2004 Ford C. Frick Award Winner Lon Simmons
The 2004 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award was legendary Bay area broadcaster Lon Simmons.
An original voice of the Giants when they moved west, Simmons called games for San Francisco and Oakland for 41 years before retiring after the 2002 season.
When the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, Russ Hodges was the only announcer to make the move, and Simmons joined him for the team's initial broadcasts at Seals Stadium. Simmons and Hodges worked together for 13 years before Simmons retired in 1973 after the death of his first wife. He returned to the Giants in 1976 for three more years, then moved across the bay to Oakland, where he teamed with Bill King to broadcast Athletics games from 1981-95. In 1996, he returned to the Giants broadcast team again, working a partial schedule, until his retirement after the 2002 season.
Simmons broadcast the pennant-winning Giants team of 1962 and A's teams which reached the World Series from 1988 to 1990. He counted as his biggest thrills calling the 600th home run of Willie Mays, and the dramatic home run that marked the return of Willie McCovey to San Francisco in 1977. For those and many other home runs, Simmons gave his trademark call of "tell it goodbye!"
Simmons passed away on April 5, 2015.
More Frick Award Winners
Hall of Fame Awards
Related Stories
Related Stories
Film Fest a hit for fans, filmmakers
Rickwood Field features baseball’s past and present
Caught in the Draft
Nolan Ryan becomes baseball’s first million dollar man
Thrill of Success: Will Clark debuts on Today’s Game ballot
Reds slugger Frank McCormick
Pumping Bog Iron
1957 Hall of Fame Game
01.01.2023
Hall of Fame Weekend 2017 to Feature Inductions of Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Iván Rodríguez, John Schuerholz, Bud Selig, July 28-31 in Cooperstown
01.01.2023
Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Plaques to Visit Seattle, New York Following Induction
01.01.2023