Do you think Joe Morgan, Joe Buck or Tim McCarver are Hall of Fame-level broadcasters? If so, be sure to vote in the 9th annual Ford C. Frick Award contest, which will help winnow a field of 75 broadcasters down to one new member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Starting tomorrow and running through Sept. 30, fans can vote for their favorite broadcaster on the Hall of Fame’s Facebook page. The top three fan selections will be among the final 10 candidates for this year’s Frick Award, which will be selected by a 20-member board including last year’s winner Dave Van Horne, who currently broadcasts Marlins games, and the other living Frick Award recipients.

The 75 candidates include a pair of broadcasters from each Major League city, as well as numerous at-large candidates. Here is the full field:

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The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will present ESPN’s 30 for 30 series with the organization’s Best Practices Award at their 36th Annual Convention and Career Fair in Philadelphia on Aug. 6.

“30 for 30 is indicative of the excellent contributions made by a brilliant and diverse team working behind the scenes,” said NABJ President Kathy Y. Times “The NABJ board congratulates executive producers John Dahl, Connor Schell, NABJ member Keith Clinkscales and the ESPN team for including talented black filmmakers who hit an amazing home run.”

Previous honorees of NABJ’s Best Practices Award include NBC Universal and TV One.

There’s nothing like competitive eating controversy.

On Monday, Kobayashi demolished 69 hot dogs at a remote location, while Joey Chestnut won his fifth straight Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest with 62.

Or so we thought.

A new video has surfaced that shows Kobayashi actually ate 65 hot dogs – not 69. Still three more than Chestnut demolished on the 4th of July, but three less than the world record set by the American in 2009.

MLB.com has a cool story (with video that can’t yet be embedded, this being MLB) that discusses the ongoing work of sculptor Lou Cella as he completes a rendering of beloved longtime Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus, who died Nov. 10. Cella is halfway finished with a clay foundation which will then be cast in bronze. The Mariners plan to install the sculpture in the outfield concourse at Safeco Field sometime in September.

The piece has Niehaus sitting at a broadcast desk with his scorebook opened to the game of Oct. 8, 1995. You might recall that as “The Double” game by Edgar Martinez. Cella used Niehaus’ actual scorebook and the engraving is a clear reproduction of his actual notes and scoring from that memorable day.

Fans will be able to sit next to Niehaus on the bench on the sculpture, as the Mariners want it to be an interactive piece given Niehaus’ open relationship with fans around the Pacific Northwest.

Grantland.com, the new web project spearheaded by Bill Simmons, will launch June 8 at Noon ET.

Based on his The New York Times profile, Simmons has to be thrilled to finally get this project off the ground:

“Simmons sounded as if he was having some regrets about Grantland. “It hasn’t been as much as fun as I had thought,” he told me. “I’m not sure I would do it again.” Too much of his time was being spent in the office, dealing with administrative tasks, which was encroaching on his column. Read more

WSYX-TV reporter Steve Levine had the assignment of getting reaction from Jim Tressel‘s family following his resignation from Ohio State University.

Jim’s wife, Ellen, wasn’t in a talkative mood and slammed the door in Levine’s face.

Good call.

[H/T SportsByBrooks]

The days of Armando Galarraga being some great class act appear to be long gone.

Following a rough start Monday night, the Arizona Diamondbacks starter got into it with reporters in the locker room about his spot in the rotation.

Easy there, Armando. The reporters are just doing their job. If you weren’t 3-4 with a 5.91 ERA, they wouldn’t be asking you the tough questions.

Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin has joined ESPN as a Baseball Tonight analyst. The 12-time MLB All-Star will make his debut on the network in early March.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to work at ESPN with Karl Ravech, John Kruk and Bobby Valentine, Baseball Tonight and the whole crew,” said Larkin. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about the place and I’m looking forward to being a part of the team.” Read more

Andy Najar has a decision to make. The young soccer phenom needs to pick between the United States and Honduras. Both countries are vying for the 17-year-old’s services.

But at least Najar has the ability to make a choice. The Yanks Are Coming’s Neil W. Blackmon writes a heartbreaking story about an Atlanta 18-year-old who’s an illegal immigrant and, therefore, can’t even play for his regional select team because he and his father are concerned he’ll be discovered while traveling.

“[Knowing the truth] was the hardest thing. I’m American. I like the same things most kids like – FIFA 2011 on Playstation, hip hop, going to the movies. When Landon scored against Algeria, I ran around my house screaming and hugging my cousins. It was like they scored for me, for my friends. I’m just like most my friends, except I’m not.”

There’s hope, but then it’s dashed. Read more

The United States women’s soccer team is currently in the middle of the Four Nations tournament in China. The squad opened up with a surprising loss to Sweden before defeating Canada 2-1. They play the home country on Tuesday morning, but the players have a lot of downtime. Unfortunately, as midfielder Yael Averbuch writes in The New York Times, that’s not as distracting as it usually can be.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – basically anything fun – is blocked. We’ve also discovered that topics or historical events that may be controversial to the country are blocked from Google. My roommate, Lauren Cheney, and I have made a game of seeing what is and isn’t prohibited. These are the things we found to do in our spare time, especially on game day.

Soccer players: They’re just like us! (Bored in China.)