He Finally Was Given Best Seat in the House

Longtime San Francisco Giant announcer Lon Simmons will receive the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award on July 25. The winner of last year’s award that honors baseball announcers was Bob Uecker of the Milwaukee Brewers.

In accepting the award, Uecker, a .200 hitter in six major league seasons, said, “This is not sour grapes by any means, but I still think I should have gone in as a player.”

Once when he was asked about his career highlights, Uecker said, “I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax, and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.”

Trivia time: The Ford Frick Award was first presented in 1978. Who won it?

Flat humor: Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle recalls his favorite part of Uecker’s acceptance speech last year.

“I think the first thing my dad ever bought me was a football,” Uecker said.

“And I was very young. He didn’t know a lot about it. He came from the old country. I mean, we tried to pass it and throw it and kick it, and we couldn’t do it. And it was very discouraging for him and for me. We almost quit.

“Finally we had a nice neighbor who came over and put some air in it, and what a difference.”

More Uecker: Baseball Almanac has a collection of Uecker quotes. Here’s a sampling:

* “If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look forward to?”

* “I hit a grand slam off Ron Herbel, and when his manager, Herman Franks, came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel’s suitcase.”

* “I knew my career was over when my baseball card came out with no picture.”

* “When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked into the other team’s dugout and they were already in street clothes.”

Adventurous type: Michigan State football Coach John L. Smith leaves today for a two-week guided African safari that will include climbing 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

This is the latest of his many adventures. According to the Detroit News, others have included sky diving, running with the bulls in Spain and flying in an Air Force training jet.

The mountain climb will be comparatively easy, said Smith, 55. “You don’t have to hang on the side of a cliff,” he said.

Looking back: On this day in 1941, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit a three-run, two-out home run in the ninth inning to give the American League a 7-5 victory in the All-Star game.

Trivia answer: Mel Allen and Red Barber shared the award. Vin Scully was the 1982 winner.

And finally: Reader Dan Catherwood of Sierra Madre sent an item about a meeting between a gushy reporter and Jack Nicklaus.

“You are spectacular, and your name is synonymous with the game of golf,” the reporter told Nicklaus. “You really know your way around the course. What’s your secret?”

Replied Nicklaus: “The holes are numbered.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.