Rick Hummel, dean of St. Louis baseball writers, dies at 77

Longtime St. Louis baseball writer Rick Hummel, who covered the Cardinals for parts of five decades for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has died at the age of 77.

Hummel died in his sleep Saturday morning at his St. Louis-area home, his family confirmed to the Post-Dispatch.

Known by his colleagues and many others around the game as "The Commish," Hummel covered 42 consecutive MLB All-Star Games and three Cardinals World Series wins as a writer and columnist before retiring after the 2022 season, his 51st year with the Post-Dispatch.

Hummel was a past president of the Baseball Writers’ Association, and in 2006, he received the BBWAA's Career Excellence Award, securing a place in the writers' wing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The press box at the current version of St. Louis's Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006, also bears his name.