COOPERSTOWN, NY - For more than three-quarters of a century, baseball fans have been connected to the game by the best broadcasters in the communications industry.

Starting Dec. 1, fans once again will have the chance to make their voices heard in the annual balloting for the Ford C. Frick Award, which honors excellence in baseball broadcasting.

For the seventh consecutive year, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will conduct online fan balloting to help determine the final ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award. By casting votes at www.baseballhall.org, fans will select three of the 10 names on the 2010 ballot for the Frick Award, presented annually since 1978 for excellence in baseball broadcasting. Online voting runs from Dec. 1 through Dec. 31, and fans can cast votes once per day through December for up to three baseball broadcasters, exclusively at www.baseballhall.org.

Eligible candidates must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or a combination of the two, and bios of each candidate will appear at www.baseballhall.org. Results of the fan voting will be announced in January, though updates will not be provided during the voting. The final ballot will be comprised of the three fan selections, along with seven other candidates, determined by a Hall of Fame staff research team.

The 2010 Ford C. Frick Award winner will be announced in February.

The Frick electorate includes all living Award-winners and five historians appointed by the Hall of Fame. The voting electorate consists of 20 members, featuring 2009 Ford C. Frick Award winner Tony Kubek and the other 14 living Frick Award winners: Marty Brennaman, Jerry Coleman, Gene Elston, Joe Garagiola, Ernie Harwell, Jaime Jarrin, Milo Hamilton, Denny Matthews, Dave Niehaus, Felo Ramirez, Vin Scully, Lon Simmons, Bob Uecker and Bob Wolff. Five historians and veteran media members are also part of the electorate, including Bob Costas (NBC), Barry Horn (Dallas Morning News), Stan Isaacs (formerly of New York Newsday), Ted Patterson (historian) and Curt Smith (historian).

More than 615,000 votes were cast during the first six years of online balloting, including a record 145,138 votes cast online in 2008. For the second consecutive year, former Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall paced all broadcasters in the fan-voting, totaling 19,547 votes. Former Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet (10,282) and former Expos and Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek (8,992) also earned spots on the final ballot.

More than 200 active and retired broadcasters are eligible for the 2010 Frick Award, which is named in memory of Hall of Famer Ford C. Frick, renowned sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and Baseball commissioner.   The complete list of recipients includes:

Located on Main Street in the heart of picturesque Cooperstown, New York, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is one of the country's major tourist destinations and is surely the best-known sports shrine in the world.  Opening its doors for the first time on June 12, 1939, the Hall of Fame has stood as the definitive repository of the game's treasures and as a symbol of the most profound individual honor bestowed on an athlete. It is every fan's "Field of Dreams," with its stories, legends and magic to be passed on from generation to generation.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is open seven days a week year round, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Museum is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. The Museum observes off-season hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. from the day after Labor Day until Memorial Day Weekend. Ticket prices are $16.50 for adults (13 and over), $11 for seniors (65 and over) and for those holding current memberships in the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and AMVets organizations, and $6 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are always admitted free of charge and there is no charge for children 6 years of age or younger.  For more information, visit our Web site at baseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.