The gang at 790 The Ticket in Miami, the Marlins' flagship station and an ESPN outpost, wanted to do something swell for Dave Van Horne, who is receiving the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award tomorrow. So they decided to put together a montage of congratulatory clips from other Hall of Fame broadcasters, which initially aired during a rain delay yesterday afternoon.
Among the well-wishers was last year's Frick winner, Jon Miller. But let's just say Miller expressed his appreciation for Van Horne in a rather, uh, unusual way.
Here's a verbatim transcript of Miller's comments:
"Dave, Jon Miller with the San Francisco Giants, formerly with ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Not that I'm even thinking about that, as I'm here to congratulate you on this great award from the Hall of Fame, the Ford C. Frick Award. I don't want it to overshadow anything or even color my thinking about congratulating you. Although, the Ford C. Frick Award came my way last year, and I remember thinking, 'Well, this is probably a good career move, anyway. You get that award, and this is a big national award, and you get to make a speech up in Cooperstown and whatnot.' So I got the award and then they fired me. So, anyway, I'm hoping that you have a great time, much deserved, and I'm hoping that you were able also, in addition to getting the award, uh, keep your job. So, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed on that one for you. Anyway, congratulations. It's great — I can't wait to hear you give the speech, and I know you'll have a great time up there in Cooperstown with all the other baseball immortals.
Van Horne is no doubt appreciative of Miller's esteemed praise.
The full audio of Miller's clip can be heard here:
[Photo: Getty Images]