Kubek honored with ‘09 Frick Award

Tony Kubek, the former New York Yankees shortstop who made even a bigger name for himself in his post-playing career as an analyst on NBC’s old “Game of the Week” telecasts, is the winner of the 2009 Ford C. Frick Award, an honor bestowed on broadcasters by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Kubek’s election continues a week of distinctly Yankees flavor as far as the Hall of Fame is concerned. On Monday, a Veterans Committee elected Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon to the Hall.

The announcement was made Tuesday during the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

Both will be included in the induction ceremonies on July 26 along with any winner on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. Rickey Henderson, the all-time stolen base leader and a Yankee from 1985-88, is the top contender.

“For an entire generation of baseball fans, Tony Kubek was the face and the voice of the game,” Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson said. “In the days before all-sports TV networks, Tony brought baseball into your living room every Saturday afternoon for almost three decades. His straight-forward style, quick and detailed analysis and no-nonsense commentary on the game’s nuances gave viewers an insider’s look at what the players were experiencing on the field.”

Good for him. But let’s face it: All of the inductions will merely be filler until Rickey gives what should be one of the most hilarious public speeches of all time.