WTF (“What the Frick”)? Ralph Kiner, the Broadcasters Left Behind, and How We Can Fix the Frick Award
- Mark Rosenman
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read

Ralph Kiner once said, “All of Rick Aguilera’s saves have come in relief appearances.” And just like that, he taught us everything we needed to know about why we loved him.
Ralph wasn’t perfect. He was human gloriously, disarmingly human in a profession that so often prizes polish over personality. And that’s exactly why he was perfect for the Mets.
For more than fifty years, Ralph Kiner was the sound of Mets baseball. From Casey Stengel’s “youth of America” to Howie Rose's “Put it in the books,” Ralph’s voice bridged every era, every heartbreak, every miracle. He saw the franchise born, stumble, soar, and age gracefully and through it all, he made it feel like family.
He wasn’t just calling the game; he was inviting you into his living room.
Kiner joined the Mets broadcast team in their inaugural 1962 season and stayed through 2013 an astonishing 52 years behind the mic. Think about that: over half a century of bringing baseball into New York homes, connecting grandparents to grandkids through the language of summer.

He was there for Seaver’s brilliance, for Cleon Jones’ catches, for the ball that rolled through Buckner’s legs and the one that landed in Endy Chávez’s glove. His “Kiner’s Korner” postgame show , of which we pay homage with this site was must-watch TV, a pioneering blend of analysis and personality long before anyone used the word “content.”
There were no producers in his ear, no polished sound bites just Ralph, a player-turned-broadcaster, speaking baseball in its purest, most human form. Sometimes the graphics didn’t work. Sometimes the names got jumbled. But Ralph’s sincerity always cut through.
Ralph Kiner already has a plaque in Cooperstown for what he did as a player , leading the National League in home runs seven straight years. But it’s time he’s recognized for what he gave the game after he hung up his spikes.

For the Mets and for New York, Kiner wasn’t just a voice he was a presence. His laughter filled the spaces between innings. His stories made losses sting less and wins feel bigger. His mistakes became folklore, not fodder.
The Ford C. Frick Award, baseball’s highest broadcasting honor, was created to recognize exactly that kind of contribution: the men and women who brought the game to life for millions. So how is it that Ralph Kiner , a founding voice of one of baseball’s most storied franchises still hasn’t received it?
When I began this campaign to get Ralph the Frick Award, I expected a chorus of agreement , and I got it. But I also got an education.
The more people I spoke to the clearer it became that the problem isn’t just about Ralph. It’s about how the system works.
When the Ford C. Frick Award was first established in 1978, the selection process was straightforward: a committee of baseball historians and former winners voted each year to honor one broadcaster for “meritorious service to baseball.”
The first two recipients were Red Barber and Mel Allen, two towering voices of the game. Fittingly , and with a touch of irony , it was Ralph Kiner himself who presented the inaugural Frick Awards to both men.

From 2004 to 2016, fans were allowed to vote for three of ten nominees. Those fan votes, initially collected through the Hall’s website and later through Facebook, gave fans a voice in celebrating the broadcasters they grew up with. By 2017, that fan input was eliminated entirely.
At the same time, the structure of eligibility shifted repeatedly.
Between 2014 and 2016, broadcasters were divided into three historical eras, each eligible once every three years:
The “High Tide Era” – covering the rise of regional cable networks (mid-1980s to present)
The “Living Room Era” – the golden age of TV, from the 1950s through early 1980s
The “Broadcasting Dawn Era” – the earliest radio pioneers
That system was replaced in 2017 by another rotation:
Current Major League Markets – local team broadcasters
National Voices – network or national media broadcasters
Broadcasting Beginnings – the early trailblazers
Most recently, in 2022, the Hall tweaked the rules again , expanding the ballot to 10 names and mandating at least one foreign-language broadcaster per cycle. The voting rotation now runs through four consecutive composite ballots (local and national voices), followed by one ballot devoted to “pre-Wild Card era” broadcasters whose careers ended before 1994.
In theory, this ensures representation.
In reality, it ensures exclusion.
Because each category only comes up every few years, dozens of broadcasters especially those no longer living may go a decade or more without even being eligible for consideration. The smaller ballot size and absence of fan voting make it even harder for deserving voices to break through.
Under this system, names like Ralph Kiner, Mike Shannon, Ned Martin, and others, three of whom have all passed away risk being forgotten altogether. And while the Hall’s intentions may be noble, the outcome is not. It’s an honor meant to celebrate the storytellers who kept baseball alive across generations, yet it now functions like an exclusive lottery.

Meanwhile, active and retired broadcasters who have defined entire franchises Michael Kay, Suzyn Waldman, John Sterling, Gary Cohen, Howie Rose, Duane Kuiper, and Mike Krukow to name a few remain on the outside looking in.
If the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame can honor multiple inductees each year across genres and eras, why can’t baseball do the same for its voices?
There’s no rule that says there has to be just one Frick Award winner a year.
Why not recognize multiple honorees a local market icon, a national voice, and a historical pioneer in the same class?
And while we’re at it, why not give fans back a seat at the table?
After all, who knows the power of these voices better than the people who welcomed them into their homes every night for decades?
A reformed Frick process one that combines expert panels with fan engagement could make the award not just fairer, but more meaningful. The Hall of Fame should be a living institution, not a locked vault.
Ralph Kiner doesn’t need the Frick Award to be remembered he’s already immortal to every Mets fan who grew up hearing his voice. But honoring him would mean something bigger. It would mean recognizing that baseball isn’t just about numbers, it’s about narratives. It’s about the voices that carried us through summers, through adolescence, through heartbreaks and miracles.
It would also send a message that the Hall of Fame listens that it values legacy and connection as much as statistics and structure.
So here’s what we’re doing.
We’re launching the #FixTheFrick4Ralph campaign to honor Ralph Kiner and highlight the many legendary broadcasters who have been overlooked, calling for a Hall of Fame to truly recognize and celebrate all of baseball’s iconic voices.
You can read, share, and sign the petition 👉 here — “Fix the Frick”
Every signature adds weight to the message that the Hall of Fame must honor Ralph Kiner and other deserving voices, while rethinking how this award is given.
I asked a few of the game’s most respected figures for their thoughts, and here’s what they shared with me:
Bob Costas, Ford C. Frick Award Recipient, Emmy Award Winner, and Legendary Voice of Baseball:
"Ralph Kiner was a Hall of Fame slugger who followed that up by becoming one of baseball’s most distinctive and beloved broadcasters. As an original and enduring voice of the Mets, Ralph’s broadcasts were a unique combination of keen baseball insights, entertaining anecdotes, and quirky moments that endeared him to generations of Met fans. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Frick Award, the deck is stacked against Kiner, Don Drysdale, and Dizzy Dean, significant broadcasters who are already honored as players and have long since passed away. Understandably, those who vote for the Frick Award, myself included, tend to favor announcers (some of them former players) whose only path to Cooperstown is the Frick, and who are still able to “smell the roses”
Without a format change that recognizes the many different ways announcers have excelled, and the varying categories they logically belong in, this is likely to remain the case."
Howie Rose, New York Mets Play-by-Play Broadcaster:
"Ralph Kiner was the avuncular figure among the original Mets broadcasters including Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy. His endless trove of stories and anecdotes, delivered with warmth and authenticity, made him among the most beloved people in franchise history. Along the way, this Hall of Fame player developed into a first-rate play-by-play announcer on radio and television, making him worthy of consideration for the Ford Frick Award. I heartily endorse his candidacy."
Kenny Albert, Emmy Award–Nominated Broadcaster and National Play-by-Play Voice for MLB, NFL, NHL, and the Olympics:
"Ralph Kiner was a Hall of Fame baseball player, and in my opinion, a Hall of Fame broadcaster as well. Kiner spent over 50 years at the mic educating and entertaining millions of New York Mets fans every season. His post-game interviews on “Kiner’s Korner” were must-watch television. Ralph would certainly be a worthy recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award following a sensational career knocking it out of the park both literally (7-time National League home run champ) and figuratively (in the broadcast booth)."
Bobby Valentine, Former New York Mets Manager and Player, and Baseball Analyst:
"I played for the Mets in the 70's coached them in the 80's and managed them in the 90's and 00's. I know that opposing players came to New Your to see the sights, play at Shea and try to get on Kiner s Korner. One of my greatest memories was getting a game winning hit off Tom Seaver and more than that, getting on Kiner s Korner. Ralph was the best at everything he did."
Art Shamsky, 1969 Miracle Met and Former Broadcast Partner of Ralph Kiner:
“I grew up idolizing Ralph Kiner when he was a big league player & during my career when I was with the Mets being around him was always special. To work alongside him as a Met broadcaster in 1979, ’80 & ’81 was an honor for me. No one deserves the Ford Frick Award more than Ralph Kiner. A great Hall of Famer & true baseball legend.”
Pat Hughes , Cubs Radio Play-by-Play Legend and 2023 Ford C. Frick Award Winner
“He was very nice, and he went out of his way to learn my name, which meant a lot to me. I mean, here’s the great Ralph Kiner, and I was a nobody just starting out, and he would always say, ‘Hey, Pat, how are you? Nice to see you.’ And I thought, this guy’s really a nice guy. So I liked him. I really did.
I know how outrageously funny he could be. When I was researching the Bob Prince CD that I produced and wrote and narrated, Bob got to know Ralph pretty well when they were both in Pittsburgh together, and he raved about him.
The Hall of Fame is very slow to change their format. You’ve got radio and TV, you’ve got radio play-by-play, radio color, TV play-by-play, TV color — those are all different. Then you’ve got network broadcasters as opposed to local TV, an entirely different category. But right now, the format is that one guy gets elected each year from various categories, and it’s really difficult. It really is."
I mean, there’s a guy, Steve Stone here in Chicago — great color announcer, and has been for many, many years — but again, he’s in there with the play-by-play guys, and there are very few color announcers that have gotten in. It’s not necessarily fair, but that’s the way it is.”
Ed Randall, Legendary Baseball Broadcaster and Host of “Ed Randall’s Talking Baseball”:
"Ralph Kiner recovered from spending time in an Alhambra, California jail for breaking a school window with a ball off his bat to hosting a post-game show on TV in Pittsburgh after the Pirates home games of the 1960 World Series which led to a job on White Sox radio with Bob Elson which led to a job with the Mets which led to him becoming the soundtrack of our New York City summers which we treasured."
Jay Horwitz, Vice President, Alumni Relations & Team Historian, New York Mets:
“ Ralph’s notebooks weren’t only filled with stats when he prepared for a game. They were filled with personal stories about his career which made Mets broadcasts a must listen. Not matter what the score of the game,Ralph always found a way to keep our audience engaged. He was one of a kind.”
This campaign isn’t just about Ralph , it’s about fairness, legacy, and the storytellers who gave baseball its soul. By adding your name to the #FixTheFrick4Ralph petition, you’re helping ensure that Ralph Kiner and voices like his finally get the recognition they’ve earned.
Ralph Kiner once joked, “If Casey Stengel were alive today, he’d be spinning in his grave.”That was Ralph a wit, a wordsmith, and a legend who never took himself too seriously. Baseball’s Hall of Fame got half his legacy right. It’s time to finish the job and fix a system that’s left too many great voices unheard.