Dizzy Dean a finalist for Frick Award
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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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Joe Garagiola was always a personal favorite. One of the first autographed baseball cards I ever had was from Mr. Garagiola.
Note to Jim Allen;
Your correction to my mistake is noted. Thanks for reading and noticing. And yes, I agree with you. Harry and Jack are in a class by themselves. As for Joe G., I only heard him on Monday night baseball in the 70’s and during the World Series of that time. I wrote what I wrote because at the time I was a bit in a goofy mood. It did not come off the way I wanted it. Oh, well, at least I’m not paid to write this slop. I’ve been a Cards fan since ‘64′. I’ve been no fan of any other. I had no chance but to be a Cards fan because they were always on the radio in the home I grew up in. But hey “Jim Allen” it’s always nice to hear from a Cards fan. We are the best you know…God bless.
Garagiola has always been one of my favorites. I, too, have his autograph, inside his second book (the one written in the 1980’s). And I was pleasantly surprised when he started doing some PBP for the Diamondbacks some years ago (his son was the GM, of course); Joe did, for instance, the call of the game on Fox Sports Arizona the night Jose Jimenez pitched his no-hitter in June 1999.
As for this group of 10… my guess is that Nuxhall and Coleman, not necessarily in that order, have the best shot.
Shannon’s problem is that he’s been primarily a “sidekick” for much of his tenure, and I suspect the committee is giving preference to those who did more PBP than color.
Which is a shame, because a good color analyst is hard to find - done properly, it’s a harder job than straight PBP - and Shannon ranks right up there with the best of his peers.
We, as Cardinal fans, need to mobilize our forces next year and get Mike into the Hall of Fame. His wit, community support, and butchering of the english language make him a huge local celebrity. It’s a shame the rest of the country doesn’t know him the way we do.
I guess I’m an Old-timer as I can remember Dizzy doing TV games in the 50’s. Talk about someone butchering the english language–he certainly did. I can still remember when a player would steal a base, old Dizzy would say “He slud into second”
It’s certainly a compliment to St.Louis that we’ve had such great announcers–Harry, Jack, Mike, Joe Garagiola, Dizzy, Joe Buck, Bob Costas. I would put that lineup against any city in the country.
What great comments!
I gave my son a cut out autograph of Harry Carray from 1963 on an old Cardinal scorecard from Sportsman Park. I think I should have saved the whole thing… Harry came to my school to talk to us one day and I waited to get his signature.
Jack Buck was a near God. But Mike Shannon played an important role in contrasting Jack’s style for our broadcasts over many years. I would often turn on the TV and turn down the sound while turing on the Radio to get the better PBP and commentary of that broadcaster team. I’ll never forget teh McGwire moments. Jack was awesome. On television his call of Ozzie’s homer will live forever as a huge part of Cardinal lore.
I had to openly laugh at charlie’s comments and quote him here:
“We, as Cardinal fans, need to mobilize our forces next year and get Mike into the Hall of Fame. His wit, community support, and butchering of the english language make him a huge local celebrity. It’s a shame the rest of the country doesn’t know him the way we do.”
I whole-heartedly agree!!! Let’s do it.