Ford Frick Award Ballot

The nominees are in for the 2011 Ford C. Frick Award, in honor of major contributions to baseball by broadcasters. Despite what people think and say, it is an award and is not an induction to the Hall of Fame. I wish the Hall of Fame would change that, because I do think there are quite a few men of the microphone (and eventually women) who are worthy of induction with a plaque in the Gallery.

I mean, Vin Scully. Hello?

Anyway, ESPN has the list of names. They are:
Tom Cheek (longtime voice of the Toronto Blue Jays, who died in 2005)
Dizzy Dean (the first true TV network play-by-play star, calling the game of the week on CBS)
Jacques Doucet (called Expos games from 1972-2004)
Bill King (famous for saying "Holy Toledo", he was the voice of the Oakland A's)
Ned Martin (did Red Sox games from 1961 to 1992)
Tim McCarver (self-explanatory, me thinks)
Graham McNamee (the original baseball broadcasting superstar)
Eric Nadel (longtime voice of the Texas Rangers)
Dave Van Horne (called the Expos for 32 years and now does Marlins games)
Rene Cardenas (no Wikipedia entry for him, but he has been part of the Dodgers' Spanish-language broadcasts since 1982).

My vote?  McNamee.  We seem to remember the pioneers in every other sport (Foster Hewitt in hockey, Marty Glickman in basketball, and so on) but the exclusion of McNamee has been a travesty.  Let's get it right.  Finally.

That being said, I won't complain if the winner is Cheek or Martin or even McCarver (though his day is coming).  I suppose each one is worthy.  I would simply go with McNamee over everyone else (good opinion post about him here).  The problem is there really isn't any audio of him calling baseball.

Oh, how I wish I had a vote!