COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The late Hall of Fame pitchers Dizzy Dean and Don Drysdale are candidates for the Hall’s Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting, along with Fox’s Joe Buck, ESPN’s Dan Shulman and NBC's Al Michaels.
Dave Campbell, Ernesto Jerez and Buddy Blattner also are finalists, the Hall said Monday.
The winner will be announced on Dec. 9 and will be honored next July 24 ahead of the Hall of Fame inductions, along with 2020 Frick winner Ken Harrelson. The 2020 ceremonies were called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s Frick Award is for national voices, part of a three-year rotation that includes broadcasting beginnings (autumn 2021) and major league markets (autumn 2022).
Broadcasters must have at least 10 continuous years of major league broadcast service with a team, network or combination.
Dean, who elected to the Hall in 1953 and died in 1974, broadcast for the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, and he worked CBS’ “Game of the Week” from 1955-65.
Drysdale, who was voted into the Hall in 1984 and died in 1993, worked ABC broadcasts from 1977-86, including its “Monday Night Baseball” package.
Buck has been Fox’s lead baseball play-by-play voice for 25 seasons, working 23 World Series, after 11 seasons broadcasting for the Cardinals. His father, Jack Buck, won the Frick Award in 1987.
Shulman worked ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball" package from 2011-17 after working Toronto Blue Jays games from 1995-2001 and also for ESPN Radio.
Michaels has broadcast baseball for 25 seasons with NBC (1972), ABC (1976-89) and The Baseball Network (1994-95), covering seven World Series, eight League Championship Series and six All-Star Games.
Campbell, a former big league infielder, worked broadcasts for San Francisco, San Diego and Colorado plus ESPN from 1990-2008.
Jerez has worked ESPN Deportes’ “Sunday Night Baseball” for more than 25 years along with the World Series, All-Star Game and World Baseball Classic.
Blattner worked 26 seasons, mostly in the 1950s and 1960, spending time with the “Liberty Game of the Day,” “Mutual Game of the Day,” “ABC Game of the Week,” “CBS Game of the Week” plus NBC and individual teams.
