2027 Ford C. Frick Award Ballot Finalized

COOPERSTOWN—Ten of baseball’s most historic and respected voices have been named finalists for the 2027 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

According to a press release issued September 28, this ballot will mark the first election featuring a composite ballot of local and national voices whose broadcast careers concluded prior to the advent of the Wild Card in 1994. The election cycle will then return, starting with the 2028 Frick Award, to four straight years of candidates whose careers began or mostly comprise the years after the advent of the Wild Card era. The cycle then repeats, officials said.

The 2027 Frick Award ballot consists of 10 candidates, including a requirement that at least one candidate be a foreign language broadcaster.

The 10 finalists for the 2027 Frick Award are: Buddy Blattner, Ken Coleman, Dizzy Dean, Earl Gillespie, Merle Harmon, Ned Martin, Monte Moore, Gustavo Lopez Moreno, Bill O’Donnell and Jack Quinlan. The winner of the 2027 Frick Award will be announced on December 9 at Baseball’s Winter Meetings in San Diego and will be honored during the July 24 Awards Presentation as part of the July 23-26 Hall of Fame Weekend 2027 in Cooperstown.

Moore and Moreno are the only living candidates on the ballot.

According to officials, criteria for selection is as follows: “Commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.”

To be considered, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or a combination of the two.

The 2027 Frick Award ballot was created by a subcommittee of the voting electorate that included past Frick honorees Joe Castiglione, Bob Costas, Tom Hamilton, and Eric Nadel and broadcast historian Curt Smith.

Final voting for the 2027 Frick Award will be conducted by an electorate comprised of the 14 living Frick Award recipients and two broadcast historians/columnists, including past Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Joe Buck, Castiglione, Costas, Hamilton, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Al Michaels, Jon Miller, Nadel and Dave Van Horne, and historians/columnists Barry Horn (formerly of the Dallas Morning News), and Smith (historian).

Information on the 10 finalists can be found at baseballhall.org/frickaward2027.

The annual award is named in memory of Hall of Famer Ford C. Frick, renowned sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and MLB Commissioner.