OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland A’s are proud to honor longtime voice of the A's Monte Moore with the inaugural Monte Moore Award for outstanding broadcaster, and beloved Bay Area and national sportswriter Pedro Gomez as the 2021 recipient of the Ron Bergman Award for Journalism, the Club announced today. The awards will be presented in a pregame ceremony on Friday, Aug. 20, before the A’s take on the San Francisco Giants. Moore will also throw out the ceremonial first pitch. 

Moore called A’s games on radio from 1962-77 and television from 1968-80 and 1988-92. He became the lead broadcaster for the Kansas City Athletics in 1962 and came west with the franchise as it relocated to Oakland in 1968. Known for his colorful calls and nicknames—he introduced the term “dinger” to baseball broadcasts and christened the team the “The Swingin’ A’s”—Moore was the Voice of the A’s for many of the franchise’s historical moments, including broadcasting three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74. 

The Monte Moore Award will be given annually to celebrate an individual for excellence in broadcasting Athletics games. 

Gomez, a fixture in Major League clubhouses for 35 years, began his career with the Miami News (1985-88) and San Diego Union (1988-90) before becoming the Oakland A’s beat writer with the San Jose Mercury News (1990-94) and Sacramento Bee (1995-97). After his time in Oakland, he was a sports columnist and national baseball writer for the Arizona Republic before joining ESPN, where he covered national storylines ranging from Barry Bonds’ home run record to MLB’s historic return to Cuba in 2016. Gomez passed away in February 2021. 

The Ron Bergman Award was established in 2019 to honor a journalist for meritorious contributions to the coverage of the Athletics. The award is named after the inaugural recipient, Ron Bergman, who covered the A’s for the Oakland Tribune and San Jose Mercury News, and was the author of Mustache Gang, which chronicled the A’s first World Championship in Oakland in 1972. Gomez will be the award’s second recipient, as no selection was made in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.