October 1, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Montreal Expos broadcasting legend Jacques Doucet is among the 10 finalists for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2025 Ford C. Frick Award.

The Hall unveiled its list of finalists on Tuesday.

The award is presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting.

Doucet, who was the French voice on Montreal Expos broadcasts from 1972 to 2004, officially announced his retirement in September 2022.

Born in Montreal in 1940, Doucet served as an Expos beat reporter for La Presse from the time the franchise was awarded to the city in 1968 to 1971. He began performing play-by-play for the Expos’ French language radio broadcasts in 1972 and continued for 33 seasons. For many years, Doucet also broadcast major league playoff and World Series games in French.

In a Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Zoom call in 2022, he counted the 1982 All-Star Game in Montreal and the two perfect games he called – Expos ace Dennis Martinez‘s masterpiece against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28, 1991 and New York Yankees right-hander David Cone‘s flawless performance against the Expos on July 18, 1999 – as career highlights.

After the Expos left for Washington following the 2004 season, Doucet continued his broadcast career in his home province, calling games for the independent Can-Am League’s Quebec Capitales from 2006 to 2011. Starting in 2011, he called Toronto Blue Jays games in French for TVA Sports.

In total, Doucet broadcast more than 5,500 big league games during his storied career. For his efforts, he was inducted into the Quebec Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Montreal Expos Hall of Fame in 2003. The following year, he won the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award, which is handed out annually by the Hall to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada through their life’s work.

He has also been a finalist in 2019, 2022 and 2023. In 2020, he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

If Doucet wins the award, he would become the second Canadian in four years to receive the honour.

St. Thomas Ont., native and legendary Cleveland broadcaster Jack Graney was the 2022 recipient. He was honoured posthumously.

Prior to his broadcasting career, Graney was a scrappy leadoff hitter for Cleveland. His big-league resume boasts a number of firsts. When he 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 was the first major leaguer to bat wearing a number on his uniform. After hanging up his spikes, 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.

Though Graney is the first winner of the Frick Award to be born in Canada, longtime Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne captured the honour in 2011 and legendary Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek was the recipient in 2013.

Aside from Doucet, the other finalists for the 2024 Frick Award are Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Gary Cohen, Tom Hamilton, Ernie Johnson Sr., Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Dave Sims and John Sterling.

The winner will be announced at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Nashville on December 11. The winner will be honoured on July 26, 2025 as part of the Awards Presentation during Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown.

You can read a short bio of each of the finalists here.

To be considered for the Frick Award, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a team, network, or a combination of the two.

This year’s ballot was created by a subcommittee that included past honorees Marty Brennaman, Joe Castiglione, Eric Nadel and broadcast historians David J. Halberstam and Curt Smith.

The final voting will be conducted by a committee made up of the 13 living Frick Award recipients and three broadcast historians/columnists. The group will include past honorees Brennaman, Joe Castiglione, Bob Costas, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Al Michaels, Jon Miller, Nadel, Bob Uecker and Dave Van Horne, and historians/columnists Halberstam (historian), Barry Horn (formerly of the Dallas Morning News), and Smith (historian).

The award is named in honour of Ford C. Frick, a well-known sportswriter and radio broadcaster who later became National League president and MLB commissioner.

You can find a complete list of past recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award here.