Phil Dewey ’89: "Substantial Power"
Dewey's piece honoring Buck O'Neill, the 1945 Negro League MVP, first black coach in the Major Leagues, and invaluable scout who brought Ernie Banks, among others, into the majors. In the last year of his life, O'Neill was considered for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame but was not selected.
Dewey says, "When I was making this piece, it kept breaking. This is the third attempt, and when it broke, I kept all the pieces. About that time all this news about the Hall of Fame not inducting him was swirling around. So I kept the pieces—it seemed this was the way it was meant to be."
"I set it between these pillars—an institutional look, the politics of baseball."