KANSAS CITY, MO (November 2, 2020) – The National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum announced today that former Royals broadcaster Buddy Blattner has been named one of eight finalists for the 2021 Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually for baseball broadcasting excellence.
Blattner teamed with 2007 Frick Award winner Denny Matthews as the Royals’ original broadcast crew, working in Kansas City from 1969-75, before retiring. He began his broadcasting career with the St. Louis Browns (1950-52), after retiring as a player, while also serving as the radio voice of the St. Louis Cardinals (1960-61) and Los Angeles/California Angels (1962-68). Blattner also called the televised national Game of the Week for ABC (1953-54) and CBS (1955-59), as well as national radio broadcasts for the Liberty and Mutual networks, working alongside Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean, who is also up for this year’s Frick Award. Blattner was also the radio voice for the NBA’s St. Louis Hawks from 1955-59.
A graduate of Beaumont High School in St. Louis, Blattner was a Major League second baseman for the Cardinals (1942), New York Giants (1946-48) and Philadelphia Phillies (1949), with his playing career interrupted by a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, as well as the U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979. Blattner lost his battle with lung cancer on Sept. 4, 2009, at the age of 89.
Other broadcasters up for this year’s Frick Award include: Joe Buck, Dave Campbell, Dizzy Dean, Don Drysdale, Ernesto Jerez, Al Michaels and Dan Shulman. The winner will be announced on Dec. 9 and honored during on July 24, 2021 as part of the July 23-26 Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with the 2020 Frick Award winner, Ken Harrelson. Final voting for the 2021 Frick Award will be conducted by an electorate comprised of the 12 living Frick Award recipients and three broadcast historians/columnists.