Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes won the Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball.” Hughes was a finalist in 2016 and 2020. He joins Jack Brickhouse (1983) and Harry Caray (1989) as Cubs announcers to win the award.
Hughes, the 47th winner of the award, will be inducted during Hall of Fame Weekend, July 21-24. The 2023 ballot consisted of broadcasters whose main contributions were as local and national voices and whose careers began after, or extended into, the wild-card era. The other nine finalists: Dave Campbell, Joe Castiglione, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Jerry Howarth, Ernie Johnson Sr., Duane Kuiper and Steve Stone.
Hughes, 67, has called Cubs games for 27 seasons, starting in 1996. He was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Cubs Hall of Fame this year. Hughes has been named the Illinois Sportscaster of the Year nine times and Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year three times.
He has called baseball for 37 seasons, beginning with the Twins in 1983 before moving to the Brewers in 1984 and the Cubs in 1996, when he worked with Caray. But Hughes made a lasting impression on Cubs fans working with Hall of Fame third baseman Ron Santo. “The Pat and Ron Show” entertained listeners beyond the call of the game itself.
Hughes has called more than 6,000 MLB games during his 40-year career, including eight no-hitters, the 25-inning White Sox-Brewers game in 1984 that was the longest game in American League history and Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game in 1998 — and of course the Cubs’ run to the 2016 World Series title.
“On behalf of my family and the entire Cubs organization, I want to congratulate Pat on this remarkable accomplishment,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said. “The Ford C. Frick Award is a highly prestigious award that recognizes the ‘best of the best’ in broadcasting and no one is more deserving of this award than Pat. Outside of his impressive resume, Pat is a truly wonderful person who cares deeply about Cubs fans and the game of baseball. We’re so incredibly lucky to have had him as a member of the Cubs family for the past 27 seasons and look forward to celebrating this accomplishment, and many more, in the years to come.”
More to come …