Former Brooklyn Spectator baseball columnist Tom Knight dead at 89

‘Bang the drum slowly’ for a beloved Brooklyn baseball historian.

Baseball historian and Brooklynite Thomas Knight, who wrote a weekly column for The Brooklyn Spectator and other publications called “Diamond Reflections,” died on Wednesday, February 17. He was 89 years old.

Knight was known for his extensive knowledge of baseball, especially of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The road to earning the title of Brooklyn baseball historian started nearly 40 years ago. An all-night radio show on ABC that discussed the borough was looking for someone to talk Brooklyn baseball and invited Knight to the station to do a broadcast. Shortly after, the borough historian at the time suggested to then-Borough President Sam Leone that Knight take on the role of the borough’s baseball historian. In 1976, he was given the official title.

Born in Park Slope on September 17, 1926, Knight lived in the neighborhood for 60 years before moving to Bay Ridge for good. Throughout his career, Knight spoke and wrote about the Brooklyn Dodgers and other baseball subjects, and gave a voice to the sadness that he shared with many Brooklynites when the beloved Bums moved to Los Angeles.

Knight also played an integral role when professional baseball returned to Brooklyn, when the Cyclones made Coney Island home in 2001. Knight was involved in helping to create the Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Fame at MCU Park.

When former Brooklyn Dodger Duke Snider died in 2011, the Cyclones hosted a memorial service. Knight was one of the ceremony’s guest speakers. He was featured in a book that documented the Cyclones’ first season, When Baseball Returned to Brooklyn by Ed Shakespeare. In the book, Knight discusses his first game, and the differences between today’s game and the sport he grew up watching.

He also appeared on local podcasts to discuss the moment he fell in love with the game. “My first baseball game was on August 15 1936. I was 10 years old,” Knight said on the Bedford Sullivan Brooklyn Podcast over two years ago. “It was an unforgettable experience. The church and school groups would go to Ebbets Field for free and I was invited to go to the ballgame. That was the first game I saw and I fell in love with the game,” despite the fact that it was a 10-3 loss to the New York Giants. He also collected autographs as a child.

As years went by, Knight became friends with several former Brooklyn Dodgers and other major league players.

“We had him as a guest speaker for the Society of Old Brooklynites anniversary luncheon, an event we have every year in Bay Ridge,” said Ted General, a columnist for The Home Reporter who knew Knight on a professional level. “He was very knowledgeable on the history of baseball and statistics. He was a very interesting writer. One thing he would put in the paper was ‘bang the drum” whenever a famous baseball personality passed away.”

Knight is survived his nieces Catherine Kubasak and Elizabeth Manocchio, and nephew Harold Johnson.

Funeral services were arranged by McLaughlin and Sons Funeral Home, and a Mass of Christian Burial was held on Tuesday, February 23 at St. Anselm’s Church.