Kell headlines Tigers' Frick ballot

Kell headlines Tigers' Frick ballot
Nominees announced for Hall of Fame's broadcasting award
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- George Kell and other famous voices from Tigers games past, including Al Kaline, Paul Carey and Harry Heilmann, join current broadcasters Jim Price, Mario Impemba and Rod Allen on the fan ballot to help determine three of the 10 finalists for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award.

The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." The award, named after the late broadcaster, National League President, Commissioner, and Hall of Famer, has been presented annually since 1978. Frick was a driving force behind the creation of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and he helped foster the relationship between radio and the game of baseball.

Online balloting begins Thursday and runs through November at baseballhalloffame.org. Fans may cast votes for as many as three broadcasters once daily, basing their decisions on four criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including awards and national assignments, such as the World Series and All Star-Games; and popularity. Ernie Harwell is the only Tigers broadcaster to receive the award, but Detroit has other candidates who could someday join him.

Kell, Kaline and Heilmann are in the Hall of Fame for their playing careers, but each one made his mark on the game behind the microphone as well. Few are better known than Kell, the voice of Tigers telecasts into the mid-'90s.

Kell's broadcasting career actually began while he was still a player, joining Orioles broadcasts while he was injured in 1957. He returned to the Tigers as a broadcaster in 1959 and called all but one season through 1996.

Combine that with his Hall of Fame playing career, and Kell remains a Detroit institution. A 10-time All-Star, he was arguably the best third baseman of his era in the American League. He batted .300 nine times in his 14 full Major League seasons, seven of them in a Tigers uniform, on his way to a .306 career average. He won the AL batting title with a .343 average in 1949.

Kaline, otherwise known as Mr. Tiger, has been involved in the organization for more than 50 years now in several different roles, from Hall of Fame outfielder to front-office special assistant. His longest-running role, however, was in the broadcast booth, where he spent 26 years as a color commentator on Tigers telecasts. Twenty-one of those seasons were alongside Kell, and two more with Harwell.

Heilmann's broadcasting career began in 1934, when the Tigers had two different radio stations broadcasting their games, and served as the radio voice for WXYZ-AM from 1934-50. He was also part of the Tigers' first television broadcast team beginning in 1947.

While Harwell was known as the voice of the Tigers for more than 40 years, Carey was his broadcast partner for 19 of them. He was the voice of the NBA's Detroit Pistons before calling the Tigers in 1973, running until 1991.

Price, a catcher with the Tigers from 1967-71, began his broadcasting career in 1993, when many of those legends were still on the air. He's now moving up the seniority list, having just completed his 15th season behind the microphone in Detroit, nine of them on the Tigers radio network.

Impemba and Allen have formed the Tigers television broadcasting tandem on FSN Detroit for the last five years. Impemba returned to his native Michigan to become a play-by-play man on television in 2002, one year before Allen followed from Arizona.

Former Detroit broadcasters Jim Northrup, Larry Osterman and Rick Rizzs are also on the list of 198 candidates. Northrup was the Tigers' cable voice for 10 years before his retirement in 1994. Eight of those years included working alongside Osterman, who spent 20 of his 25 seasons of broadcasting in Detroit.

The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Each award recipient is presented with calligraphy of the award during the ceremony and is recognized in the "Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit in the library wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Below is a complete list of the Ford C. Frick Award recipients. The 2007 recipient was longtime Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews.

Active or retired broadcasters with a minimum of 10 years continuous broadcast service with a Major League club or a network or a combination of the two are eligible.

The final ballot of 10 candidates, to be announced in early December, will include the three fan selections and seven other candidates determined by a Hall of Fame staff research team. The Frick electorate includes all past winners, including Harwell, and six historians appointed by the Hall of Fame.

gogetemtigers wrote:

• http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2007/vote.jsp

VOTE now for the Ford C. Frick Award

CLICK LINK TO SEE LIST AND VOTE FOR THREE, ONCE PER DAY IN NOV.

Hey, thanks for the link! Go Jim Price!

Spoiler:

I'm fricken votin' for Kell for the frickin' Frick award!!

I voted:

Ty Tyson, Harry Heilmann, and George Kell.

Good thing fans can only select 3 of the 10 finalists. The right people surely wouldn't be picked by fans. My 3 aren't the right 3 either, but it'd be pretty pathetic if guys like Ty Tyson were left off in favor of Rod Allen or Michael Kay or Ken Harrelson.

Ty Tyson for ROY!!

I agree with you Catbox!

gs78 wrote:

I agree with you Catbox!

Too bad all the fans will vote for Joe Buck, Tim McCarver (are they on there?), and Ken Harelson!

No Way! Those guys suck

Why are those three idiots even on the ballot?

gs78 wrote:

Why are those three idiots even on the ballot?

They are automatically on the ballot if they have 10 years of service. Rod and Mario are on the ballot, too! Sorry, Rod and Mario but you aren't in the same class as Ernie Harwell, Vin Scully, etc. Putting them on the ballot is almost a disgrace to the truly great announcers. I mean, is Neifi Perez going to be on the HOF ballot?

Yeah but Rod and Mario are better than Buck, McCarver and Harrelson

I bet some dumb ass would vote for Perez if he was on the ballot

gs78 wrote:

Yeah but Rod and Mario are better than Buck, McCarver and Harrelson

Yeah, but they don't belong in the HOF!

Maybe someday for Rod and Mario

Not everyone can be as great as Harwell or Scully!

I miss hearing Ernie Harwell on the radio

gs78 wrote:

Not everyone can be as great as Harwell or Scully!

Not even buck

Harwell Rules

and so does Scully

catbox_9 wrote:

gs78 wrote:

Not everyone can be as great as Harwell or Scully!

Not even buck

yeah buck.....he's awesome.


AT NOTHING!!!!!

Ernie Harwell sits next to God!!

....and ALWAYS will!!