Blue Jays play-by-play announcer has been nominated for the annual award given to the best broadcaster
While we always hear about the players on the field, it’s the voices talking about them that are rarely discussed. For instance, broadcasters Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez are the ones calling the plays for the Blue Jays games, and their impact for fans needs to be more recognized.
Dan Shulman has been calling Jays games for the past few years and may be getting a major award for his fantastic work. Just a few days ago, he was nominated for the Ford C Frick Award, which is given out annually to baseball’s best broadcaster by the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He’s up against seven other broadcasters which include Buddy Blattner (deceased), Joe Buck, Dave Campbell, Dizzy Dean (deceased), Don Drysdale (deceased), Ernesto Jerez, and Al Michaels.
We’re proud to announce the finalists for the 2021 Ford C. Frick Award: Buddy Blattner, Joe Buck, Dave Campbell, Dizzy Dean, Don Drysdale, Ernesto Jerez, Al Michaels and Dan Shulman. You can read more about them here: https://t.co/77SAL0N7Sa pic.twitter.com/zSZ6g29naV
— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) November 2, 2020
If he wins, he will be honoured during the Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown next year, assuming it takes place. He would also get the honour to give a speech at some point during the weekend, and his name would be etched on to a plaque in the Hall’s library.
While Shulman has been calling Jays games since 2016 in the Sportsnet booth, he also did play-by-play of Blue Jays games for TSN from 1995-2001. He then became a broadcaster for ESPN calling college basketball (which he still does to date) and baseball where he was apart of Sunday Night Baseball for several years. In regards to college basketball, he is the top voice for ESPN alongside Jay Bilas for Saturday Primetime.
He also hosts a baseball podcast called “Swing and a Belt” where he talks about the game with several high profile figures including Nomar Garciappara, Justin Morneau, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, and many others across different positions of the game of baseball.
Shulman has also had some big moments in his career. He got to call Barry Bonds’ 754th home run, while he has also called All-Star and World Series games. For instance, he called the 2020 World Series on ESPN Radio.
Honored to be calling my 10th #WorldSeries for @MLBonESPNRadio. My teammates are @Singytweets @jessmendoza and @Buster_ESPN and as you can see, we’ve got lots of gadgets and gizmos! pic.twitter.com/MORtrT7KOO
— Dan Shulman (@DShulman_ESPN) October 20, 2020
As you can see from the pictures above and below, it was an adjustment broadcasting games for Shulman and other broadcasters around the league. As the Blue Jays were unable to play their games at the Rogers Centre, media personnel had to call games from the Sportsnet studio.
What a group! https://t.co/BKy8WYroJF
— Dan Shulman (@DShulman_ESPN) September 24, 2020
Game time from Buffalo. @BlueJays and @Orioles on @Sportsnet with Buck, @thehazelmae and yours truly. pic.twitter.com/6DcN6RjpGN
— Dan Shulman (@DShulman_ESPN) August 28, 2020
Snuck in to see what all the fuss was about down the hall 😃 https://t.co/CoNp0l2YBH
— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) September 21, 2020
Shulman achieved a big accomplishment in 2011 when he was the first Canadian to be named the National Sportscaster of the Year.
The man who’s referred to as the original voice of Blue Jays baseball, Tom Cheek, who was on air for 4,306 consecutive games, was the recipient of the Ford C Frick Award in 2013.
Unfortunately, Blue Jays fans can not vote for Shulman to win the award as the winner is decided by a Hall of Fame research committee.
We will find out if he wins the award on December 9th during the now virtual Winter Meetings. Fingers crossed that he wins it for himself, his work, his family as well as Blue Jays fans across Canada and all over the world.