2022 Ford C. Frick Award Ballot
Eight of the National Pastime’s groundbreaking voices have been named as the finalists for the 2022 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Candidates from the Broadcasting Beginnings category will be considered for the 2022 Frick Award in accordance with the three-year Frick Award election cycle.
Finalists
The eight finalists for the 2022 Frick Award are: Pat Flanagan, Jack Graney, Waite Hoyt, France Laux, Rosey Rowswell, Hal Totten, Ty Tyson and Bert Wilson. The winner of the 2022 Frick Award will be announced on Dec. 8 at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla., and will be honored during the July 23 Awards Presentation as part of the July 22-25 Hall of Fame Weekend 2022 in Cooperstown.
All of the 2022 Frick Award candidates are deceased.
The Frick Award election cycle rotates annually among Major League Markets (team-specific announcers); National Voices (broadcasters whose contributions were realized on a national level); and Broadcasting Beginnings (early team voices and pioneers of baseball broadcasting). This cycle repeats every three years, with the Major League Markets ballot to be reviewed in the fall of 2022 and the National Voices ballot to be reviewed in the fall of 2023.
Criteria for selection is as follows: “Commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.”
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The 2022 Frick Award ballot was created by a subcommittee of the voting electorate that included Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Denny Matthews and Eric Nadel and broadcast historians David J. Halberstam and Curt Smith.
Final voting for the 2022 Frick Award will be conducted by an electorate comprised of the 13 living Frick Award recipients and three broadcast historians/columnists, including past Frick honorees Brennaman, Bob Costas, Ken Harrelson, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Matthews, Tim McCarver, Al Michaels, Jon Miller, Nadel, Vin Scully, Bob Uecker and Dave Van Horne, and historians/columnists Halberstam (historian), Barry Horn (formerly of the Dallas Morning News) and Smith (historian).
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.
Pat Flanagan
15 seasons…One in a group of talented Chicago broadcasters that changed the way teams reached their fans over the radio…One of the first to recreate road games from a Western Union ticker…Primarily a Cubs voice, Flanagan was behind the microphone for both Chicago squads on WBBM…Covered the first All-Star game from Comiskey Park in 1933…Also broadcast the 1932, 1934, and 1938 World Series for CBS…Passed away in 1963.
Jack Graney
21 seasons... The first player to make successful transition from the field to the broadcast booth…He used his experience from 14 seasons on the diamond to turn telegraphic recreations into an art form…He was chosen to do the All-Star Game and World Series of 1935…Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Bob Dolgan said of Graney, “you could smell the resin in the dugouts, feel the clean smack of ball against bat and see the hawkers in the stands”…Passed away April 20, 1978.
Waite Hoyt
25 seasons…One of the first to transition from the playing field into the broadcast booth…Broadcast one World Series, when the Reds went in 1961…Made a successful transfer to the Cincinnati broadcast booth after 20 years as a Hall of Fame pitcher…Was the last of the Major League announcers to abandon telegraphic recreations of away games…Waite’s rain delay broadcasts were filled with reminiscences of the golden days of baseball…They were so popular, they were made into an LP entitled, “The Best of Waite Hoyt in the Rain.”...Hoyt was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969, after pitching for six pennant winners in New York in the 1920s and 21 seasons overall…Passed away Aug. 25, 1984.
France Laux
18 years…The voice of St. Louis Baseball and a pioneer in baseball radio broadcasting with the Browns (1929-43, ‘48) and Cardinals (1929-43, ’45)… Also called network games for CBS (1933-38), and Mutual Game of the Day (1939-41, ’44)… Behind the microphone for KMOX, he called Cardinals and Browns home games live from Sportsman’s Park and recreated road games…A quiet, low-key broadcaster…Was CBS Radio’s World Series announcer from 1933-38 and broadcast the All-Star Game from 1934-41…Other highlights include broadcasting the first night game from Sportsman’s Park, Pete Gray’s debut, Carl Hubbell’s five strikeout performance in the ’34 mid-summer classic and Ted Williams’ game-ending three run home run in the ’41 game…Passed away Nov. 16, 1978.
Rosey Rowswell
19 seasons…In 1925 was given a watch by the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates that read, “most faithful fan”…When the Pirates finally decided to broadcast all of their home games over KDKA radio, they decided to go with their number one fan on the air…The decision turned to gold, when Rosey turned out to be more popular than most Pirates players over the next 19 seasons…He invented his own language behind the microphone…A “dipsy-doodle” was a strikeout pitch, and his signature home run call was “raise the window, Aunt Minnie, here she comes”…Silences on the air were not uncommon as Rosey walked around his chair to give the Pirates good luck…A Pirates backer until the end, he was never accused of being too impartial…Commissioner Landis once opined, “there are people living in and around Pittsburgh who don’t’ even know the names of the other seven clubs in the National League.”…Passed away in 1955.
Hal Totten
21 years as the voice of baseball in Chicago with the Cubs (1924-44) and White Sox (1926-44)…Helped solidify baseball on radio…Became the first regular-season radio announcer on April 23, 1924, calling the play-by-play of the Cubs’ 12-1 win over the Cardinals on Chicago’s WMAQ…Had a self-effacing, gentle broadcast style…Called the World Series twice for CBS radio and three times for NBC, also broadcasting Mutual Game of the Week from 1945-50.
Ty Tyson
22 seasons…Former collegiate baseball player for Penn State…Broadcasting pioneer began his radio career in 1922 and broadcast the first play-by-play account of a Tigers game from Detroit in 1927…With no broadcasting booth for this new media, had to set up in the stands…Spent the first 16 years doing radio broadcasts for WWJ-AM, but was then replaced by former hitting star Harry Heilmann…Came back to the Tigers in 1947, where he did over-the-air broadcasts for the next six years with WWDT-TV…Passed away Dec. 12, 1968.
Bert Wilson
12 years…Invented the short-lived catchphrase, “Bingo to Bango to Bilko,” to describe double plays turned among Ernie Banks, Gene Baker and Steve Bilko….Renowned for phrase “I don’t care who wins, as long it is the Cubs.”…Began broadcast career with WMT in Chicago, calling Cubs games from a rooftop behind the center field bleachers…Hired in 1943 at Pat Flanagan’s assistant for WIND and took his spot in 1944 when Flanagan retired…Passed away in 1955.
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