Home  News Frick Award Ballot Finalized At Baseball Hall of Fame
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Frick Award Ballot Finalized At Baseball Hall of Fame
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Fan Selections Help Set Record for Online Votes; Winner to be Announced Dec. 9
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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(COOPERSTOWN, NY): The 10 finalists for the 2009 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, were announced today. The final ballot includes three fan selections produced during a record-total 145,138 votes recorded throughout September exclusively at baseballhall.org.
For the second consecutive year, Joe Nuxhall paced all broadcasters in the fan-voting, totaling 19,547 votes. Jacques Doucet (10,282) and Tom Cheek (8,992) also earned spots on the final ballot, joining seven broadcasters selected by a Hall of Fame research committee: Billy Berroa, Ken Coleman, Dizzy Dean, Lanny Frattare, Tony Kubek, Graham McNamee and Dave Van Horne.
The winner of the 2009 Frick Award will be announced on December 9 at Baseball’s Winter Meetings. Voting will be conducted by a 20-member electorate, comprised of the 15 living Frick Award recipients and five broadcast historians/columnists, including past Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Jerry Coleman, Gene Elston, Joe Garagiola, Ernie Harwell, Jaime Jarrin, Milo Hamilton, Harry Kalas, Denny Matthews, 2008 Frick Award winner Dave Niehaus, Felo Ramirez, Vin Scully, Lon Simmons, Bob Uecker and Bob Wolff, and historians/columnists Bob Costas (NBC), Barry Horn (Dallas Morning News), Stan Isaacs (formerly of NY Newsday), Ted Patterson (historian) and Curt Smith (historian).
Now in its sixth year, the Museum’s online fan balloting established a record for votes cast for the second consecutive year, after 122,505 ballots were cast online in 2007. Last year, Nuxhall, Bill King and Joe Morgan earned spots on the ballot from the fan vote. Fans were permitted to vote once per day for up to three broadcasters during the month of September.
The 10 finalists: Berroa began announcing Major League Baseball games in 1963 and spent 17 years with the Mets (1987-93; 1997-2007) as a Spanish radio and TV announcer; Cheek’s resume includes 32 major league seasons covering the Montreal Expos (1974-’76) and Toronto Blue Jays (1977-2004), the last 28 seasons as the Jays’ radio play-by-play man, before his death during the 2005 season; Coleman spent 35 years with the Indians (1954-63), Reds (1975-78) and Red Sox (1966-74, 79-89); Dean transitioned from the playing field to the radio booth with 24 seasons in St. Louis and nationally with Mutual Radio and ABC/CBS Game of the Week, helping to revolutionize the baseball broadcast; Doucet spent his entire 34 year career broadcasting for the Expos as the play-by-play radio voice on their French network; Frattare spent 33 years (1976-2008) with the Pirates, establishing the longest tenure as a radio broadcaster with the club, surpassing 1986 Ford Frick Award winner Bob Prince, who broadcasted for 29 years; Kubek spent 30 seasons behind the mic nationally (NBC Game of the Week) and for the Blue Jays and Yankees as a color commentator following his playing career; McNamee was a national pioneer in sports broadcasting, calling games for 13 seasons for Westinghouse and NBC, also calling 12 World Series; Nuxhall spent 38 years with the Reds (1967-2004), and totaled 53 years with Reds as a former major league pitcher and broadcaster, before his passing in 2007; Van Horne has spent 41 years in broadcasting for the Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins, the last eight in Florida, following 33 seasons in Montreal as the English voice.
Van Horne is the only active broadcaster on the ballot, following the retirement last week of Frattare. Doucet and Kubek are the only other living candidates. Additional biographical information on the 10 finalists can be found at www.baseballhall.org. Voting members will cast their votes by mail in November. The 2009 award winner will be honored during 2009 Hall of Fame Weekend, July 24-27 in Cooperstown, New York.
Voters are asked to base their selections on the following criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans.
To be considered, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or a combination of the two. In 2008, more than 200 broadcasters were eligible for consideration for the award, with bios of each candidate appearing at the Hall of Fame’s Web site.
The annual award is named in memory of Hall of Famer Ford C. Frick, renowned sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and Baseball commissioner. Past recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award:
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