Longtime Chicago Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes was named the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award on Wednesday, joining Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray among the all-time broadcasting greats.
Hughes, 67, earned the honor for broadcasting excellence by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on his third year on the ballot after being named a finalist in 2016 and 2020.
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“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,” Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement. “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.”
Hughes began his baseball broadcasting career with the minor-league San Jose Mission in 1978, and after five seasons in the minors became the Minnesota Twins TV voice in 1983 and moved on to Milwaukee in 1984. He began his career with the Cubs in 1996 and recently completed his 27th season on the North Side. Hughes was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in September.
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Hughes, the 47th winner of the Frick Award, was voted in by a committee that included former winners Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Bob Uecker, his former partner in Milwaukee. Among the others on the ballot was White Sox TV analyst Steve Stone, in his first year as a finalist.
Brickhouse was named winner of the Frick Award in 1983, while Caray followed in 1989.
Hughes will receive the award on Hall of Fame induction weekend July 21-24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
