The Ford Frick Award isn't exactly the Cy Young Award, Golden Glove, or Silver Slugger. It does get you in the Hall of Fame, though, and that's something. Win the Frick Award (named after former Commissioner Ford Frick) and you're in the sportscaster's wing.

Which is right where Tony Kubek belongs.

Kubek played shortstop for the Yankees right before the big decline of the mid-sixties. He teamed with Bobby Richardson to give them the best double play combination in the majors and helped the Yankees win six pennants and three world championships in nine years. In 1957 he was Rookie of the Year and three times he made the All-Star team.

He should have been a star. A left handed hitter with decent power, Kubek should have enjoyed a long and productive career. But bad luck mixed with the good and back injuries ended his career at 29.

NBC was riding the crest of a TV wave in the sixties. They had the only baseball game in town on national TV, the Saturday "Game of the Week". They needed talent to support two games each weekend, a regular broadcast and a backup in case of rain. The need for two crews brought Kubek and Sandy Koufax (another player whose career ended early) back to the majors.

Twenty-four seasons later, Kubek was established as one of the best sports casters, having worked with Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson, Joe Garagiola, and Bob Costas. He worked best with Gowdy.

Listening to Gowdy was like listening to a smoother version of Jimmy Stewart calling a game. He was a fly fisher away from the mike, and it came across on the air. What he needed in a partner was someone with a little fire and a passion for inside baseball. He got that and more in Kubek.

You appreciate Kubek the more you watch today's broadcasters. He didn't make up cutesy nicknames for players, neither pandered to athletes or went out of his way to criticize, and managed to put you "on the field" with comments that often foretold what was about to happen. If he hadn't been so young when he started in the booth, or so firmly established there by age 40, there is little doubt he would have made an excellent manager.

But not with the Yankees.

Kubek spent five years of the "Bronx Zoo" period working Yankee games on cable. He managed to get on the wrong side of George Steinbrenner by saying the Yankees were "an expensive toy" for the volatile owner and playing was "tough enough without someone harassing you".

Controversy was not Kubek's aim, but he didn't shy away from it. He called out Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for not being in Atlanta when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record, and never backed away from calling the game as he saw it. His perspective as a former player was always part of his style, but didn't keep him from pointing out mistakes. And he never hesitated to point out an umpire's bad call.

The first "modern" ex-athlete broadcaster is not too lofty a title to bestow on Kubek. He treated the game as serious but not sacred, paving the way for a more reportorial style of broadcasting. In doing so, he elevated the concept of the ex-player in the booth light years ahead of where it had been until then. He no doubt played no small part in the development of Bob Costas as a broadcaster. To here Costas today is to appreciate what Kubek was behind the mike.

Will Kubek win the Frick? Joe Nuxhall, who recently passed away, has to be a sentimental favorite based on a 63 year association with the Reds. Joe Morgan is better known to current voters, Ken Coleman had a long and distinguished career, and early pioneer Graham MacNamee certainly has strong historical credentials.

But broadcasters should honor Kubek before all the rest. He set a new standard for ex-athletes in the booth, made every partner he worked with better, and was relentlessly honest in a business not known for honesty.

Fans don't get a vote, but broadcasters do. They should vote early and often for Kubek.