ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis broadcast tradition is represented well on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting. When the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum earlier this week unveiled the eight broadcasters under consideration, four came with ties to the city.
Candidates Buddy Blattner, Joe Buck and Dizzy Dean all called games for the Cardinals and/or the St. Louis Browns during their respective careers. Another, Bob Costas, got his broadcasting start at KMOX Radio in St. Louis.
The other four broadcasters on the ballot include Don Drysdale, Al Michaels, Joe Morgan and Pee Wee Reese. This year's candidates were chosen based upon the National Voices criteria. The winner of the 2018 Frick Award will be announced at Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings on Dec. 13 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and will be honored during the Hall of Fame festivities in Cooperstown next season. If Blattner, Dean, Drysdale or Reese were to win, the award would be posthumously received.
Blattner, who was born and raised in St. Louis, made his Major League debut with the Cardinals in 1942 and later went on to have a 26-year broadcasting career. He partnered with Dean while broadcasting Browns games from 1950-53. From 1960-61, Blattner called Cardinals games.
While Buck now serves as FOX Sports' lead baseball announcer, he preceded his time at the network by working in St. Louis, where he still has a home. He filled in for his father, Jack Buck, calling Cardinals games on KMOX Radio and then moved into a television play-by-play role with FOX Sports Midwest for several seasons.
Costas began at KMOX Radio when he was 22 years old, and he has gone on to have an illustrious broadcasting career. Costas currently works as a broadcaster for MLB Network, but he continues to have strong ties to St. Louis. He was among those to deliver a eulogy at Stan Musial's funeral in 2013.
Dean, who already represents the Cardinals in the players' wing of the Hall of Fame, also called baseball games for the Cardinals (1941-46) and Browns (1941-48, 1952-53). The former Gashouse Gang member went on to gain national notoriety while broadcasting the "Game of the Week" on CBS for 11 years.