LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Bob Costas has won the Ford C. Frick Award presented by the baseball Hall of Fame for broadcasting excellence.

The honor was announced Wednesday at the winter meetings.

Popular and successful at calling the Olympics and other sports, the 65-year-old Costas flourished over four decades of baseball work, using his familiar voice to paint word pictures of the national pastime.

Starting out at NBC in the early 1980s, Costas has handled play-by-play and pregame assignments at the World Series, postseason and regular season over the years. A 28-time Emmy Award winner, he has called games and been a documentary host for the MLB Network for nine seasons.

Costas was among eight broadcasters on the Frick ballot who were selected for their work on a national level. Among the others considered by a 15-member panel were Al Michaels and Joe Buck, along with Hall of Fame players Joe Morgan, Dizzy Dean, Don Drysdale and Pee Wee Reese.

Costas will be honored on July 28 during induction weekend at Cooperstown, New York.

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