Cubs broadcaster Hughes heading into Baseball Hall of Fame
Pat Hughes won't be behind the microphone when the Cubs play a four-game series against the rival Cardinals at Wrigley Field in late July.
He'll be in Cooperstown.
On Wednesday, Hughes was named the Ford C. Frick Award winner for excellence in broadcasting.
The Cubs' 67-year-old radio voice will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 22 during weekend ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y.
HOF president Josh Rawitch called Hughes at home before the announcement was made public.
"(Rawitch) was nice enough to say, 'Pat, congratulations, you are this year's Ford C. Frick Award winner,'" Hughes said. "I could feel kind of a strange sensation in my head like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually the guy. I'm going to be a Hall of Famer.' And I didn't really hear anything he had to say after, 'Congratulations, you're going into the Hall of Fame.'
"It's something you never would take for granted and you don't expect it to happen. You don't think, 'Oh yeah, I'm in. I'm going to be there.' You're not sure because there are so many other good people that have a chance. You just keep on keeping on. You keep on working as hard as you can. You keep doing the best job that you can but that has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame."
This was Hughes' third time as a Top 10 finalist for the Frick Award.
He joins fellow Cubs announcers Jack Brickhouse (1983) and Harry Caray (1989) as Hall of Famers.
Beginning his career in 1978 with the minor-league San Jose Missions, Hughes moved on to the Columbus Clippers for a year and joined the Minnesota Twins' broadcast team in 1983.
The following season he started a 12-run with Milwaukee, teaming with Hall of Famer Bob Uecker on Brewers radio broadcasts.
Hughes has been with the Cubs since 1996.
"On behalf of my family and the entire Cubs organization, I want to congratulate Pat on this remarkable accomplishment," executive chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement. "The Ford C. Frick Award is a highly prestigious award that recognizes the best of the best in broadcasting and no one is more deserving of this award than Pat. Outside of his impressive resume, Pat is a truly wonderful person who cares deeply about Cubs fans and the game of baseball.
"We're so incredibly lucky to have had him as a member of the Cubs family for the past 27 seasons and look forward to celebrating this accomplishment, and many more, in the years to come."