Hall opens doors for 'Mr. Baseball'

Bob Uecker is being honored for his broadcasting skills.
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- During his days as a stand-up comedian and frequent guest on "The Tonight Show," Bob Uecker did a routine about the disappointment he felt at being passed over for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"Sitting around all those years," the Milwaukee Brewers announcer said, "with your wife and kids, waiting for the phone, it finally got to the point where I had to say, 'Hey, I don't need it.' I can bronze my own glove and hang it on a nail in my garage and build a little grotto out there."
Uecker, a lifetime .200 hitter who never hit a triple or stole a base, didn't make it to baseball's grand hall as a player. He will, however, share the stage with Hall of Famers today when he receives the Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually for major contributions to baseball broadcasting.
"There's no greater honor when baseball is the sport you broadcast," said Houston Astros announcer Milo Hamilton, who won the award in 1992.
"You never know what year will be your year. The year I got it, I thought it was going to be Bob Murphy. That's how much I know. You don't know from year to year who they are considering. I haven't been right yet. I thought this year it might be Jerry Coleman."
Padres broadcaster
Coleman, a former New York Yankees star who was a decorated fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, has been the voice of the San Diego Padres for more than 30 years and is considered to be the next in line.
"No offense to Bob Uecker because he's a great guy and a fine broadcaster, but Jerry should have won this years ago," Ted Leitner, Coleman's longtime broadcast partner, told reporters earlier this year.
"Honestly, I'm shocked he didn't get it. The man has put in more than 30 years with this club. He worked with the great voices of the game: Mel Allen, Red Barber, Joe Garagiola.
"Then you throw in his playing career, the fact he managed in the big leagues and the military side. How does he not get this? Jerry isn't into politics and would never speak on his own behalf. Maybe it's time someone else spoke for him."
For years, people in and around the Brewers organization said similar things about Uecker.
As with player inductions, politics and controversy surround the Frick Award, which is named for a former baseball commissioner.
Seven-member panel
The 2003 winner was picked by a seven-member panel of announcers that included Bob Costas, Curt Gowdy, Ernie Harwell, Joe Morgan, Vin Scully and Garagiola and author Curt Smith.
In the past, the committee was smaller and there was speculation that some voters might have rejected Uecker's candidacy because he was a former player (Garagiola is the only other former player to win the Frick Award) and because of his participation in television, commercials and movies.
Smith, an author who has written several books on baseball announcers, considers Uecker's broad appeal to be a strength.
"Bob is a terrific play-by-play man, but his niche extends beyond baseball," Smith said. "There are very few voices in baseball that have trespassed beyond the game itself. He's one of them."
No plaques
Although it's the highest honor a baseball broadcaster can earn, the Frick Award, which was first presented in 1978, is not the same as being elected and inducted into the Hall of Fame. Frick Award winners are not represented with plaques in the Hall of Fame Gallery.
Richie Ashburn, Ralph Kiner and Phil Rizzuto -- all of whom followed outstanding playing careers by becoming successful broadcasters -- made it into the Hall of Fame based on their playing careers and have not won the Frick Award.
Membership in the Hall of Fame is for players, managers, owners, umpires and pioneers. The Frick Award and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, which is given by the Baseball Writers Association of America for meritorious contributions to baseball writing, are presented at the induction ceremony.
Hal McCoy, who is in his 31st season as Cincinnati Reds beat writer for the Dayton Daily News, will receive the Spink Award.
"The only thing I ask is that I don't have to follow Uecker's speech," McCoy said at a Brewers-Reds game last week. "That is going to be unbelievable."