The Baseball Hall of Fame has announced that the selection process for its Ford C. Frick Award is being changed. The award is given annually to a sports broadcaster.
Staring with the next selection, 2014, a chronological “era” filter will be applied to candidates. This year’s nominees will be selected from the “High Tide Era,” which is the current era and begins in the mid-1980s.
The 2015 award will be for the “Living Room Era,” the mid-1950s through the early 1980s; the beginnings of modern TV broadcast. The 2016 award will be for the “Broadcasting Dawn Era,” early radio through to the beginning of television. In 2017 the cycle will repeat.
By dividing the awards into eras, broadcasters from the past, less well-known, or even forgotten, will have a chance at the award.
The nominating process for the 2014 award began Sept. 9 when the Baseball Hall of Fame released a list of candidates. Baseball fans can vote on three of the 10 finalists. An HOF committee selects the remainder.
A 20-member voting board consisting of 16 previous Frick award winners and four baseball journalist and historians will make the final decision at the Baseball Winter Meetings, Dec. 10–11.