Joe Nuxhall's HOF chances boosted by rule changes
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Changes to the voting for the Ford C. Frick Award could open the way for Joe Nuxhall to finally be honored in Cooperstown.
On Saturday, the Hall of Fame board of directors announced changes to the Era Committee’s elections and changes to the Frick Award balloting and processes.
The new process will continue the rotation of voting categories, but instead of being determined by eras, the three categories will be “Current Major League Markets” focusing on team-specific announcers, followed by “National Voices” for broadcasters whose contributions came on the national level and “Broadcasting Beginnings” for early team voices and pioneers of broadcasting.
The cycle will begin with the “Current Major League Markets” category for the 2017 Frick Award.
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“I think it’s very encouraging to hear the powers that be have addressed the disparity in how people were allow to vote,” said Marty Brennaman, the Reds’ play-by-play voice and 2001 Frick Award winner. “Now that they are broken up, it’s a tremendous opportunity for guys like Joe and others who served as a No. 2 guy — or a color analyst. It should open it up, and I’m prejudiced, but the position Joe held with Jim McIntyre, Al Michaels and me for 31 years, he is deserving of a plaque in the broadcasters’ wing of the Hall of Fame.”
Brennaman is also part of the voting committee to determine the Frick winner.
The ballot will now consist of eight candidates, down from 10 in the past. The three slots determined by Facebook voting have also been eliminated and will now be filled by a committee of historians.
Previously, the Frick Award was broken up into different eras of broadcasting — “High Tide” era of the mid-1980s to present, the “Living Room” era of the mid-'50s to mid-'80s and the “Broadcasting Dawn” era of those before the 1950s.
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“I think those that vote found it not to be apples-to-apples to be taking national broadcasters who don’t broadcast every day to guys and ladies who spend every day behind the microphone,” said Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson.
Brennaman said he thought the changes would not only help the No. 2 broadcasters, like Nuxhall and St. Louis’ Mike Shannon, but also the national broadcasters, like Bob Costas, who haven’t won the award.
The board also changed the Era Committee system, the so-called “veterans' committee.” The changes put a greater emphasis on modern eras. There are now four eras: “Today’s Game” (1988-2016), “Modern Baseball” (1970-1987), “Golden Days” (1950-1969) and “Early Baseball” (1871-1949).
The “Today’s Game” and “Modern Baseball” will be selected twice every five years, with “Today’s Game” in 2016 and 2018 and “Modern Baseball” selected in 2017 and 2019. The “Golden Days” era will be selected once every five years (2020 and 2025), and the “Early Baseball” era will be every 10 years (2020 and 2030).