Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Tim McCarver, who has served as a national analyst on networks for three decades and simultaneously shined as part of broadcast teams with four big league clubs, has been selected as the 2012 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
McCarver becomes the second primary television analyst to win the Frick Award, joining Tony Kubek, who received the honor in 2009. McCarver will be honored as part of Hall of Fame Weekend 2012, July 20-23, in Cooperstown, New York.
I thought it was just that he looked better next to Ralph Kiner…
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1. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: December 07, 2011 at 04:58 PM (#4009234)I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Does anyone here really think that this will never happen? Mrs. Swishilicious hasn't missed a game since the 1981-82 basketball season, a streak that I doubt even V. M. "Iron Butt" Molotov could have equaled, and you know damn well that this is the sort of thing that impresses voters. Just give it time.
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Misspelled excrement.
no--he meant color men vs play-by-play guys
EDIT: and what other color men would you nominate?
None.
It's like giving the gold glove to a LF when the OF positions were grouped together.
Seems like Ralph Kiner might have been honored at some point. Bob Uecker?
There don't seem to be a lot of long-time color analysts. I wonder why.
Wait, what?
When did the role of color man come into vogue? Is Mccarver an early practitioner from his time in the 80s? My recollection as a kid in the 70s was the announcers followed more of the radio model of doing an an inning or half inning of play by play themselves then the other guy did an inning. The "off announcer" was there to add to the broadcast during his partners inning but it wasn't the true play by play/color split we have today.
Fans voted for...
2012: Mike Shannon, Tom Cheek and Jacques Doucet this year (McCarver wins)
2011: Tom Cheek, Bill King and Jacques Doucet (Dave Van Horne wins)
2010: Bill King, Tom Cheek and Jacques Doucet last year (Jon Miller wins)
2009: Joe Nuxhall, Jacques Doucet and Tom Cheek (Tony Kubek wins)
2008: Joe Nuxhall, Bill King and Joe Morgan (Dave Niehaus wins)
2007: Ken Harrelson, Bill King, and Joe Nuxhall (Denny Matthews wins)
2006: Bill King, Dave Niehaus, and Jacques Doucet (Gene Elston wins)
2005: Dave Niehaus, Tom Cheek and Ron Santo (Jerry Coleman wins)
2004: Joe Nuxhall, Dave Niehaus and Lon Simmons (Lon Simmons wins)
So only once has someone the fans put on the ballot - Lon Simmons - actually won that year (2004, the first year balloting was done). Others who were voted in that won are Dave Niehaus (voted for 3 times, but won 2 years after last time voted in). That's it.
Guys voted for who are still waiting and times picked by fans as a top 3 candidate...
Tom Cheek (5)
Jacques Doucet (5)
Bill King (5)
Joe Nuxhall (4)
Mike Shannon (1)
Ken Harrelson (1)
Joe Morgan (1 - already there as a player)
Ron Santo (1 - in for playing skills now)
Dave Niehaus was picked 3 times by fans, Lon Simmons once.
Seems like the best way to get in is to NOT be voted for by the fans. Sad.
This is like inducting Nickelback into the Rock and Roll HOF. It's like giving the Nobel Peace Price to Bashar Assad. It's like awarding a Michelin Star to the cafeteria at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It's like giving the MVP award to Juan Gonzalez. It's like giving a Congressional Medal of Honor to Bernie Madoff.
Does anyone here really think that this will never happen? Mrs. Swishilicious hasn't missed a game since the 1981-82 basketball season, a streak that I doubt even V.M. "Iron Butt" Molotov could have equaled, and you know damn well that this is the sort of thing that impresses voters. Just give it time.
It would be like honoring a D student on having a perfect attendance record. Or, in a sitcom universe, inducting Kenny Bania into a comedians' hall of fame before Jerry Seinfeld (the character, though I suppose as a standup comic, sitcom Jerry is every bit as funny as his real-life counterpart).
True and true, but there are a lot of Costanzas out there who laugh at the Banias, and a lot of Tomeis out there who think that George's manure riff is "quirky".
IOW Sterling's eventual induction, or whatever you want to call it just to avoid using the term, sure as hell could happen.
His 600-game per year workload might explain some things.
No, it's not.
Which means it is, presumably.
No Skip Caray for that matter.
He's got some pretty good bits-I like stuff you don't have to think too hard about.
I do believe that is called "damning with faint praise."
And dog pee doesn't smell nearly as bad as cat pee, but I don't see homeowners racing out to buy air freshener with that dachshund-urine sent.
Edit: Coke to Alex Vila.
Word.
There's no justice left.
I'm sorry, Charlie O.
* I say probably in that order because as much as I love Bill King, I have a nagging feeling that a lot of his case is as a great sports broadcaster, including his Warriors and Raiders work. He was the number two broadcaster for the A's for half the time he was there, and only did MLB for 25 years of a 40+ year career. And Skip Caray is possibly the most underrated broadcaster of all time, due, I suppose, to his unorthodox style and the fact that his team was terrible for much of his career. They're pretty much tied in my book. But I would select King first.
Bert Blyleven?
Watch out, Nickelback may read your post and zing you on Twitter.
Niehaus has won it.
Dizzy Dean was a color(ful) guy. I remember watching him as a small boy on Saturday afternoons and wondering WTF??
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