His daughter, Ellen Isaacs, confirmed his death.

Isaacs was one of the Chipmunks, a group of young reporters, mainly in New York, who brought irreverence and daring to sports coverage beginning in the early 1960s.

Isaacs covered Casey Stengel, Bill Veeck, Bill Russell and Cassius Clay (he was one of the earliest reporters to accept Clay’s new name, Muhammad Ali); the early days of the Mets; and Roger Maris’s record-breaking season with the Yankees in 1961.

That year he reported on a Yankees game against the Kansas City Athletics from a sheep pasture beyond the right field fence. One of Maris’s homers landed near him “and a ewe,” he wrote.

In 1964, he caused an uproar when he reported that the San Francisco Giants’ manager, Alvin Dark, said that black and Hispanic athletes lacked “mental alertness.” Dark said his comments had been misinterpreted.

Isaacs wrote his last column for Newsday in 1992.

Stanley Isaacs was born on April 22, 1929, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He graduated from Eastern District High School and Brooklyn College.

Besides his daughter Ellen, he is survived by two other daughters, Nancy Isaacs and Ann Basch Isaacs; four grandchildren; and a sister, Diane Dunne. His wife of more than 50 years, Bobbie, died last year.

Isaacs most recently wrote for the Web site TheColumnists.com. His last column, about the retirement of Larry Merchant, a fellow Chipmunk who became an HBO boxing commentator, was published Monday.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/sports/stan-isaacs-irreverent-sportswriter-dies-at-83.html?partner=rss&emc=rss