Former Yank Tony Kubek Headed to the Hall

Here's the press release from the Hall of Fame:

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced Tuesday that Tony Kubek, an analyst for the NBC Game of the Week, the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees for 30 years, has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for major contributions to baseball broadcasting. Kubek will be honored with the award during the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Sunday, July 26, 2009, in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Kubek is the first exclusively television analyst to win the Frick Award, which has been presented annually since 1978. Kubek also becomes the first primarily television broadcaster to be honored since Bob Wolff in 1995 and the first Frick Award winner to have called games for a Canadian team.

"For an entire generation of baseball fans, Tony Kubek was the face and the voice of the game," said Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson. "In the days before all-sports TV networks, Tony brought baseball into your living room every Saturday afternoon for almost three decades. His straightforward style, quick and detailed analysis and no-nonsense commentary on the game's nuances gave viewers an insider's look at what the players were experiencing on the field."

Kubek joined the NBC broadcast booth in 1965 after retiring as a player that year. He served as an analyst on backup games from 1966-68, then was elevated to the primary broadcast in 1969. He worked with play-by-play partners Jim Simpson, 1984 Frick winner Curt Gowdy, 1991 Frick winner Joe Garagiola and Bob Costas through 1989, then concluded his career with the Yankees and the MSG Network from 1990-94. He also worked on local television broadcasts for The Sports Network and CTV for the Blue Jays from 1977-89, introducing one of North America's largest cities to the game of baseball.

Kubek broadcast 11 World Series and 14 American League Championship Series for NBC as well as 10 All-Star Games. Kubek also called the final NBC Game of the Week on Sept. 30, 1989, and that fall's ALCS, which ended a 43-relationship between the network and Major League Baseball.

Kubek was a four-time All-Star shortstop during a nine-year big league career with the Yankees from 1957-65. He earned the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1957 and appeared in six World Series, helping the Yankees win three championships. Kubek generously donated his Rookie of the Year Award to the Hall of Fame several years ago.

Kubek will be honored as an award recipient during Hall of Fame Weekend 2009, July 24-27, in Cooperstown, along with the 2009 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner. The Spink Award, which honors excellence in baseball writing, will be announced Wednesday, Dec. 10. Veterans Committee electee Joe Gordon will be inducted during the July 26 ceremony along with any electees to emerge from 2009 Baseball Writers' Association of America election, the results of which will be announced Jan. 12.