Ken ‘Hawk’ Harrelson Wins Ford C. Frick Award, Pat Hughes Passed Over for HOF Once Again
The Hall of Fame announced Wednesday that longtime White Sox broadcaster Ken “Hawk” Harrelson has been selected as the 2020 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award. Presented annually as a recognition of excellence in broadcasting, the criteria for selection is “commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.”
That sounds like a perfect description of Pat Hughes, who will presumably win next time unless someone else retires and gets sympathy votes as a result. Rather than just prattle on about what a travesty I feel it is that Hughes and others were bypassed in favor of Harrelson, I’ll just block-quote some of the Hall’s statement and leave off at that.
The 15-member Frick Award voting electorate, comprised of the 11 living recipients and four broadcast historians/columnists, includes Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Bob Costas, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Tim McCarver, Denny Matthews, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Vin Scully, Bob Uecker and Dave Van Horne, and historians/columnists David J. Halberstam (historian), Barry Horn (Dallas Morning News), Ted Patterson (historian) and Curt Smith (historian).
The list of eight Frick Award finalists was constructed by a subcommittee of the electorate that included Costas, Matthews, Nadel, Smith and Van Horne. The Ford C. Frick Award is voted upon annually and is named in memory of the sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and baseball commissioner. Frick was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1970.
