The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." The award, named after the late broadcaster, National League President, Commissioner, and Hall of Famer, has been presented annually since 1978. Frick was a driving force behind the creation of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and he helped foster the relationship between radio and the game of baseball. Mel Allen and Red Barber were the first two recipients in 1978.

The award honors a baseball writer (or writers) "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing" and is presented during Hall of Fame Weekend by that year's President of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The award is voted upon annually by the BBWAA since 1962.

In 2008, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum honored the legacy of the late John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil, the Negro leagues legend whose baseball contributions spanned eight decades, with the creation of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.