CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the video in the player above is from a previous, unrelated story.
Jack Graney, the beloved former Cleveland Indians play-by-play voice, will be honored as the 2022 Ford C. Frick Award Winner for Broadcasting Excellence.
The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually for excellence in broadcasting from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The award comes after Graney earned the most votes from the Hall of Fame’s 16-member Frick Award Committee.
Graney played major league baseball for 14 years in Cleveland and became one of the most legendary broadcasting voices in Northeast Ohio after his baseball career ended.
Graney, who passed away on April 20, 1978, will be honored posthumously during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown from July 22-25.
“Jack Graney was a pioneer in the broadcast industry, not only establishing a model for game descriptions in the earliest days of radio but also for blazing a trail for former players to transition to the broadcast booth,” said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Museum. “In calling Cleveland’s games for parts of three decades after a successful playing career of his own, Graney brought the exploits of future Hall of Famers like Earl Averill, Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Bob Feller and Satchel Paige into homes throughout Ohio’s North Coast, becoming as much a part of the fabric of the team as the players themselves. His attention to detail and love for the game made Jack Graney one of the National Pastime’s radio legends.”
Graney was a native of Ontario, Canada, who played for the Cleveland Naps in 1908. Eventually, he returned to the minor leagues, but in 1910 came back to Cleveland for the next decade.
In 1917 and 1919, Graney led the American League in walks and came off the bench to help Cleveland win the memorable 1920 World Series against Brooklyn.
In 1932, Graney made the transition to becoming a broadcaster at WHK-AM. Graney is considered the first former big-league player to broadcast for big-league games. Over the next 22 years, Graney called games for many stations in Cleveland, including WHK, WGAR, WJW and WERE.
Graney called many legendary games in Cleveland for the World Series at the national level audience in 1935 and broadcasted that year’s All-Star Game in Cleveland.
Graney was joined alongside seven others on the final ballot as broadcasters whose contributions were recognized as broadcasting pioneers. The eight finalists were Pat Flanagan, Waite Hoyt, France Laux, Rosey Rowswell, Hal Totten, Ty Tyson, Bert Wilson and Graney.
According to the committee, the award’s winner must display “commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.” To be considered, the broadcaster must be active or retired with at least 10 years of continuous broadcasting with a major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or combination of the two.