Ford C. Frick Award winner Graney a legend in Cleveland and in Canada
St. Thomas, Ont., native Jack Graney was named the winner of the National Hall of Fame’s 2022 Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually for broadcasting excellence, on December 8. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
December 30, 2021
Intro by Kevin Glew, Canadian Baseball Network
Additional Facts: Jeremy Feador, Cleveland Guardians team historian
On December 8, St. Thomas, Ont., native Jack Graney was named the winner of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2022 Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually for broadcasting excellence.
With the honour, Graney became the first winner of the award to have been born in Canada.
Graney will be honoured posthumously during the Hall’s awards ceremony in Cooperstown during Hall of Fame Weekend, which will take place from July 22 to 25, 2022.
Graney is the 46th winner of the award. He tallied the most points among the eight finalists on the Broadcasting Beginnings ballot in a vote conducted by the Hall’s 16-member Frick Award Committee.
Graney’s road to the big leagues began in St. Thomas, Ont., where he was discovered and recommended to the Chicago Cubs by fellow Canadian Hall of Famer, Bob Emslie. After a season in the Cubs’ organization, Graney was sold to Cleveland, where he would evolve into a steady, dependable outfielder.
His big league resume boasts a number of firsts. When Graney walked to the plate in a game against the Boston Red Sox on July 11, 1914, he became the first batter to face Babe Ruth. Almost two years later, on June 26, 1916, he would be the first major leaguer to bat wearing a number on his uniform. A scrappy leadoff hitter, Graney led the American League in walks twice (1917, 1919) and in doubles once (1916). The speedy Canuck also finished in the top 10 in triples in 1913 and 1916, with 12 and 14 three-baggers respectively. He was also a member of the World Series-winning Cleveland squad in 1920.
After his playing career, Graney became the first ex-player to make the transition to the broadcast booth, performing radio play-by-play for Cleveland from 1932 to 1953. The St. Thomas, Ont., native called the World Series for a national audience in 1935 and also broadcast that year’s All-Star Game in Cleveland.
Graney passed away on April 20, 1978. He was inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame posthumously six years later. The Canadian ball shrine now presents an annual award named in his honour to a media member who has made a significant contribution to the game of in Canada through their life’s work.
Graney emerged the 2022 Frick Award winner from a final ballot that featured broadcasters whose main contributions were realized as pioneers. The seven other finalists were Pat Flanagan, Waite Hoyt, France Laux, Rosey Rowswell, Hal Totten, Ty Tyson and Bert Wilson.
Though Graney is the first winner of the Frick Award to be born in Canada, legendary Montreal Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne, who had landed immigrant status, captured the honour in 2011 and iconic Toronto Blue Jays radio-by-play man Tom Cheek , who became a Canadian citizen, was the recipient in 2013.
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One of the major reasons Graney was voted the winner of this honour was the research done by Cleveland Guardians team historian Jeremy Feador.
He spent countless hours combing through newspaper files to find information about Graney. We are sharing some of the most interesting facts and opinions that Feador discovered about Graney here:
From the Cleveland Press, April 28, 1932 after Graney’s broadcasting debut:
Jack Graney Scores as Announcer. Shows Promise of Developing into star sportscaster on first WHK Broadcast from League Park.
Jack Graney starred out at League park yesterday afternoon… not as a ball chaser in left field but as a sport announcer in the press box. As a broadcaster. Graney is one of the most promising rookies that ever bombarded a microphone. He faced the “mike” cold in his first trip to the air, having been notified less than 24 hours before that the job was his. But to Graney the situation wasn’t any tougher than the many he solved while with the Indians…and with the former Cleveland ball player handling the “mike” for WHK, local fans can look forward to clear radio accounts of the home battles. Graney left no doubt that he knows the game, that he is always on top of the play, and that his voice is suitable for broadcasting. His sharp, clean handling of the play-by-play accounts was a relief from local broadcasting of the past, which was ragged in my spots. As a beginner Graney shows more promise than Tom Manning did when he started out to broadcast. He has a number of rough spots to smooth out but there is no doubt he has the ability to become the best and most popular announcer in the country.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer on May 20, 1936.
Information on how Graney prepared for his broadcasts:
“Graney is at League Park far ahead of broadcast time. We visited both Yankee and Indians dugouts to chat with Joe McCarthy, Steve O’Neill, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Gomez, Monte Pearson, Hal Trotsky and others. Graney gleans many colorful broadcasts bits from these visits. At game time we’re high in the stands. Graney broadcasts with pencil poised in one hand, a cigarette in the other. He wears glasses. He uses a conversational tone. In front of him is a chart of the Yankee club in fielding position. There’s surprising little fuss about it. Both Graney and Gibbons work easily. Two seats away from them you’d never know they were broadcasting.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 5, 1953.
Graney talks about the impact of his car accident in 1933.
Graney was in a car accident in only his second year of broadcasting that left him in need of multiple surgeries. Reflecting at the end of his career, Graney revealed that:
“You know there’s one thing you might explain what a lot of the fans ask me about, they see me carrying that pitcher of water on the coldest days and can’t figure it out. I was in an auto accident about 20 years back and my face was so banged up that I have no feeling in that right side. My lip sticks and I need the water for lubricant.”
From Cleveland Plain Dealer June 22, 1941.
Graney sometimes did not travel with the team and had to recreate the games in a studio in Cleveland.
“One of Graney’s top talents as an announcer is his ability to re-create games from a telegraphic account when the Indians are playing out of town. His long association with the players and his knowledge of the various parks give him an accurate background with which to put “colo” into these broadcasts which bring the games to life in the WHK-WCLE studios miles away from the actual scenes for the games…Graney and Hunter, working so long together, have now developed their own style. They never pose as experts. A great deal of their appeal comes in their natural stances at the microphones. To the game descriptions they add their bit of humor and now and then cheer some lonely soul who listens to their descriptions from a sick bed…But for a day-in and day out job of broadcasting I feel this team has developed into one of the top-flight announcing teams in the country…When Graney, doing these out-of-town games, remarks that a hurler has picked up the resin bag, pulled his cap down more firmly over his forehead or when he describes a batter’s stance at a plate he’s merely putting ‘colo’ into his description to make the game seem more alive. Graney has followed the players so long he has memorized various motions they usually go through when actually playing. So he makes good use of this knowledge when the games are played out-of-town. For the ball fans who follow the radio descriptions and who have never met Jack Graney and Pinky Hunter let me assure you that personally you would find them as natural and likeable as they appear before the mike.”
The Sporting News, July 11, 1935 praises Graney as a broadcaster:
“Graney, during the last four years, has earned a wide reputation as a radio announcer, his clear voice, quick thinking and inside knowledge of the game making him an outstanding broadcaster of ball games, while his personal acquaintance with all the managers and most of the players gives him entre to many inside stories. He is known in Cleveland as an announcer with a genial personality and a voice that rings with enthusiasm.”
Praise from his longtime broadcast partner Jimmy Dudley on March 14 1964. Dudley won the Ford C. Frick Award in 1997.
“It was the break of my life and so was the opportunity to work with Jack Graney. Our association was perfect and he taught me so much, especially about broadcasting from a player’s point of view. One thing he always said that I’ll never forget was this: ‘Just remember that 85% of the listeners know more about the game—or think they do—than you. Don’t spoil it for them.’”
The Sporting News in September 16, 1953 edition after Graney announced he was retiring as a broadcaster:
“Graney not only is a good fellow. He is one of the very best. Many another former Indian is represented by brighter pages in the record books, but none can claim more friends. The spontaneity with which the general public demanded a ‘Graney Night’ when his forthcoming retirement was announced was clear evidence of his standing. The Sporting News adds its salute to a gentleman who has been a credit to the game, whether as a player or as an announcer. And it takes the opportunity to remind some of the less personable character of the pastime that it’s mighty nice, at the age of 67, to know the world is in your corner.”