The yearly winner of baseball’s Ford C. Frick Award, given to a broadcaster who has made major contributions to baseball, was announced on Wednesday, and the winner is a very familiar name to sports fans – current San Diego Padres play by play broadcaster Dick Enberg.

This is one hell of a birthday present for Enberg, who turns 80 in January. Enberg was named as one of the ten finalists for the award thanks to his top three finish in a September fan poll, and he was the leading vote getter among a 20-man panel consisting of the 16 living Frick winners and four baseball historians/columnists.

I don’t think anyone would argue Enberg’s credentials. He was the California Angels play-by-play announcer from 1969-1978 (with a one year return in 1985). Enberg was a national play-by-play broadcaster for NBC’s MLB coverage from 1977-1982, and was a studio host for MLB on NBC from 1983-1989. Enberg then took a sabbatical from baseball until 2010, working with NBC and CBS mainly during their coverage of the NFL, the NBA, tennis, golf, the Olympics, and college basketball. Since 2010, he’s been the Padres play-by-play commentator, previously on 4SD and currently on Fox Sports San Diego.

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