2004 Ford C. Frick Award Winner Lon Simmons
The 2004 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award was legendary Bay area broadcaster Lon Simmons.
An original voice of the Giants when they moved west, Simmons called games for San Francisco and Oakland for 41 years before retiring after the 2002 season.
When the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, Russ Hodges was the only announcer to make the move, and Simmons joined him for the team's initial broadcasts at Seals Stadium. Simmons and Hodges worked together for 13 years before Simmons retired in 1973 after the death of his first wife. He returned to the Giants in 1976 for three more years, then moved across the bay to Oakland, where he teamed with Bill King to broadcast Athletics games from 1981-95. In 1996, he returned to the Giants broadcast team again, working a partial schedule, until his retirement after the 2002 season.
Simmons broadcast the pennant-winning Giants team of 1962 and A's teams which reached the World Series from 1988 to 1990. He counted as his biggest thrills calling the 600th home run of Willie Mays, and the dramatic home run that marked the return of Willie McCovey to San Francisco in 1977. For those and many other home runs, Simmons gave his trademark call of "tell it goodbye!"
Simmons passed away on April 5, 2015.
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