Longtime Chicago Cubs radio play-by-play announcer Pat Hughes received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in a ceremony over the weekend. The honor is bestowed upon a baseball broadcaster once per year and is considered an immense accolade within the industry. Previous winners of the award include Jack Buck, Ernie Harwell and Vin Scully among others, immortalized in Cooperstown and considered among baseball’s greatest commentators.
Hughes outlined the euphoric moment when he found out he was being honored with the award, recalling the scene in his living room. Ron Coomer, the team’s radio color commentator since 2014, was with Hughes – as was Audacy regional president Rachel Williamson and 670 The Score vice president and brand manager Mitch Rosen. Chicago Cubs President of Business Operations, Crane Kenney was also on hand and listened as Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch spoke to Hughes over the phone.
“Josh Rawitch says, ‘Pat, congratulations on being named the Ford C. Frick Award winner for 2023,’” Hughes recalled. “He said more, but I did not hear another word. My head started spinning with joy and emotion, and I truly wish that every baseball announcer could experience that thrill.”
Upon learning of his induction into Cooperstown, Hughes noticed his phone lit up with a text message from Bob Costas, one of the industry’s most accomplished broadcasters and a former Ford C. Frick Award winner himself. The message read, “Congrats, Pat. Richly deserved. Welcome to the Club.” Hughes particularly noticed the capital ‘C’ in the word ‘Club,’ a punctilious grammatical detail since ‘Club,’ metonymic for former award winners, is, in this case, a proper noun.
Hughes then waxed poetic about his love for the game of baseball, which he cultivated in his youth and hoped would emerge as a professional athlete. Although he played for championship teams, he recognized that his skill set was not good enough to make the major leagues. At the suggestion of his brother, he considered a path as a play-by-play announcer and started his career by delivering commentary as a bench player on the San Jose State University men’s basketball team.
After 12 seasons in Milwaukee working with the venerable Bob Uecker, Hughes made the move to Chicago and emphasized the importance of Ron Santo, his first broadcasting partner. On the night before the duo’s first game together in spring training, Santo called Hughes and offered him reassuring words and expressed how the experience would be a lot of fun.
Hughes vividly remembers feeling the tension exit his body and immediately finding an on-air chemistry with Santo in the booth. Since then, he has been at Wrigley Field and with the team for a deluge of memorable moments, perhaps none more so than its first World Series championship in 108 years. The listeners, however, are the ones who choose to listen to Hughes and Coomer call the games, and he conveyed his gratitude for the Cubs fans at the podium.
“What an extraordinary group of people you are,” Hughes said. “I want to thank you so much for your unbelievable passion for the ballclub, and your support of me. When I got the call from Cooperstown last December, I truly think there were some Cubs fans who were just as happy as I was with the news.”
Hughes closed his speech by thanking his colleagues, Cubs ownership, Marquee Sports Network executives, engineers and production employees behind the scenes. He also took the time to thank Rosen, who also serves as the executive producer for Cubs radio broadcasts and has helped craft and sustain the revered on-air product.
“In 41 years of big league baseball play-by-play, I’ve worked with dozens of programming directors and station management-types,” Hughes said. “…Mitch Rosen is simply the best I have ever worked with.”
The Cubs fanbase, widely regarded as some of the most loyal spectators in baseball, ardently cheer on their team with the hopes of capturing another championship. Whether they are listening to Jon “Boog” Sciambi call the games on television or Pat Hughes on the radio, the fans know they have an experienced broadcast duo who exude passion for the home team and sport at large. Hughes feels the Cubs fans have accepted him as one of their own and appreciates their benevolence and enduring congeniality over the years.
“You make me feel like I’m part of your family,” Hughes said. “You invite me to special events like graduations, bar mitzvahs and birthdays, and I absolutely love those games at Wrigley Field; those close ballgames where you fans are not just part of the ballpark atmosphere, but you become part of the ballgame itself, and you play a significant role in a dramatic Cubs victory.”
