Cleveland Baseball Insider

Longtime Legendary Guardians Broadcaster Earns Prestigious Honor

Cleveland's Tom Hamilton has received the 2025 Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Logan Potosky

Apr 4, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton speaks prior to a game against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images
Apr 4, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton speaks prior to a game against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images
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When Cleveland Guardians fans think of Cleveland baseball, a voice comes to mind as its soundtrack over the years.

"A swing and a drive!" "How about that?" "Cleveland, you will have an October to remember." These are just some of the signature calls from longtime Guardians Radio Play-by-Play Broadcaster Tom Hamilton, who has been calling Cleveland games on the radio for the last 35 years.

And now, the 70-year-old has received arguably baseball's highest honor for a broadcaster.

On Wednesday, in his third consecutive year as a finalist and fourth time overall, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced that Hamilton has been named the winner of the 2025 Ford C. Frick Award. This is a yearly award that is presented to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball."

"I'm so humbled," Hamilton said during media availability on Wednesday. "I'm so grateful, and can't believe it happened. Because I certainly looked at that list of 10 [finalists], and if you were to rank them, I would've put myself 10th."

A man speaking into a microphone while standing behind a lectern on a baseball field.
Apr 4, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton speaks prior to a game against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images

The longtime Guardians radio voice has certainly made major contributions to baseball during his time behind the microphone. Since joining the franchise in 1990, Hamilton is the team's only broadcaster to call three different World Series teams. He has also called over 100 MLB Postseason games, and has served as the Guardians' primary radio play-by-play broadcaster since Herb Score's retirement in 1997.

Prior to his time with Cleveland, he called games for Triple-A Columbus Clippers for three seasons from 1987-1989. And before that, he called games for the Appleton Foxes (now the High-A Midwest League's Wisconsin Timber Rattlers).

Hamilton will be honored with the award in Cooperstown during the Hall of Fame's induction weekend, which will take place from July 25-28, 2025.

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Logan Potosky
LOGAN POTOSKY

Logan Potosky is an aspiring play-by-play sports broadcaster who, to date, has called approximately 350+ hours of professional, college, and high school sporting events. He is currently the Play-by-Play Broadcaster for the Lake County Captains, the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. He graduated from John Carroll University in May of 2023 with a degree in Communication, with a concentration in Digital Media, and a minor in Entrepreneurship.

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