of Fame and long-time Phillies beat writer

Raymond Kelly was a stocky, cigarette smoking sportswriter who covered Philadelphia baseball for more than three decades. He was known as “The Dean” of American baseball writers.

During his 52-year career with The Philadelphia Bulletin, Kelly rose from a 16-year-old copyboy to a veteran reporter who covered the Philadelphia Athletics from 1948 until 1955 and then the Phillies for much of the time until his 1979 retirement.

After a stint covering horse racing during the early 1940s, Kelly started reporting about baseball while Connie Mack was managing the Athletics.

Known for his knowledge of the game and likable manner, which made Kelly the friend of former players and coaches during an era when teams and sportswriters kept closer company, Kelly traveled across the country season after season.

Traveling by train to out-of-town games, Kelly learned to talk to team members and coaches for hours on end. A semiprofessional soccer player himself, he already knew a lot about sports and during those train rides he developed his outstanding understanding of baseball.

In the press box he typed swiftly in his two fingered style, and often went through three typewriters a year. He was the sort of writer who could write amid the worst din, even in the middle of a crowded bar.

“He was a good writer as I’ve ever dealt with as far as honesty and professionalism go,” said Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame inductee Larry Bowa, former Phillies shortstop and manager. “He was outstanding. It seemed the questions he asked you were always the right questions, maybe even when the timing wasn’t right, and he always put into conversation the guy’s feelings if he had a bad game. It wasn’t all job, he cared for individuals.”

Kelly covered the Phillies during memorable stretches of their history, including their 1961 record losing streak, and the 1964 pennant race collapse.

“He loved baseball,” recalled his son Ray W. Kelly, sportswriter for The Camden Courier Post for many years. “A lot of people in baseball thought he was one of the best writers, one of the few writers who could have gone through the press box to the field and managed the team.”

A boyhood friend of legendary second baseman Eddie Stankey, Ray Kelly played baseball in his early years but broke his leg sliding into second base during a sandlot game. It was then he decided to stick with writing about sports, especially baseball.

Through the 1930s and into the early 1940s, Kelly played soccer with the Philadelphia German American Club and was on several championship teams. However, he never told his Bulletin editors about his soccer playing, and was once assigned to cover a championship game he was also scheduled to play in. Kelly not only played – he scored the game winning goal. But his article gave the credit to a teammate because Kelly was supposed to be on the sidelines with his notepad.

As a sportswriter, the gregarious Mr. Kelly enjoyed the people as much as the reporting and writing. His family said he was the kind of writer for whom Ted Williams walked across the field to say hello and Tommy Lasorda made a fuss over.v Upon his death, Phillies great and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame inductee Richie Ashburn said: “If you had the opportunity to meet Ray, you were blessed, and if you had the privilege of working with him, you were twice blessed. He was quite simply, one of the nicest, one of the most unforgettable men I’ve ever known.”

Kelly formed great friendships with many players including Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame inductee Steve Carlton. As Ashburn put it, “Yes, the same Steve Carlton who wouldn’t give sports writers the time of day, loved Ray Kelly.” According to Ashburn, Carlton knew Kelly would never hurt him no matter what he told him. It is safe to say Ray Kelly was the only sportswriter Carlton ever trusted.

“Ray, being a good athlete, I think he had a good insight into what was involved in performing,” said former Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter Allen Lewis, who also covered the Phillies. “He had insight, a great knowledge of the game, and he had a great capacity for enjoying life.”

A president of both the Philadelphia and national chapters of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Kelly was a posthumous recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award at the 1989 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He has also been inducted into the Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Old Timers’ Soccer Association.

Ray Kelly died November 22, 1988.

Compiled from Ray Kelly’s Philadelphia Inquirer obituary (11/23/88) and Philadelphia Daily News column by Rich Ashburn (11/25/88).