2:20 PM Eastern
If Tom Cheek couldn’t win the Ford C. Frick Award, gaining entry into the broadcasters’ wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., I guess Tony Kubek winning it is probably the next-best thing for Blue Jays fans.
Kubek was the original colour analyst on Blue Jays CTV broadcasts (from 1977-1989), working with Don Chevrier and Fergie Olver, and he worked with Tom Cheek for a few games in the early ’80s on First Choice or Superchannel, whichever one carried eight or ten Jays games for a couple of years.
Kubek is the first Frick winner who was exclusively an analyst, and he did help to introduce the game to a lot of fans here in Toronto in the early days of the franchise. I remember him as a good colour commentator, who worked well with Chevy, and I remember thinking that the Cheek/Kubek combo working those few TV games was as all-star as we could get for Blue Jays’ broadcasters. A big memory is NBC doing the 1985 ALCS, and feeling so happy that the Jays would have “one of their own” up there in the booth broadcasting the games to a U.S. audience that was really unfamiliar with the team. I also remember, like a lot of Jays’ fans back then, thinking that Kubek seemed to go too far the other way in his criticism of the Blue Jays in that series – but Royals fans felt the exact opposite, so he must have done a really balanced job.
Does Kubek deserve the Ford C. Frick award? Sure he does. Does Tom Cheek deserve it more? No question, and we’ll be back at it next year, trying again to get the Cheek name the honour it so dearly deserves.
A whole bunch of comments should be going up within the hour – rational, reasonable comments are always welcome.
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Thank you for the update Mike, to be honest at first when I saw that Mr. Cheek did not get ellected I was a little upset but seeing how Kubek is a past Toronto guy it takes a little of the hurt away. Tom Cheek definately deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Heres to next year.
P.S. Hope that your feeling better
- Chris*sigh*
I simply do not understand why they will not give Tom Cheek the recognition he deserves… this is very disappointing.
I always ask myself that if he had been the voice of the Tigers, or the Cubs, or the Giants, or any other American high-profile team, would we have had to wait this long for them to award him the Ford C. Frick Award. I can honestly say that, without a doubt, he would have been awarded it as soon as it was possible for them to do so.
Again, I can not comprehend their decision making…
Thanks, Mike.
- JeffWhen do you think the Blue Jays will start contract talks with Roy Halladay to keep him beyond 2010?
MW: Next winter
- andrewMike, you did a very good deed in getting us all to assist with nominations for Tom Cheek earlier this year. I hope that you do it again next year and I’m sure your readers will join you in another push to see that Tom gets the international recognition we know he deserves. Congratulations to Kubek, whose work I’m not familiar with.
- DaithiI can’t believe that once again Tom got shafted. They aren’t ever going to get this right, are they?
MW: Tom didn’t get shafted, Kubek was a perfectly reasonable choice, just not the one we wanted. I hope they’ll eventually get it right, and having Kubek as one of the voters now can’t hurt.
- MabelMike…Great comments on Tony Kubek… My late father sometimes would get annoyed at Kubek’s long drawn out stories during the t.v. broadcasts, but I loved them. My dad also talked about the 1960 WS when a bad bounce hit Kubek in the throat and helped the Pirates rally and led to Mazeroski’s dramatic homer. Two questions Mike…Thanks.. and glad you’re back and I hope you’re not keeping Gravol and Advil in business.
a)Would the people who named the Skydome still have that lifetime deal with tickets to every event even though it’s now called Rogers Centre?
b)Whatever became of Cliff Politte?…Nice fastball, but straight and often ended up over the wall.
MW: A – I assume so. B – He had the year of his life with the White Sox when they won the World Series, then faded into Bolivia.
- chris m.Mike I have a question regarding AJ Burnett. I have limited knowledge when it comes to free agent dealings but is there no way the BJ’s can sign him and the move him through trade to recoup something. Even eating a portion of the salary to pick up a player they feel is undervalued. Is their no way to get creative and turn this into a positive?
MW: They can only sign him if he wants to sign with them. There’s no Larry Bird rule in baseball that says you can beat any other team’s offer on your own free agent.
- MikeI agree, no question that Kubek deserves the award, but Mr.Cheek (rip) deserves it a little more. In your honest and realistic opinion, will we see Tom Cheek in Cooperstown in the near future?
MW: Honestly? I have no idea.
- RockyMike…Do you remember back in high school the “cool guys” wearing those T-shirts with the words: “And On The 8th Day, God Created Pink Floyd” (or Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, whatever) I was not one of them with my Bi-Way running shoes and Jays T-shirt…I’m not a theologian by any means Mike, but if those cool T-shirts are to be believed, wouldn’t on the 9th day, Greg Maddux have been created?
MW: Maddux was an artist, a scientist. Maybe the best ever at his craft.
- chris m.Hey Mike.
I find it ridiculous and shameful that the Blue Jays, all of the sudden, do not have money to spend because of the drop in the Canadian dollar.
Can somebody please tell me what in the name of God the higher-ups at Rogers were doing when the dollar was high? Why did they not purchase a boat load of american money and then transfer it over to Canadian funds. If you would have purchased for the sake of argument, $100,000 US dollars, you would have made about 30,000. Imagine what Ted’s millions could have amounted to had Rogers planned ahead.
I know plenty of people who did this and profited from it. Imagine what the Blue Jays could be spending this week on free agents had Rogers thought outside the box.
Some food for thought Mike. Thanks for the blogging.
MW: They bought some U.S. money ahead of the dollar’s crash, but not enough.
- Jamie/WindsorMichael of the Ballyard:
Inre: your argument that the quantity and number of points covered per post of the posts I made while baked is grounds for arguing against posting while baked, I checked two randomly selected baked posts and noted the following:
Mostly, my posts were, despite being long in pixels because I properly used paragraph breaks to separate thoughts, were just as short in actual writing as a fully developed one or two paragraphs expounding on an individual subject. Accordingly, your responses to my baked posts were, while also rapidly changing streams of thought, not consisted of much more actual writing than your response to a sonewhat thought of singlular issue requiring a semi-expansive response.
I typically only made one post a night, and second did not introduct new content or questions.
MW: Really? This surprises me.
- JCLReally too bad about Tom not getting in once again.
On your last thread you responded to a question about Vernon being moved and said you thought Rios is ready for center-field. Couldn’t disagree more. Last year, Rios was caught napping and generally lost focus in the field quite a few times, no? That’s NOT a trait I’d like in my center fielder. Why do you think he’s ready?
MW: Because he was the best defensive centre-fielder on the team last year.
- Scott BI’m wondering why you don’t like Rafeal Furcal?
MW: I do like Rafael Furcal, but I don’t think that he’ll wind up being close to worth the contract he signs.
- andrewHi Mike, Hope you’re enjoying your time off. My question is about Zaun. Do you think he’ll be a good fit for Baltimore if Hernandez is traded to Cincinatti? Maybe 1 or 2 years?? He just seems like a ‘good guy’ and I’d like to see him end up somewhere as a starter. I think his uncle has a Baltimore connection too.
MW: Baltimore has a kid named Matt Wieters who will be up and starting for them by the middle of May, if not sooner. Zaun would be a good fit there as a back-up, though.
- SandyGreat honour for Kubek. Only color guy who comes close to that level of analysis was Buck. Shows you how far we’ve dropped off with Tabler and Mulliniks and who ever else.
- NeilMike the 09 Jays will finish no better then .500. What trades could this team possible make to improve themselfs? The players that have trade Value on this team are Travis Snider, Roy Halladay, Brett Cecil, J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider. outside of those give guys your not going to get much back in return and it wouldn’t be wise to trade those players just to make turn the 09 Jays that are current a 75 win team into a 82 win team.
This pipe dream of yours of Trading Lyle Overbay, or Vernon Wells is nothing more then you over valueing these players.
“trading Vernon Wells to San Fran 1st baseman John Bowker and Matt Cain”
Mike you responding to this question by saying theres a possibility there.
I honestly lauphed my head off. the Giants wouldn’t do that deal in a mmillion years. If your going to pay a player 20 Million a year he had better be one of the top 15 baseball players on the plantet and Vernon Wells is no where near that.
MW: Don’t be so sure. I mean, I’m not saying that it’ll happen, but heck, even Andruw Jones is drawing some interest.
- Even BradshawDammit! Every year the same story. I guess we’ll try again next year, and all the years until we get Our Guy into the Hall.
On another topic…Rafael Furcal? I thought we weren’t going to be doing too much at the meetings.
MW: Talking to a free agent to whom three other teams are also talking doesn’t constitute doing much.
- reyesI remember when Tony Kubek was with the Blue Jays. Who finished 2nd in the voting and by how much? I hope Tom Cheek wins next year.
MW: Voting results aren’t released.
- MarkHi Mike,
MW: Hi, Shane.
- Shanemichael,
i see by previous blog entries that you’re a big beatles fan. you are indeed a man of impeccable taste.
they are are simply the greatest.
you probably didn’t know this about me but i was actually in the beatles for 4-5 months after sergeant pepper & before magical mystery tour. (i sang and played tambourine)
it’s not very well documented as i asked them to keep it on the down low (anyway they were cool about it)
but paul & john were starting to fight alot at that point and i decided to leave the band & start my own group..
the goo goo g joob’s in “i am the walrus” is actually me
singing by the way. (similar to paul doing the “that’s right” in donovan’s song mellow yellow….
thought you might be interested in those tid bits of info…
jooba jooba………
MW: I always thought Eddie Murphy was the fifth Beatle (She Loves You, Man).
- darrell bishopSorry,
What I meant to comment on was the fact that Tom finished 3rd in voting with only 8900 on-line votes? If most people were like me and voted multiple times, that number seems very low. After all of the publicity that was given to this in September . . . kind of shocking and disappointing. On another note, reading about the starting rotation for next season, throwing Janssen into the mix after missing all of ’08 seems very risky. I even read that Downs might be an option? Crazyness. Why haven’t I heard Bryan Wolfe considered as a starting possibility? I’d prefer leaving Tallet in the bullpen and going with (in no particular order after Halladay) Purcey, Richmond, Litsch and Wolfe. If they can sign a Paul Byrd, one of these 4 goes to the pen or is trade bait. Your thoughts?
MW: I don’t think putting Janssen in the rotation is craziness, not if he’s healthy. The Jays (and Wolfe) were happier with him in the bullpen. If you want to contend, Purcey and Richmond can’t be two of your top three starters.
- ShaneMike –
Dang it!
I guess we’re getting closer to seeing “our own” in the Hall.
Glad to see you’re still blogging and appearing on radio. Sorry, but i forgot about you with the crazy hockey season on. I promise I’ll stay plugged in.
Glad to see you guys have an RRS feed now.
kk
- karim kanjiTim Brown’s saying that the Jays are still in on Furcal. J.P. and all of the Toronto media, however, are saying we aren’t going to spend any money this year. Thoughts?
MW: See above.
- peteUnfortunately, I feel it will be a very long time before the late great Tom Cheek wins this award. Despite his amazing streak of consecutive games called and his cool calm way of calling agame, the fact that he worked for the jays here in Canada meant he didn’t gain the exposure he should have. Tom was such a huge part of my childhood first with Early Wynne and then Jerry Howarth. I can always recall listening to the Jays on the radio every day or night as a youngster when games were only televised on Wednesday nights on CBC and alternating weeks with teh Expos at a time. I hope Tom gets his due very soon, but I think he’ll have to wait longer than we hope.
- IanMike…What is Billy Wagner’s contract status with the Mets?…I know he’s toast for this upcoming year with the Tommy John surgery, but with K-Rod now aboard, he’s expendable I would guess.
MW: Wagner signed a four-year deal the same year B.J. Ryan signed his five-year deal, so he’s done after 2009.
- chris m.Hi Mike,
Please allow me to thank everyone who voted for Tom again this year. I know that Tom would say that Tony Kubek deserved this award before him ….but, I also think that Tom has all the credentials required to receive this award…maybe next year….thanks to all for taking the time to vote daily and hopefully next year you will take the time to once again get Tom on the final ballot.
Sincerely,
Shirley Cheek
MW: Thank you, Mrs. C., and we’ll all try our best again next year!
- Shirley CheekHey Mike
If you could choose, which of these would end up in the Level of Excellence
1) Carlos Delgado
2) Roy Halladay
3) Jerry Howarth
4) Shawn Green
5) Roger Clemens
Any others?
MW: Delgado and Halladay for now, Jerry when he hangs ‘em up.
- JeffHey Mike,
Out of the following kids:
Litsch, Purcey and Jannsen, and Romero, what do you expect from them in 09, and in turn what do you see the Jays doing, assuming the lineup stays as it is, record -wise?
(I will not hold you to it I swear).
MW: I don’t know. Litsch keeps defying expectations, and as much as I think he’s a solid, bottom of the rotation type guy, he has been a lot more than that so far in his career. Purcey put up some very good numbers once he got into the rotation to stay last season, and Janssen was a terrific starter in 2006 before he got hurt, and a phenomenal reliever in 2007, but he’s coming off a very, very serious injury. Could they do for the Jays in 2009 what Blackburn, Slowey and Perkins did for the Twins in 2008? Maybe. Could they just as easily do what Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain did for the Yankees in 2008? Sure. As for Romero, I’ve never even seen him pitch. Honestly, I believe that the Jays, as currently constituted, could win anywhere from 70-90 games. How’s that for equivocating?
- CoreyMike, Like all Blue Jay fans, Tom Cheek is my preference for the Ford C. Frick award. The hard truth is, most Americans have no idea who Tom is. If I were not a Blue Jay fan I would have no clue about Tom and most Americans would NEVER have heard him even once if not for the “touch ‘em all Joe” call we’ve heard so many times. Because of my frequent trips to Toronto I am familiar with the special talent Tom had (not to mention all those nights I listened on my radio in my car to CHML in Hamilton, which has a signal that gets into my area with fairly good clarity after sundown).
Most Canadian radio stations have signals that run east to west and are never heard down here in the states, not even at night because the signal would have to be set to run north and south, a north to south signal would not allow them to reach Canadian listeners whom their advertisers are trying to reach, hence they focus on an east to west signal. Living here in the USA, I was able to hear numerous American based teams almost every night, therefore guys like Ernie Harwell, Bob Prince, Herb Score, Herb Carneal, Joe Nuxhall, Jack Buck, Milo Hamilton, Harry Carey and Jack Brickhouse are names all fans and sportswriters are familiar with and these guys take precedence over Tom because he lacks familiarity in US markets and US writers and broadcasters. I am in no way saying Tom being snubbed is fair (it is not), but when you consider guys who have recently passed like Herb Score and Joe Nuxhall are still waiting for this award and they were broadcast to large audiances here in the midwest for 35 or 40 years, getting Tom the award he so richly deserves may be harder than some think it will be. My greatest fear is that the more time that passes since his death, the harder it will be to get him elected.
MW: I agree with you, but remember too that those who vote on the award are in the industry, so they’d be far more familiar with Tom than your average American baseball fan.
- Jim in OhioMike…Have you ever seen the Beatles tribute band, “1964″..Very good reproduction..Really bizarre story about them. That was the first date I took my now present wife on so I guess she was impressed. And that was the first concert my daughter attended just with her friends now being old enough…Life has come full circle…The only downfall, is that because of the band’s title, they concentrate on early material and not so much on later stuff..But to quote the late great John Lennon, ” A splendid time is guaranteed for all.”
MW: I haven’t, but I’m going to see “Rain” in a couple of months.
- chris m.Hi Mike…hope you’re feeling better..any way..it’s just a matter if time before Tom gets the award…it’s inevitable…off topic..I’ve been listening to McCown talk about the Jays…this is gonna be a scary year..and now that Mr. Rogers is dead I have a feeling this is the beginning of the end for the Jays in Toronto..i gotta stop listening to the Bobcat, he’s driving me crazy
MW: There are a lot of people who believe that Rogers won’t be as interested in the Blue Jays now that Mr. Rogers is gone. I’m not one of them.
- GordMW: If you want to contend, Purcey and Richmond can’t be two of your top three starters.
I agree with you. But do we expect to contend? I’m not suggesting that everyone is intending to tank next season, but I do think we are starting with so many question marks around the team on-field and the ownership that it would be unlikely we could end up playing meaningful games at the end of September. Given that, perhaps it would be an idea to give guys like Purcey a chance at a regular rotation job. I would also like to see how Janssen works out in that role.
At the moment, we’re scuffling at 1st, 3rd, leadoff batter, power batting positions. We don’t know how well Hill can play. We don’t even know if he will be able to play. So we might be scuffling at 2nd as well. We have one catcher and not much backup for him. We have an incredibly gifted defensive short-stop who can’t hit worth a damn, and two guys who amazed us unexpectedly last year and who may or may not repeat their performance. As well, we have two premier guys out of our rotation. So all we have in terms of solid players are: the outfield–which is excellent defensively and has the potential to be excellent offensively. And Roy Halladay, who is the best pitcher in the majors. If this was a movie, our guys would all of a sudden come together in the greatest show of excellence ever seen in the division, and beat all-comers on their way to the World Series. But it isn’t. So for me, it’s a season to try this out and see what happens. Who knows? Maybe something magic will happen. [scatters fairy dust all over blog...]
MW: Wouldn’t it be cool if it was a movie? The problem is, there are so many ways you can go with this team. The truth of the matter is that this was one of the five best teams in the majors last season, and they come back missing A.J. Burnett and Shaun Marcum, but regaining Janssen, Hill and Jeremy Accardo. It’s also a team for which nothing that it has needed to go right the past few years has, so it’s due. It’s not necessarily a throw-in-the-towel lost cause.
- reyesWilner,
I hear Cito is saying the Jays have no chance in 2009 so they are shooting for 2010. If so, does that mean there is even a stronger likelihood of J.P not returning?
If that does happen, then it’ll make a losing season in 09′ definitely worth it.
FIRE J.P NOW!!!!
MW: It’s funny – a terrible season in 2009 likely means J.P. is out (assuming there’s a new Preisdent), and then you can watch the team J.P. built go out and have a great year in 2010.
- BobbyHi Mike, where did Tom Cheek finish in the voting? Was he 2nd, 3rd? do you know?
MW: Results of the voting aren’t released.
- MarkMike — re #32 — one “gain” you forgot to mention is McGowan, who (all being well) will play for at least 3/4 of a season, whereas he missed the same 3/4 of the year last year.
I agree that it isn’t necessarily a “towel-throwing” year — especially if JP can make another acquisition or two.
- NormMW: The truth of the matter is that this was one of the five best teams in the majors last season,
I think the team did extremely well after Cito Gaston was hired, They went on a mondo win-streak and their pitching and defense were exceptional. If that team had had anything like adequate hitting, we could have given the Rays and Boston a run for their money. However it didn’t and it still doesn’t have a credible dh and succesful power hitters. I agree with what you’re saying, The team is surely due for some good luck. However I think it’s a stretch to see them really contend. That having been said, I will be thrilled to eat my words if they do contend.
MW: It’s funny – a terrible season in 2009 likely means J.P. is out (assuming there’s a new Preisdent), and then you can watch the team J.P. built go out and have a great year in 2010.
The baseball gods have a sense of irony, as well you know.
- isabella reyesHey Mike. Just want you to know I’m just as frusterated about this one as you. Tom Cheek “IS” the voice of the Blue Jays and I want that voice in the broadcasting wing of Cooperstown. I voted every 24 hours that month when I was at a computer and I went on a few Jays fan forums to make fans aware of the situation. This coming season I think I’m going to start pushing people into this like I’m selling amway. I’ll wait for your cue on the Fan. Don’t vote for Pedro(Napolian Dynomite)!!! Vote for Tom.
MW: Nice.
- Matt from BC