Former play-by-play announcer Al Michaels was named the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence on Wednesday by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Michaels, 76, will be honored at the 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, currently slated for July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Now best known for his football announcing, Michaels once was a mainstay in baseball press boxes around the country.
“This is a great thrill for me to be able to look back and think about all those years,” Michaels said on the MLB Network. “It is almost like some other person did all those baseball games. This brings me back full circle and I really appreciate the honor.”
Michaels was in the booth for seven World Series, including 1989 when an earthquake struck San Francisco’s Candlestick Park shortly before the start of Game 3 between the Giants and Oakland Athletics.
Michaels began calling baseball games in 1968 for the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League.
He called games nationally for NBC, ABC and The Baseball Network. Michaels also served as the voice of the Cincinnati Reds (1971-73) and Giants (1974-76).
Michaels has called Sunday night NFL games for NBC since 2006. Prior to that, he was the voice of ABC’s Monday Night Football from 1986-2005.
He has performed play-by-play for 10 Super Bowls.
He also is famous for his call of the ending of the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics when the United States hockey team upset the Soviet Union. The U.S. team eventually won the gold medal.
-Field Level Media
