Hall of Fame announces Frick Award finalists

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Monday announced the eight finalists for the 2017 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting.
The finalists are: Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Bill King, Mike Krukow, Ned Martin and Dewayne Staats. King and Martin are deceased.
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The winner will be announced on Dec. 7 at the Winter Meetings, and will be honored on July 29 during Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Cohen has spent the last 28 years with the Mets and is the team's television play-by-play voice on SNY.

Doucet spent 34 years broadcasting for the Expos as the play-by-play radio voice on their French network (1969-2004), and he returned to the booth in 2012 for select games as the Blue Jays' French-speaking TV voice.
Harrelson has been a broadcaster for the Red Sox, Yankees and White Sox, including 26 years in Chicago.

Hughes has broadcast MLB games for 34 seasons. He got his start with the Twins in 1983, called games for the Brewers from 1984-95, and he has served as the Cubs' radio voice for the last 21 seasons.
King worked for 25 seasons (1981-2005) as the A's lead play-by-play radio voice.
Krukow has spent the last 26 seasons on radio and TV for the Giants following a 14-year MLB career as a pitcher. He pitched for the Cubs, Phillies and Giants -- winning 124 games in his career.
Martin served as the radio and television voice for the Red Sox from 1961-92, covering the '75 World Series for NBC.
Staats has called big league games for 36 years, including the last 19 as the TV voice of the Rays.
The 2017 Frick Award ballot process reflects changes made in July by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors. A new election cycle for the Frick Award was established, rotating annually between current Major League markets (team-specific announcers) for the '17 Frick Award; National Voices (broadcasters whose contributions were realized on a national level) for the '18 Frick Award; and Broadcasting Beginnings (early team voices and pioneers of baseball broadcasting) for the '19 Frick Award. This cycle will repeat every three years.
New criteria for selection is as follows: 'Commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.'
Final voting for the 2017 Frick Award will be conducted by the 13 living Frick Award recipients and four broadcast historians/columnists, including past Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Dick Enberg, Jaime Jarrin, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Tim McCarver, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Felo Ramirez, Vin Scully, Bob Uecker, Dave Van Horne and Bob Wolff, and historians/columnists David J. Halberstam (historian), Barry Horn (Dallas Morning News), Ted Patterson (historian) and Curt Smith (historian).
The 2017 Frick Award ballot was created by a subcommittee of the voting electorate that included Enberg, McCarver, Nadel, Smith and Wolff.
To be considered for the Frick Award, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous MLB broadcast service with a ballclub, network, or a combination of the two. More than 200 broadcasters were eligible for consideration for the 2017 Frick Award based on these qualifications.
The annual award is named in memory of Hall of Famer Ford C. Frick, renowned sportswriter and radio broadcaster, as well as a National League president and Commissioner.