Gene Elston for the Ford C. Frick Award - National Baseball Hall of Fame

Sirs,

I am asking that you please consider sportscaster Gene Elston for the 2002 Ford C. Frick Award.

He has enjoyed a long and storied 47-year career as both a radio and television baseball announcer and more than meets the award qualification of making a "major contribution to baseball."

Gene began his career in 1941 at age 19 on KVFD radio in his hometown, Fort Dodge, Iowa. In 1946, after 3 years in the U.S. Navy, Gene began his baseball play-by-play career. Elston paid his dues, broadcasting minor league games for nine seasons before joining the Chicago Cubs broadcast team in 1954 for three seasons. In 1958, he began broadcasting Mutual Broadcasting System's "Game of the Day " with Bob Feller on national radio from 1958-60 and joined Houston Colt .45's for their National League debut in 1962. In 1965 the Colts moved into the Astrodome and became the Houston Astros. Gene called the Astros inaugural game in the Astrodome against The New York Yankees and Mickey Mantle and remained the "Voice of the Astros" for the next 21 years.

After leaving the Astros in 1987, Gene went back into the national spotlight doing play-by-play for CBS Radio's "Game of the Week" for the next 10 years. Gene, who resides in Houston, Texas, recently published a new book this year and currently works for Tal Smith Enterprises, a consulting firm for major league baseball.

It's difficult to capture all the highlights of Gene's career, here are but a few:

> 25 yrs. broadcasting Houston Astros/Colt .45's on television and radio
> 13 yrs. broadcasting MLB nationally
> 9 yrs. broadcasting minor league baseball
> Called 11 total no-hitters (one of them the Astros lost)
> Back-to-back no-hitters by Jim Maloney (Reds) and Don Wilson (Astros) in 1969
> Eddie Matthews 500th homer
> Texas Sportscaster of the Year - multiple times
> Author of 2 baseball history books
That's the way the ball bounces - (1971)
A Stitch in Time : A Baseball Chronology, 1845-2000 - (2001)

"Houston has been blessed to have two Hall of Fame-caliber broadcasters," said Curt Smith, whose book ``Voices of the Game'' is the definitive account of baseball broadcast history. "Milo is in the Hall, and Gene should be and at some point will be. It's rare for a franchise that is 37 years old to have had two such extraordinarily gifted announcers."

By signing this petition, I state that I am in agreement with Mr. Smith that Gene deserves this honor, and I hope that you will see fit to give the Ford C. Frick award for 2002 to a most deserving candidate, Mr. Gene Elston.