DALLAS (AP) — Tom Hamilton, who has called Cleveland games on the radio for 35 seasons, won the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting on Wednesday.
Hamilton, 70, joined the team’s broadcast in 1990, when he was with Herb Score in the booth and part of the coverage of their World Series appearances in 1995 and 1997. Hamilton became the voice of the franchise when Score retired after that second World Series.
Hamilton will be honored during the Hall of Fame’s induction weekend from July 25-28 in Cooperstown, New York. He was selected the hall’s Frick Award 16-member committee as the 49th winner.
There were 10 finalists on this year’s ballot, whose main contributions came as local and national voices and whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card era. The other nine were Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Ernie Johnson Sr., Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Dave Sims and John Sterling.
“Whoever had under 15 seconds before he cries won,” Hamilton said when asked for a statement before taking questions on a Zoom call. “I’m so humbled. I’m so grateful. Can’t believe it happened. I certainly looked at that list of 10 and if I were to rank them, I would have put myself 10th.”
Sims next season replaces Sterling as Suzyn Waldman’s play-by-play partner on New York Yankees radio broadcasts. Sterling, 86, retired in April, a few weeks into his 36th season, but he returned in the final week of the regular season and worked in the postseason. Sims, 71, has spent the last 20 years calling Seattle Mariners games.
Since taking primary play-by-play duties following Score’s retirement in 1997, Hamilton has partnered with Mike Hegan, Dave Nelson, Jim Rosenhaus and Matt Underwood on WWWE-AM and WTAM-AM, the longtime radio home of the Guardians.
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