Joe Nuxhall on ballot for Ford Frick Award

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Legendary Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall is a finalist for the 2015 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The 10 finalists for the 2015 Frick Award are: Richie Ashburn, Billy Berroa, Rene Cardenas, Dizzy Dean, Dick Enberg, Ernie Johnson Sr., Ralph Kiner, Ned Martin, Joe Nuxhall and Jack Quinlan. The winner of the 2015 Frick Award will be announced on December 10 at Baseball's Winter Meetings and will be honored during the July 25 Awards Presentation as part of the July 24-27 Hall of Fame Weekend 2015 in Cooperstown.

The 10 finalists for the 2015 Frick Award include the three fan selections produced from online balloting at the Hall of Fame's Facebook site –

www.facebook.com/baseballhall

– in September. Enberg, Kiner and Quinlan emerged as the top three fan selections in the online voting. The other seven candidates were chosen by a Hall of Fame research committee. Cardenas and Enberg are the living candidates on the ballot.

The 2015 Frick Award ballot reflects the 2013 changes in the selection process where eligible candidates are grouped together by years of most significant contributions of their broadcasting careers. The new cycle continues with this year's Living Room Era, which features broadcasters whose main body of work came from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s.

The three-year cycle for the Frick Award began in 2013 with the High Tide Era, which featured candidates whose most significant years fell from the mid-1980s to the present and resulted in the election of Eric Nadel as the 2014 Frick Award winner. The cycle will continue in the fall of 2015 with the Broadcasting Dawn Era, which will feature candidates whose most significant years came from the days of broadcasting's origins through the mid-1950s. In the fall of 2016, candidates will again be considered from the High Tide Era.

Final voting for the 2015 Frick Award will be conducted by a 20-member electorate, comprised of the 16 living Frick Award recipients and four broadcast historians/columnists, including past Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Gene Elston, Joe Garagiola, Jaime Jarrin, Milo Hamilton, Tony Kubek, Tim McCarver, Denny Matthews, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Felo Ramirez, Vin Scully, Lon Simmons, Bob Uecker, Dave Van Horne and Bob Wolff, and historians/columnists Bob Costas (NBC and MLB Network), Barry Horn (Dallas Morning News), Ted Patterson (historian) and Curt Smith (historian).

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. More than 40 broadcasters were eligible for consideration for the award based on these qualifications for 2015.

The 10 finalists for the 2015 Frick Award:

- Ashburn called Phillies game from 1963 until his passing in 1997 following a 15-year playing career that culminated in his election to the Hall of Fame in 1995;

- Berroa began announcing Major League Baseball games in 1963 and spent 18 years with the Mets (1987-93; 1997-2007) as a Spanish radio and TV announcer;

- Cardenas helped create the first Spanish-language MLB broadcast in 1958 with the Dodgers, working a total of 38 years for the Dodgers, Astros and Rangers;

- Dean broadcast 24 years in St. Louis and nationally on CBS' Game of the Week from 1955-65 following a Hall of Fame pitching career;

- Enberg has called Angels and Padres games for 16 seasons during the course of his 50-plus seasons behind the mic, which includes coverage of the Super Bowl, Wimbledon and the Olympic Games for both NBC and CBS;

- Johnson called games for the Braves in Milwaukee and Atlanta from 1962-99, becoming a beloved figure regionally and nationally through Turner Broadcasting System;

- Kiner, elected to the Hall of Fame as a player in 1975, began his broadcast career with the White Sox in 1961 before joining the Mets in 1962 and remaining with the National League's New York franchise for more than 50 seasons;

- Martin worked as the Red Sox's radio and television voice from 1961-92, covering the 1975 World Series for NBC-TV;

- Nuxhall spent 38 years with the Reds (1967-2004), and totaled 53 years with the Reds as a former major league pitcher and broadcaster;

- Quinlan called Cubs games from 1955-64 before his promising career was cut short by a fatal automobile accident in Spring Training of 1965;

Additional biographical information on the 10 finalists can be found at

www.baseballhall.org

. Voters are asked to base their selections on the following criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans.

The annual award is named in memory of Hall of Famer Ford C. Frick, renowned sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and Baseball Commissioner. Past recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award:

FORD C. FRICK AWARD RECIPIENTS

1978 Mel Allen 1990 By Saam 2003 Bob Uecker

Red Barber 1991 Joe Garagiola 2004 Lon Simmons

1979 Bob Elson 1992 Milo Hamilton 2005 Jerry Coleman

1980 Russ Hodges 1993 Chuck Thompson 2006 Gene Elston

1981 Ernie Harwell 1994 Bob Murphy 2007 Denny Matthews

1982 Vin Scully 1995 Bob Wolff 2008 Dave Niehaus

1983 Jack Brickhouse 1996 Herb Carneal 2009 Tony Kubek

1984 Curt Gowdy 1997 Jimmy Dudley 2010 Jon Miller

1985 Buck Canel 1998 Jaime Jarrin 2011 Dave Van Horne

1986 Bob Prince 1999 Arch McDonald 2012 Tim McCarver

1987 Jack Buck 2000 Marty Brennaman 2013 Tom Cheek

1988 Lindsey Nelson 2001 Felo Ramirez 2014 Eric Nadel

1989 Harry Caray 2002 Harry Kalas

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an independent not-for-profit educational institution, dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of baseball and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime. Opening its doors for the first time on June 12, 1939, the Hall of Fame has stood as the definitive repository of the game's treasures and as a symbol of the most profound individual honor bestowed on an athlete. It is every fan's "Field of Dreams," with its stories, legends and magic shared from generation to generation.