private citizen had been so-honored by the city. Also in 1930, Daniel helped convince Babe Ruth to sign his record US$80,000 contract with the New York Yankees. Ruth had been holding out for more money and had threatened to boycott spring training in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Daniel helped Ruth come to the decision to sign by reminding him that many of his fans were out of work and selling apples on street corners back home in New York City. Later in 1930, Daniel published Babe Ruth, Idol of the American Boy. This early biography of The Babe was developed from material Daniel had published in a series of feature stories in the New York Telegram. It included a foreword to boys from The Babe admonishing them to "do everything in moderation"! 1940s Starting in the 1940s, his "Ask Daniel" column ran in the World Telegram every Tuesday. Daniel answered thousands of baseball questions, becoming one of the game's leading experts and historians. Each spring, Daniel put his reputation on the line by predicting how the eight teams in each league would finish. Cartoonist Willard Mullin captured the audacity of these predictions in charming caricatures. Daniel was an accomplished speaker and raconteur. He had a rasping voice and a biting wit, which made him a popular choice as master of ceremonies for sports dinners and roasts. Daniel was official scorer for more than twenty games during Joe DiMaggio's 1941 hitting streak. His decisions are still criticized more than 70 years later, but Daniel maintained throughout his life that he called each play as he saw it. Shortly after Babe Ruth's death in 1948, Daniel wrote The Real Babe Ruth, his second biography of the Babe, which contained many of his personal recollections from having been friend and advisor to Babe Ruth. Daniel served as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), chairman of the Football Writers' Association, and chairman of the Boxing Writers' Association. Later life In 1972, Daniel received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award from the BBWAA, baseball's highest honor for a writer. In his speech during ceremonies at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he thanked the players and the fans for "giving him the medium of a wonderful career". He mused that without baseball, he would have ended up as a doctor and assured the audience that "Had I been a doctor, I would have