This year, again, the doors of the Baseball Hall of Fame closed in front of Jacques Doucet.
The legendary Expos radio announcer once again saw the Ford C. Frick award slip away from him on Wednesday.
Instead, it’s Joe Buck, chief baseball game describer on the Fox Sports Network, who is the 2026 winner. The award, presented by the Cooperstown institution since 1978, is given to a commentator to highlight their “excellence in baseball broadcasting.”
Doucet was nominated for this honor for the tenth time. Accompanied by The Press Shortly after the winner was revealed, his daughter Martine confided that although the family was obviously disappointed, the main interested party received the news with “a lot of philosophy”.
“He told me, ‘I’m not waiting for this anymore,’” she says. I think it’s us, the family and the fans, who are the most disappointed. »
“This in no way harms his work, his talent and the love that Quebec has for him,” adds Martine Doucet. And this is already a great success. »
From writing to the microphone
After beginning his media career at La Presse Canadienne in 1959, Doucet joined The Press in 1962, where he wrote for the Sports section for a decade. In this role, he became the first journalist assigned to cover the Expos when Montreal awarded the club major baseball in 1968.
He stayed behind the microphone during the second half of the 1969 season, working as a game analyst once a week on CKLM. He then moved to CKAC in 1972 as a describer.
Until 1983, he worked alongside former pitcher Claude Raymond. Then, in 1986, he formed a duo that became iconic with Rodger Brulotte.
PRESS PHOTO ARCHIVES
Jacques Doucet and Rodger Brulotte in 1988
On the phone, Claude Raymond describes his former teammate as someone “very conscientious” and who was “very rigorous” in his pre-game preparation.
“When we went to foreign cities, we tried to hear what the commentators there were saying,” he says. We learn our craft together on the job. »
“If we don’t agree on something, later, over a good whiskey…”, he says, laughing, without finishing the sentence.
French language pioneer
Over the years, Doucet has been noted for his efforts to Frenchize baseball terminology. And it is this contribution that, for many, constitutes the essence of his legacy to sport and explains why he left such an impact on Quebec.
“He remade the vocabulary of sports. His voice resonated from east to west and from south to north. I don’t know if anyone has ever had so many evaluations in baseball”, highlights Alain Usereau, baseball match describer at RDS.
Ironically, in the opinion of all stakeholders interviewed by The PressIt is largely because Doucet worked in a French-speaking market – and has been without a team for more than 20 years – that he continues to be overlooked in the Ford C. Frick Award.
Who heard him among those who voted? He comes out with two strikes against him.
Claudio Raimundo
“In addition to the high quality of candidates this year, there is, on the part of voters, a lack of understanding of the impact Jacques had on Quebec,” laments Usereau.
“Jacques was part of Quebecers’ daily lives. […] His voice was synonymous with baseball. It is inseparable from the character”, he argues, adding that all Francophone describers today are “spiritual children” of Jacques Doucet.
Sooner or later
Doucet provided the radio description of Expos games until his departure in 2004. He was the voice of the team for 33 of its 36 seasons of existence.
In 2006, Doucet returned to duty when he was called to describe the Quebec Capitales matches in the Can-Am League, which he did until 2011. He then went on television, on RDS and then on TVA Sports, where he met his accomplice Rodger Brulotte for the Toronto Blue Jays matches. He will hold this position until his retirement in 2022.
PRESS PHOTO ARCHIVES
Claude Raymond and Jacques Doucet in 1982
In total, Doucet described more than 5,500 baseball games. His work allowed him to be inducted into the Quebec and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Now 85, Doucet suffers from cognitive problems that affect his memory. The daughter, however, guarantees that her health is good, given the circumstances.
It won’t be 2026, but those close to him continue to hope that one day he will get the call from Cooperstown. While there’s still time.
“We’re still waiting for him to be inaugurated. It’s a shame, because the longer we wait, the more likely it is that it will be posthumous,” says Martine Doucet.
