Dan Shulman wins Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame's Jack Graney Award

Sportsnet’s Dan Shulman, play-by-play commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays, has won the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award.

The honour is presented annually to a member of the media who has “made significant contributions to baseball in Canada.”

“I am tremendously honoured to be receiving this award,” Shulman said in a press release Tuesday.

“As a Canadian kid who fell in love with baseball very early on, the opportunity to cover the sport for as long as I have has been one of the great joys of my life. To be part of a list with so many people I have admired for so many years is very humbling. I want to thank the selection committee and the Board of Directors at the Hall for considering me worthy of this honour.”

Shulman is a veteran broadcaster who has served as play-by-play commentator for the Blue Jays in two stints, first alongside Buck Martinez from 1995 to 2001, then — after joining ESPN full-time — he returned to the team’s booth in 2016 after a 15-year absence.

I am overwhelmed by all the unbelievable messages I've received today re the Graney award at the CBHOF. A heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you. And I am honoured to be on a list with so many great people who have done so much for baseball in Canada.

— Dan Shulman (@DShulman_ESPN) December 1, 2020

Outside his role for Blue Jays games on Sportsnet, Shulman hosts the “A Swing and a Belt” podcast and calls men’s college basketball and MLB telecasts on ESPN.

Scott Crawford, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s director of operations, said Shulman has always been one of the best in the business, but was particularly impressed by his work during the 2020 season.

“It’s a pleasure to listen to Dan Shulman call games for Rogers Sportsnet and ESPN,” said Crawford.

“Dan is one of the best baseball broadcasters in the world and he has been consistently outstanding during his career, but we especially marvelled at his work this year when due to the COVID-19 pandemic he was confined to a studio in Toronto to call the Blue Jays games. He was so good that it truly felt like he was at the ballpark.”

Details about the presentation of the award will be announced in the coming months.

Last month, Shulman was named one of the eight finalists for the 2021 Ford C. Frick Award, presented for excellence in broadcasting by the Baseball Hall of Fame.