TOWER GROVE — What he’s already earned for his arm, former Cardinal Dizzy Dean may now get for his voice. The Gas House Gang’s ace and Hall of Famer is one of 10 finalists for the Ford C. Frick Award, given annually by Cooperstown for excellence in baseball broadcasting.

The finalists for the award were announced Monday afternoon by the National Baseball Hall of Fame after tabulating the results of a fan vote used to round out the ballot.

The voice of the Cardinals, Mike Shannon, did not make the list of finalists.

Cincinnati’s Joe Nuxhall led the fan vote with 19,547 votes, followed by Jacques Doucet (of Montreal) and Tom Cheek (Montreal and Toronto), who received 8,992. That trio joins seven other broadcasters, including Dean, who were selected by a Hall of Fame research committee. The other six are: Billy Berroa (Mets), Ken Coleman (Cleveland, Boston), Lanny Frattare (the longest-tenured broadcaster for Pittsburgh), Tony Kubek (NBC), Graham McNamee (NBC) and Dave Van Horne (Montreal, Florida).

A committee that includes former Frick winners and experts, like Bob Costas, will vote on the 10 finalists to determine the 2009 winner of the Frick award.

From the official release:

Voters are asked to base their selections on the following criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans.

To be considered, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or a combination of the two. In 2008, more than 200 broadcasters were eligible for consideration for the award, with bios of each candidate appearing at the Hall of Fame’s Web site.

The fan vote was used to outfit the final ballot, and fans had a chance to log on during September and vote repeatedly for their selections. This is the sixth year of the online poll, and the Hall said it drew 145,138 votes.

Shannon was on the online ballot.

Dean, who won 30 games in 1934, spent 24 seasons behind the mic, calling Cardinal games and the Game of the Week on ABC and CBS. According to the release from Cooperstown, he helped  “to revolutionize the baseball broadcast.” It’s true. As John Heidenry writes in his book, The Gashouse Gang: “As a baseball broadcaster, Dizzy Dean became even more famous than he had been as a player.” He was as colorful with the language as he was a malaprop waiting to happen. Heidenry notes that Dean called the outfield “the pasture” and line drives “blue darters.” He would sing, he would leave the booth for a hot dog, he crack country, and … well, check out Heidenry’s book for the famous play-by-play he once gave about a couple smooching.

Dean also used “slud” as past tense for “slide” and would say, “The runners are returning to their respectable bases.”

Or, maybe he meant it the way he said it.

The Frick winner will be announced Dec. 9.

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