Nuxhall Not Headed To The Hall Of Fame
Say it ain't so.... The Baseball Hall of Fame voters ignored the 82,304 online votes for Joe Nuxhall -- 10 times more than the second-place online finisher -- to give the Ford C. Frick Award to Seattle Mariners voice Dave Niehaus. He has been the Mariners' voice all 31 years the team has existed.
This doesn't bode well for Nux, who died Nov. 15 at age 79. Son Kim Nuxhall told me yesterday: "This has to be his best chance to win, hands down. It will never be like this again."
Despite the huge online tally (67%) , Kim knew there was no certainty his father would be inducted in Cooperstown this summer. When Reds fans told him in recent months that his father was a sure thing for the Frick Award, Kim says he would remind them about Negro League star Buck O'Neill. "How he was never voted into the Hall of Fame while he was living is beyond me," Kim said.
O'Neill, who died in November 2006 at age 94, will be inducted into Cooperstown this summer.
Do you think Nuxhall will ever make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coopertown?
posted by John Kiesewetter at 2:03 PM
9 Comments:
at 2/19/2008 3:28 PM 
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at 2/19/2008 6:08 PM 
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at 2/20/2008 8:37 AM 
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at 2/20/2008 12:45 PM 
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at 2/20/2008 2:38 PM 
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at 2/20/2008 3:14 PM 
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at 2/20/2008 3:41 PM 
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at 2/20/2008 5:06 PM 
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at 2/22/2008 12:33 PM 
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Post a Comment*I hope Joe gets the Ford C Frick award someday...but...
This is really starting to grate on my nerves...it is about to become one of those many things people in Cincinnati about baseball despite FACTS.
The Ford C. Frick award winner is NOT enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Look it up.
In a month when Baseball was further sullied by the Rocket, his trainer, and his cronies, the Powers That Be managed to avoid honoring a man who did nothing but be the game's greatest ambassador and did countless good works in order to reward Dave Who?
Enjoy your new home on the ash heap, MLB. You're history.
I really don't mean this in a mean spirited manner, but Joe will never receive the Frick Award. Joe was a Cincinnati icon. He was every good thing people say he was...except a hall of fame broadcaster. I hear locals saying they've never heard of this year's winner, Dave Niehaus. I imagine most people in Seattle haven't heard of Joe Nuxhall, at least as a broadcaster, either. Given that, Niehaus in "The Hall" is a no-brainer, certainly in the same class of Marty, Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell, Red Barber, Jack Buck. Joe was somewhat clumsy in the booth but that was part of his charm...around here where Joe the person is as well known as "Marty's buddy." But if the names mentioned earlier are the broadcasting standard, Joe just doesn't make the cut.
Dave Niehaus is a great broadcaster and deserves the award, so does Joe and a bunch of others.
Importance to your local fan base in part of the selection process.
However, Joe DID make excellent game calls throughout his career, and just because he was occasionally clumsy later in life should not exclude him. Harry Carey is there...
The award should be given based on the totality of the career.
I'm not sure Marty has been Hall of Fame worthy if you just base it on the last few years or more. He is surly, sounds like he would rather be anywhere else but at the game, and he is more likely to be reading emails or clowning around than calling the game...
I know what Anon 8:37 is trying to say. It's not that I am not personally a huge Nuxhall fan, but I can see that I/we loved him for him, faults included.
I don't think he will ever get in either, largely because I believe the hall will always want to go towards either a guy from one of the two coasts, or frm a larger media market, a la Chicago or Atlanta. Cincinnati is kind of like the youngest member of the family at the Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner who is too old to sit at the card table with all the really little cousins, but really isn't quite old/mature enough to sit with the big folks at the table. But honestly, that is part of why its a great place to live.
The only Hall of Fame I really care about anyway is the HOF of Humanity. And Joe is an automatic for enshrinement there, as we all know. In this day when we tell our kids that athletes aren't roll models, once in a while there is one who is an exception, and Joe is for sure. If all of this community had just a little more Nuxhall in them, just imagine what a great city that could be.
Also, Joe is in the Red's HOF, and he is very prominent there. If he never gets the Frick, at least he is where he belongs, rounding third and headed for home.
Time for me to get the Frick outta here.
Here's my take on it. When Joe Nuxhall died I got on google and did a search on his name and went to the news results. Basically every paper (with a website) in this country and many overseas ran a story about Joe's passing. So he was not just a local boy. Maybe it was the youngest player ever part that got him more recognition but to say he wasn't known outside of the Cincinnati area is a gross understatement. I don't believe the same coverage would happen with Niehaus. Who, by the way, I assume is a fine broadcaster and deserves the award. But I think baseball did miss a chance to reward someone who deserved it right now. I hear a lot of people say that he was an acquired taste and actually wasn't that good. That's nonsense, if he wasn't good he wouldn't have been doing games as long as he did. The fact that his style made thousands of fans feel something good completely debunks that theory. Just my two cents.
I agree 100% about Marty being a flake. He is not worth listening to anymore, and I have never liked Thom. The broadcast is all one big commercial now.
Glad the games are on TV.
Probably shouldn't get too carried away with the market size issue. A few examples: Marty, Bob Prince (Pirates), Herb Carneal (Twins), Jimmy Dudley (Indians), Denny Matthews (Royals), Jack Buck (Cardinals) and Bob Uecker (Brewers). Yes, I know that Uecker got an extra boost for his commercials, movies, Mr. Belvedere (that might have cost him points actually), etc. I used to live within earshot of WTMJ (flagship station) and the man can call a ballgame with the best and probably would have made it w/o the extra fluff. But I digress.
Point being the quality of the broadcaster can trump the market size.
The "market-size" and "east and west coast" things are just phrases that are continually tossed out because of Cincinnatians ongoing inferiority complex.
Dave Niehaus is a great broadcaster.
Hope Joe gets the same honor someday.
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