This week, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced that Joe Castiglione and the late Gerry Fraley would be honored as the winners of the 2024 Ford C. Frick and BBWAA Career Excellence Awards, respectively.
On Tuesday, Fraley was announced as the winner of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award after finishing as the runner-up last year to John Lowe. Fraley received votes on 173 of 369 ballots, ahead of Bruce Jenkins in second with 113 votes. Joel Sherman finished third with 83 votes. Fraley, who passed away in 2019, served as a beat writer for the Phillies, Braves, and Rangers. He also worked for the Dallas Morning News for nearly 25 years and wore several hats, including that of “Super General Assignment Reporter.”
On Wednesday, Castiglione was announced as the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award, awarded each year for “excellence in broadcasting.” He’s been with the Boston Red Sox radio broadcast team since 1983, and the Fenway Park home radio booth was named after him in 2022. Castiglione was one of ten nominees for the Frick Award this year, along with Joe Buck, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Ernie Johnson Sr., Ken Korach, Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, and Dan Shulman.
In 2022, the Hall of Fame changed the balloting process for the Frick Award to emphasize honoring modern voices of the game, increasing the ballot size from eight to ten, and making sure one finalist each year was a foreign language broadcaster. Pat Hughes of the Cubs won last year’s honor, and “local and national voices whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card Era” will continue to be honored in each of the next two years. In 2027, pre-Wild Card era candidates will again be considered. The last pre-Wild Card winner was Jack Graney two years ago.
Castiglione and Fraley will be honored during the 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend from July 19-22, 2024 along with Contemporary Era electee Jim Leyland and anyone receiving at least 75% of votes from the BBWAA on the 2024 ballot. Todd Helton, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, and Gary Sheffield are the top returning players, joined by notable first-timers Adrian Beltre, Chase Utley, and Joe Mauer. Results will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.