(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-06 10:06

NEW YORK, Dec 5 - Larry Whiteside, the late pioneering baseball writer for The Boston Globe, has been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Baseball Writers' Association of America announced on Wednesday.

Whiteside, who died after a long illness on June 15 at age 69, was the first African-American beat writer in the Globe sports department where he worked from 1973 to 2004.

Before joining the Globe, Chicago-native Whiteside worked at the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, the Kansas City Kansan and the Milwaukee Journal.

In Milwaukee, he covered the Brewers in their early years and became friendly with team owner Bud Selig, who is now Major League Baseball Commissioner.

"He was one of the finest reporters and one of the finest people I ever encountered," Selig told baseball Web site mlb.com. "He promoted baseball with his fine, fair and objective reporting for many years."

Whiteside garnered 203 votes from 415 ballots cast in winning this year's J.G. Spink Award that brings enshrinement in the Hall, and will be honoured at induction ceremonies on July 27 in Cooperstown, New York.