07/31/06
Frick Award winner looks a lot like a Hall of Famer
Longtime Houston announcer says times have changed
2006 NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY
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| | | Star photo by Anita Briggs
Ford C. Frick Award winner Gene Elston shares a laugh with Induction Ceremony emcee George Grande on Sunday at the Clark Sports Center. |
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p>By P.J. Harmer
Staff Writer
COOPERSTOWN — Gene Elston’s path to Cooperstown seems to mimic the Hall of Fame players he announced throughout the years.
A stay in the minors, a long and prolific major league career and, after retirement, a call from Cooperstown.
Elston, the longtime play-by-play announcer for the Houston Astros, was honored as the 2006 Ford C. Frick Award winner for broadcasting during the National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Sunday.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]"This is truly awesome and I feel blessed to have been a part of such a great game for so long a time," Elston said under a sun-filled afternoon at the Clark Sports Center.
Before Sunday, Elston said his top career moment was walking into the broadcast booth at Wrigley Field to announce his first major league game.
"I ask you now, can there be anything more memorable for a young man after spending eight years in the minor leagues?," Elston asked.
"Now with all my heart, I would like to amend that moment and announce first place is now occupied by Cooperstown, this place, my field and my dream."
Elston, the award’s 30th winner, spent nearly five decades announcing baseball, including 25 years as the voice of Houston baseball.
After leaving the Astros following the 1986 season, he became part of CBS Radio’s Game of the Week from 1987-95. He also worked postseason assignments for CBS Radio from 1995-97.
Among his highlights, Elston has called 11 no-hitters, Eddie Mathews’ 500th home run, Nolan Ryan’s 3,509th strikeout, and the first game at the Houston Astrodome.
But Elston seems to have gathered a new feel for baseball since leaving the broadcast booth.
"The one constant in time has been baseball, which has existed for 161 years through club ownerships, their staffs, the players, umpires and of course the loyal fans," Elston said. "Over the past years, I have attended many baseball-related events and have spent hours rubbing elbows, discussing just about every facet of the game.
"This opportunity to see and feel the pulse of the fans face-to-face has been very uplifting following years of talking to unseen audiences; these are baseball loyalists in every meaning of the word, meetings that convinced me of the overwhelming passion they have for our national pastime."
Elston also gave a glimpse into the early days of baseball and the battle between broadcasters and writers.
This all came, of course, after he said it was an privilege to be honored with J.G. Taylor Spink award winner Tracy Ringolsby.
"Many years ago, writers and broadcasters were, to say the least, overly unfriendly," Elston said. "In fact, in 1938, broadcasters were told by the Boston Baseball Writers Association to stay out of the press box, stating that broadcasters ’will be confined to the radio booths.’
"This ill feeling has disappeared, and the two sides for the most part tolerate each other in their own egotistical environments," he continued. "Years ago, broadcast booths were referred to by the writers as ’Earache Alley’ and the announcers looked upon the press box as the home of the ’Ink-stained Wretches.’"
