CLEVELAND — Jack Graney, who turned a successful professional baseball career into a stint behind the microphone, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, the Hall announced on Wednesday.
As part of his induction into the Hall of Fame, Graney will be posthumously bestowed the Ford C. Frick Award, which is given annually to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball.” Other past winners include Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Harry Caray and last year’s winner Al Michaels.
Graney, who won a 1920 world Series with the Indians, spent 14 seasons in the outfield for the club. He was a career .250 hitter.
After 14 seasons with the Indians, he became the first former big league player to broadcast a major league game, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Graney’s broadcasts aired on stations WHK, WGAR, WJW and WERE. He spent 22 years in the broadcast booth.
He also called the 1935 World Series and All-Star Game that season.
“Jack Graney was a pioneer in the broadcast industry, not only establishing a model for game descriptions in the earliest days of radio but also for blazing a trail for former players to transition to the broadcast booth,” said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “In calling Cleveland’s games for parts of three decades after a successful playing career of his own, Graney brought the exploits of future Hall of Famers like Earl Averill, Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Bob Feller and Satchel Paige into homes throughout Ohio’s North Coast, becoming as much a part of the fabric of the team as the players themselves.”
Graney died in 1978.
