Former Blue Jays announcer Cheek wins Frick Award

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek has won the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting.

The award was announced by the baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday at the winter meetings. Cheek died in 2005.

Cheek called the first 4,306 regular-season and 41 postseason games in the Blue Jays’ history, starting in 1977.

Cheek’s most famous call came in the 1993 World Series when Joe Carter hit a home run in Game 6 against Philadelphia that won the championship.

“Touch ’em all, Joe!” Cheek said into the microphone. “You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life.”

Cheek worked as backup announcer for the Montreal Expos in 1974. He later joined the Jays and didn’t miss a game until 2004.

Cheek will be honored during the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies July 26-29 in Cooperstown, N.Y. He was born in 1939, one day after the Hall opened.