Dec. 10--SAN DIEGO -- Veteran play-by-play man Dick Enberg was named the Ford Frick Award winner for excellence in broadcasting.
"How does it get any better than this?" the teary-eyed Enberg said Wednesday.
Enberg, who turns 80 in January, will be recognized during next year's Hall of Fame ceremonies on July 25, 2015 in Cooperstown, N.Y. He began calling Angels games in 1968, did national broadcasts for NBC and currently works as the Padres announcer.
Enberg's signature call, 'Oh, my!' has been heard hundreds of times during his local and national broadcasting career in baseball, football and college basketball.
"That was certainly an 'Oh, my!' moment," he said of the phone call informing him of the honor, adding it was a saying his mother often used while growing up in Michigan.
"It's been a good friend of mine that I've used when I can't think of anything to say," he said.
Enberg was chosen from a list of ten that included Dizzy Dean, Ralph Kiner, Ernie Johnson Sr. and former Cubs broadcaster Jack Quinlan.
"Baseball on radio is by far the toughest test of any professional sportscaster of any sport," he said. "If you want to know who the best broadcasters are in sports, go listen to those who do baseball well on radio. If you can broadcast on radio a baseball game well, then you can call any other sport well. I can teach you to do well in any other sport."
