Awards

Ford C. Frick Awards

By Patrick Mondout

While there is no "broadcaster wing" of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (despite tens of thousands of references to it in print), the Hall does give credit to one broadcaster per year for "major contributions to baseball." The honor is called the Ford C. Frick Award and is named for former baseball writer and later Commissioner of Major League Baseball Ford Christopher Frick.

Winners of the award become members of the Veterans Committee, which afford them the opportunity to vote on those who have exhausted their 15 years of eligibility without making the Hall.

Each winner gives a speech during the annual induction ceremonies and even receives a plaque in the "Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit in the library of the Hall of Fame, but they are not considered officially members of the Hall. That is unfortunate as it devalues the contributions that such people as Roger Angell make. More than 10% of the Hall's membership are there not for their on-the-field contributions, but their contributions to the business of baseball.  

If baseball executives like Warren Giles can be elected to the Hall, why can't those who broadcast or write about the sport (sportswriters are given a similar honor without Hall membership called the J.G. Taylor Spink Award)? Who did more for you in your enjoyment of the sport, especially while growing up and getting the appreciation for it you now enjoy? Andre Dawson and Eddie Murray had more of an effect on me than any sportswriter, but even Dick Young and Harry Caray (though both usually just irritated me) contributed more to my appreciation than say, Chub Feeney.

Baseball is and has always been about more than just what goes on between the white lines. How many of us will spend excessive amounts of Hot Stove time between now and Spring Training *reading* (or writing, for that matter) about baseball? It is a cerebral sport. A boxscore or a well-written account can be as enjoying for us as punt return for a touchdown is for fans of another sport. And even when we watch the sport, we often do so - even while at the ballpark - with the aide of a sportscaster.

And perhaps more to the point, does it really desecrate Lou Gehrig's place in baseball history for him to share floor space with Roger Angell or Ernie Harwell? I'll never confuse 2130 with the number of consecutive times a Dick Young article led to people threatening to cancel their TSN subscription!

For the very first time in 2004, fans were given the opportunity to nominate candidates for the Frick Award. Now the Hall needs to reconsider its position vis-à-vis sportswriters and broadcasters.  I know I'm on "slippery-slope" territory here (perhaps the execs shouldn't be in either), but it is the "National Baseball Hall of Fame", not the "National Those Who Played the Game Baseball Hall of Fame" as the election Giles in 1979 demonstrates. Let's give these very real contributors their Frick'en due.

Winners of the Ford C. Frick Award