Edward Armistead Batchelor, Sr. (September 1883 – July 1968), also known as "Batch" and "E.A.", was an American sportswriter and editor for The Providence Journal, the Detroit Free Press, and The Detroit News. He was one of the charter members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America ("BBWAA") upon its founding in October 1908 and held membership card No. 1 in that organization for many years. Early years Batchelor was born in Raleigh, North Carolina in September 1883. His father, Joseph Branch Batchelor Jr, was an officer in the United States Army. His mother was Mary (Gouge) Batchelor (born October 1858 in Massachusetts); he had and two younger sisters, Winifred (born December 1885 in North Carolina) and Dorothy (born September 1893 in Arizona). As a result of his father's service, Batchelor lived in nine states in the first ten years of his life. He recalled that he lived for a time in Arizona while his father's regiment was assigned "to subdue an unruly group of Apaches. In the late 1890s, his father was stationed at Fort Slocum on Long Island. In April 1898, following the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, Batchelor's father was promoted to the rank of captain. His father was assigned to the Philippine Islands where he led three companies of the African-American 24th Infantry during 1899 and 1900 in combat operations against Filipino insurgents in the Pangasinan and Nueva Vizcaya provinces on Luzon. For his service and for gallantry in action, Captain Batchelor (Brevet Major) was posthumously awarded two Silver Stars. While his father was serving in the Philippines, Batchelor graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1901 and enrolled at Brown University. Sportswriter in Providence Batchelor worked part-time for The Providence Journal while attending Brown. His son later described Batchelor's challenge in reporting while attending college: "It meant conflict with his classes at Brown and the classes lost. At the end of a year, he terminated his formal schooling (it is understood at the request of the faculty) and threw himself into full-time newspaper work." According to another account, Batchelor's father told a fellow Army officer that he wanted his son to be a newspaperman. Batchelor's father died in the Philippines in August 1902. According to the second account, the friend in whom Batchelor's father confided returned to the United States and "rescued Eddie from an auditor's desk and found a spot for him in the