  thumb| thorn in august 2010 john thorn (born april 17, 1947) is a sports historian, author, and cultural commentator. since march 1, 2011, he has been the official baseball historian for major league baseball. he lives in saugerties, new yorkjohn thorn | sabr retrieved 2014-09-17. ==early life== thorn was born in stuttgart, west germany, where his polish jewish parents had come as refugees. thorn immigrated to the united states in 1949. he graduated from beloit college in 1968. ==career== thorn is the author and editor of numerous books, including total baseball: the official encyclopedia of major league baseball, total football: the official encyclopedia of major league football, treasures of the baseball hall of fame, the hidden game of baseball, the glory days: new york baseball 1947â1957, and the armchair book of baseball. he founded total sports publishing and served as its publisher from 1998â2002. thorn served as the senior creative consultant for the ken burns documentary baseball. in 2004 thorn discovered documentation that traced the origins of baseball in america to 1791 in pittsfield, massachusetts. in june 2006 sabr awarded thorn its highest award, the bob davids award. the award honors those whose contributions to sabr and baseball reflect the ingenuity, integrity, and self-sacrifice of the founder and past president of sabr, l. robert "bob" davids. on march 1, 2011, thorn was named the official baseball historian for major league baseball. "thorn succeeds the late chicago tribune and chicago sun-times baseball writer jerome holtzman, who served as official baseball historian from 1999 until his death in 2008." thorn's most recent baseball book, baseball in the garden of eden: the secret history of the early game, was published with simon and schuster on march 15, 2011. thorn is also the co-author with pete palmer and bob carroll of the hidden game of football and with them co-editors of total football. his book new york 400, a graphical history of the city timed for its quadricentennial, created with the museum of the city of new york and running press, was published in september 2009. thorn is a columnist for voices, the publication of the new york folklore society. ==refere
1947_births American_sportswriters Baseball_statisticians Baseball_writers Beloit_College_alumni Jewish_American_writers Living_people Major_League_Baseball_executives People_from_Saugerties,_New_York People_from_Stuttgart Sports_historians