A Sense of Doubt blog post #3080 - Pat Hughes, Chicago Cubs Broadcaster, Elected to Hall of Fame
I love Baseball on the radio. Also, Baseball should always be capitalized like all religions.
I love that the MLB app allows me to listen to the radio broadcast synched with the TV broadcast.
I love the Hughes-Coomer-Zaidman on 670 the Score!
https://sports.yahoo.com/column-pat-hughes-longtime-chicago-110000805.html?src=rss
Column: Pat Hughes, longtime Chicago Cubs radio voice, is ready for his day in the sun in Cooperstown
Pat Hughes considers himself one lucky guy.
“When I was in college, if anyone would’ve said you’re going to have a long career and be in the big leagues for five years, I would’ve said, ‘Great, sign me up,’” Hughes said. “Now 41 years, it’s almost ridiculous. It’s so sublime it’s incomprehensible. How did I get here?”
The answer to that question seems obvious to anyone who has followed his career.
Hughes worked hard at his craft, was dedicated to learning everything he could about the game and its players, became a respected and beloved voice of the Chicago Cubs and performed his job long enough and well enough to earn the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting.
Saturday afternoon at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., a day before the National Baseball Hall of Fame inductions of Scott Rolen and Fred McGriff, Hughes will be honored by the Hall and receive his plaque, putting him in the company of Cubs greats Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray.
During Wednesday’s Cubs game at Wrigley Field, Hughes said in an interview with the Tribune he has been working on his speech for several months, writing “a little bit here, a little bit there.”
Hughes, 68, flew to Cooperstown on Thursday to prepare for the big weekend, with family, friends and several co-workers from the Cubs organization and WSCR-AM 670 on hand.
“I’m sure it’s going to be exciting,” he said. “Primarily what I’m going to do is thank a lot of people. I’m not really comfortable talking about myself. I will talk a little about myself, because I have to, but I’ve had so many great partners and engineers and the people that hired me way back when.
“A little bit about my family and my parents, my wife, Trish, my kids, and my two brothers.”
Hughes’ speech will be streamed live on mlb.com and available on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Facebook page. MLB Network will air Saturday’s HOF weekend events, including baseball writer John Lowe’s acceptance of the BBWAA’s Career Excellence Award, and former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine getting the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, on Sunday.
After WSCR broadcasts the Cubs’ afternoon game against the St. Louis Cardinals, morning show host David Haugh will man a postgame show that will air Hughes’ speech. The station also will air a three-hour special on Hughes’ career from 6-9 p.m. Friday, including interviews with current partner Ron Coomer, former partner Bob Uecker and others, and taped highlights of his greatest calls.
So how did Hughes get here?
He grew up in San Jose, Calif., wanting to be either an NBA point guard or a major-leaguer but realized around age 17 he couldn’t realize either dream.
“But I wanted to make a living in sports somehow,” he said. “Coaching, umpiring, refereeing. I did both of those jobs putting myself through college (at San Jose State).”
He credited his late brother, John, for pushing him into the business. John was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Pat said.
“He made some bad choices and passed away about 15 years ago, but he got me started in broadcasting,” he said. “He was a senior when I was a freshman in college, and he was taking broadcasting classes and dabbling in play-by-play. He suggested broadcasting, so I gave it a shot. I worked at it and took it seriously. I made a dedicated commitment, and I was lucky.”
Hughes started out in the minors at age 22, broadcasting games of his hometown San Jose Missions, a Triple-A team, and worked his way up to the Minnesota Twins TV play-by-play man by 1983.
“I was 27 when I called my first big-league game, so it’s not like I had to wait that long,” he said. “I was really lucky and I worked really hard to get there. I knew the competition was going to be severe and the odds were overwhelmingly against you ever doing a big league game. I thought I’d give it a shot, and if it doesn’t work out then I’ll go to Plan B.”
Which was what?
“I don’t even know what Plan B was,” he said with a grin. “Law school maybe?”
Hughes soon left the Twins for a job broadcasting Milwaukee Brewers games and spent 11 years with the legendary Uecker, another Frick Award winner, while calling Marquette basketball in the offseason. Hughes and Uecker had a good rapport, but Hughes knew he could never be a No. 1 in Milwaukee as long as Uecker was in the booth.
The Cubs’ radio job on WGN-AM 720, working alongside former player Ron Santo and occasionally between Santo and Caray, was too good to pass up.
“I told him the team and the game are what people are listening for,” Uecker told the Tribune after Hughes was hired to be the Cubs play-by-play man in 1995, replacing Thom Brennaman. “We won’t last forever. There is going to always be someone else who will come along and announce the game. Pat believed me when I said it.”
When Hughes signed a two-year contract as the Cubs play-by-play man in 1995, he told the Tribune he was done changing jobs.
“I’m not a gypsy broadcaster,” he said. “I’m already uprooting one daughter from 1st grade. And you know how traumatic that can be. I’m content to stay here the rest of my life.”
The rest is history. Hughes became a staple on the North Side, where a cool and calm delivery mixed with bursts of excitement on big plays and humorous banter with his analysts melded into a staccato rhythm enjoyed by Cubs fans young and old.
Then one day in 2016, Hughes became part of history.
On Nov. 2, after the final out of Game 7 of the World Series, Hughes would become the first and only Chicago broadcaster to make the call — “the Chicago Cubs win the World Series!” Radio, of course, had not been invented when the Cubs last won a championship in 1908.
On Saturday afternoon at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, Hughes is set to be recognized as one of the greatest baseball broadcasters of all time.
So sublime, and so well-deserved.
AUDACY RADIO SHOW
https://www.audacy.com/670thescore/sports/chicago-cubs/cubs-radio-broadcaster-pat-hughes-inducted-into-hall-of-fame
(670 The Score) Pat Hughes, the iconic radio voice of the Chicago Cubs, was officially enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday as the 2023 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually to a broadcaster for major contributions to baseball.
Hughes is the 47th recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award and the fifth Chicago broadcaster to earn that honor, joining Bob Elson, Jack Brickhouse, Harry Caray and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. He has been the radio play-by-play broadcaster with the Cubs since 1995.
“It is my extreme pleasure to be with you today in this magical baseball village,” Hughes said on Saturday in Cooperstown as he accepted the honor. “I am delighted, proud and excited, but mainly I am grateful, because while the Ford C. Frick Award is a cherished and coveted individual honor, there is simply no way I could’ve gotten here by myself.
“Receiving the call from the Hall was one of life’s best ever experiences – so sublime, it’s almost incomprehensible.”
Hughes offered his gratitude to his wife, Trish, and daughters, Janell and Amber, who traveled to Cooperstown for the ceremony, and recognized his late parents, Vergil and Mary Margaret. Hughes also recognized his brother, Chuck, who was in attendance, and honored his late brother, John, who “more than anyone else got me started in broadcasting.” Many of Hughes’ in-laws and colleagues were also present, including Cubs Radio broadcast partners Ron Coomer and Zach Zaidman.
A graduate of San Jose State, Hughes was part of the Spartans’ men’s basketball program and shared the story of how his interest in broadcasting uniquely began.
“At the end of my modest athletic career, I’m playing college basketball – or more accurately, sitting on the bench most of the time,” Hughes said. “One game, out of sheer boredom, I just started doing play-by-play of my own team during the game.
“One of my teammates said, ‘Pat, you’re not that bad. Keep that going.’ So, you could say that in my play-by-play career, the first listening audience consisted of the other benchwarmers on my own college team. Sort of an inglorious beginning.”
Hughes began his career calling Major League Baseball in 1983 as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Twins. He spent 12 games calling games for the Brewers before being hired to call Cubs games in 1995.
Hughes was paired with Cubs legend Ron Santo, a Hall of Fame player who was inducted into Cooperstown posthumously in 2012.
“Ronnie would become a very important person in my life,” Hughes said. “Thoughtfully, he called me the night before our first Cactus League broadcast. He said, ‘Pat, I know you’re nervous. Don’t be. You do the play-by-play; you’re going to be fine. I’ll do the color. We’re going to have fun. OK? See you tomorrow.’ As he spoke those words, I know it sounds corny, but I could literally feel the tension leave my body. I felt very relaxed and ready to go to work the next day on Cubs radio.
“The next day, in the very first half inning, Ron Santo and I clicked immediately. After the third out, he stands up smiling and shakes my hand and the look on his face said, ‘Oh, boy, this is going to be great.’ I said, man, if he gets this excited about a Cactus League game, wait until we get into a pennant race. But it was a special time, and Ronnie and I shared a unique chemistry that became the Pat and Ron Show.
“Ronnie and Harry Caray both went out of their way to welcome me to Chicago way back when, and I will forever be grateful.”
Hughes has been broadcast partners with the former All-Star and Cubs third baseman Coomer since 2013.
“The 10 years with Ron Coomer have been wonderful,” Hughes said. “He’s simply one of the best people I’ve ever known in my life. A total team player, a Chicago native, lifelong Cubs fan, he played for the Cubs, he’s insightful, he’s smart, he’s funny, he explains the game in a way that is easy for the audience to understand. Great sense of humor. And by the way, we got to cover a world championship season for the Cubs. As long as I’m doing radio play-by-play for the Cubs, I want to have Ron Coomer next to me.”
Hughes credited his current broadcast partner Zaidman as well as former partners Andy Masur, Cory Provus, Judd Sirott, Mark Grote, as well as Bruce Levine and Len Kasper. He offered thanks to Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and his family, along with team president of business operations Crane Kenney and 670 The Score brand manager Mitch Rosen.
In closing, Hughes offered his gratitude to Cubs fans.
“I want to thank you so much for your unbelievable passion for the ballclub and your support of me,” Hughes said. “When I got the call from Cooperstown last December, I truly thank there were some Cubs fans who were just as happy as I was for the news. You make me feel like I am a part of your family. You invite me to special events like graduations, bar mitzvah 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, you become part of the ballgame itself.
“As a broadcaster, I feed off of your energy. Let me just say it has been my extreme privilege to be one of your announcers for the past three decades. And before my career ends, I hope I get at least one more chance to say something like, ‘the Chicago Cubs win the World Series!’ Thank you.”
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2307.25 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2944 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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