Richard Justice of MLB.com is going off on the Baseball Hall of Fame voting process via his Twitter feed.

Many tributes are pouring in today celebrating the life of Jerry Coleman, who died yesterday at the age of 89.

It was quite a life, reports Bernie Wilson of the Associated Press:

Coleman spent more than 70 years in pro baseball, a career that included four World Series titles with the Yankees and was interrupted by World War II and the Korean War, when he served as a Marine Corps pilot.

He flew 120 missions combined in the two wars. Coleman was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, 13 Air Medals and three Navy Citations.

Around Petco Park and on Padres radio broadcasts, Coleman was known as “The Colonel,” having retired from the Marines with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Coleman, also known for calls of “Oh, Doctor!” and “You can hang a star on that!” after big plays, received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Vin Scully weighed in on his old friend via Twitter:

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News posted a story he did on Coleman in 2005 when he was honored by the Hall of Fame.

“All I do is have a mike and love the games and tell the people what’s happening and try to get it right,” said Coleman when told there’s plenty of baseball fans this far north of his current digs who tune into The Mighty 1090-AM, or have access now to the Internet or satellite radio, to hear his call.

“With so many people able to tune in, that really ruins my day,” he added in typical self-effacing manner. “Now I have to be right all the time.”

Hoffarth also had a section on his “Colemanisms.”

Jerry Coleman was doing a Yankees-Indians doubleheader for the Yankees’ flagship radio station, WPIX, one afternoon, and for the first six innings of the opener, he had been telling the audience how it was unusual that day that Sam McDowell’s control was so much better than normal. Finally, in the sixth inning, someone at the station called to ask him to double-check the Indians pitcher.

Turns out it was Jack Kralick, another left-hander who was scheduled to pitch the second game.

That isn’t the only memorable malaprop Coleman has made in a baseball broadcasting career that has spanned almost 45 years, starting at the CBS Radio Network in 1960:

–“(Dave) Winfield goes back to the wall … he hits his head on the wall … it’s rolling all the way back to second base. This is a terrible thing for the Padres.”

–“On the mound is Randy Jones, the left-hander with the Karl Marx hairdo.”

–“The first pitch to Tucker Ashford is grounded into left field. No, wait a minute. It’s ball one. Low and outside.”

–“Ozzie Smith just made a play that I have never seen before. And he’s done it more times than anyone else.”

–“(Derrell) Thomas is racing for it, but (Willie) McCovey is there and can’t get his glove to it. That play shows the inexperience, not on Thomas’ part, but on the part of Willie McC … well, not on McCovey’s part either.”

–“George Hendrick simply lost that sun-blown popup.”

–“Larry Lintz steals second standing up – he slid, but he didn’t have to.” “If Pete Rose brings the Reds in first, they ought to bronze him and put him in cement.”

–“Before Glenn (Beckert, who had announced his retirement) leaves, I hope he stops by the booth so we can kiss him goodbye. He’s that kind of guy.”

–“(Manager Steve) Boros is not with the team today because he’s attending his daughter’s funeral. Oh wait, it’s her wedding.”

–“I’ve made a couple of mistakes I’d like to do over.” Coleman, who like Yogi Berra or Ralph Kiner before him, cops to all those. But he says one that was attributed to him is one he never said.

“The only one I deny is that ‘Rich Folkers is throwing up in the bullpen,’ ” Coleman said. “I said he was ‘throwing ’em up in the bullpen.’

“Most of the time people know what I mean. My mouth just gets ahead of my brain. Fortunately, the fans have taken to it. They’ve let me come into their homes. That’s what 99 percent of good broadcasting is. If they don’t like you, it doesn’t work.”

Cubs fans, here’s your new radio partner for Pat Hughes.

Ron Coomer played for the Cubs in 2001, hitting .261 with 8 homers and 53 RBIs.

Here is the story in the Tribune with some assistance from Mark Gonzales.

With Coomer on board, don’t be surprised if Eddie Vedder makes more than a few appearances in the Cubs’ radio booth. He became friends Coomer during his year in Chicago.

Barry Bloom of MLB.com has the details:

Eric Nadel, who has spent the past 35 years as the voice of the Texas Rangers, has been selected as the 2014 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Nadel was chosen from among 10 iconic voices who vied for the ultimate distinction in their field this year.

“I’m so excited,” Nadel said in a conference call after the announcement at the Winter Meetings on Wednesday morning. “I’m happy, tremendously flattered. It’s an amazing thrill for a kid from Brooklyn, who grew up as a radio junkie. I’m still a radio junkie, I guess. When I think of the fact that six of the former winners I grew up listening to and idolizing, several others I consider to be friends — and some of them are mentors, it’s just mind-boggling to me that I’m now being placed in the same category as them.”

And there’s congratulations from Nadel’s one-time boss, George W. Bush:

“I congratulate my friend Eric Nadel on winning the 2014 Ford C. Frick Award,” said former President George W. Bush, who was once an owner of the Rangers. “For more than 30 years, Eric has brought the Texas Rangers and the great game of baseball to fans all over the Southwest. His passion for the sport is evident in every broadcast. Any announcer can call a game, but Eric brings his listeners into the stadium. He is a wonderful ambassador for our national pastime.”

ESPN suffered a big loss with Orel Hershiser deciding to leave the network. He will head back to his old team to join the Dodgers new regional TV network.

I thought Hershiser was terrific for ESPN. While it didn’t get as much play as his Sunday night work, he and Dan Shulman really shined on radio during the postseason.

ESPN moved quickly, replacing Hershiser with Curt Schilling on Sunday nights. He will join Shulman and John Kruk.

Sports Media Watch notes making a lineup change on Sunday nights is nothing new for ESPN.

The Shulman-Kruk-Schilling booth will be the sixth different “SNB” broadcast team in as many years.

Since 2008, the last year Jon Miller and Joe Morgan worked together in a two-man booth, Sunday Night Baseball has added and dropped Steve Phillips (2009), added Hershiser to replace Phillips (2010), dumped Miller and Morgan in favor of Shulman and Bobby Valentine (2011), replaced Valentine with Terry Francona (2012), replaced Francona with Kruk (2013), and now replaced Hershiser with Schilling (2014).

Obviously, there were some extenuating circumstances. Phillips had a messy public affair; Valentine and Francona departed to take managing jobs; and ESPN decided to end the Miller-Morgan run.

If they are good, I would expect Shulman-Schilling-Kruk should be in place for a while.

In an Associated Press story, Schilling said he knows the expectation level will be raised in his new assignment.

Curt Schilling knows criticism is coming. He expects it.

The former All-Star pitcher is replacing Orel Hershiser on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast crew next season as part of a multiyear contract extension, giving him a wider audience for his opinions.

“No matter how you phrase it, if you don’t compliment a player, that player’s team, that player’s fans think you hate him,” Schilling said Sunday. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people react with, ‘You hate so-and-so. You hate so-and-so.’ And it’s just amazing how — it’s a good thing. The passion is great. It’s amazing how much people read into the things that we say on a nightly basis.”

As a White Sox fan, I only wish Ernie Banks hit some of those 512 homers at Comiskey Park instead of Wrigley Field. If he had played for those strong Sox teams in the 50s and 60s, he definitely wouldn’t have gone his own career without playing in a World Series.

Of course, everyone knows Banks as “Mr. Cub.” Well, almost everyone.

Apparently, NPR’s Ari Shapiro needs to brush up on his baseball history. Mark Memmot wrote the mea culpa on NPR’s site.

The words were barely out of our friend and correspondent mouth just after 7:30 a.m. ET this morning when the phones started ringing and emails started arriving.

Among those receiving at the White House, Ari said on the NPR Newscast, would be baseball legend Ernie Banks.

Then Ari got into trouble. Banks, he said, “played for the Chicago White Sox, President Obama’s favorite baseball team.”

Error on Ari.

Cubs fans weren’t amused.

Emails filled our inboxes. Here’s a sampling:

— “Ernie Banks played for the Chicago White Sox??? Next NPR newsflash: Derek Jeter named captain of the Boston Red Sox.”

— “Isn’t it bad enough that Cubs fans have had virtually nothing else to cheer about in over 100 years besides being Ernie Banks’s team, and now this!”

— “Tragedy struck today at around 7:30 EST … across the nation Cubs fans’ heads suddenly exploded.”

When I heard the news last night that Mark DeRosa was retiring, I thought: There’s your new Cubs radio analyst.

Turns out I was right about him retiring to begin a postseason career in the media. However, I had the wrong outlet.

This morning, it was announced that DeRosa will be joining MLB Network’s stable of analysts.

The official release contained this quote: “While I still had the opportunity to return as a player, it became clear to me that the chance to begin a career at MLB Network was too good to pass up, and I am very excited to get started,” said DeRosa.

It’s a good move for DeRosa and MLB Network. Not so good for the Cubs.

DeRosa would have been high on the Cubs’ wish list to replace the departing Keith Moreland on WGN-AM 720. He was the first potential candidate mentioned yesterday in a story by Paul Sullivan in the Chicago Tribune.

Since Moreland’s decision not to come back was a surprise, the Cubs and WGN are just now putting together their lists.

From Sullivan’s story:

(Pat) Hughes, coming off hernia surgery, said he’d prefer “someone who likes to have fun, is insightful, has a sense of humor and is a team player, similar to Keith.”

(WGN sports director Dave Eanet) said the hire would not necessarily have to be a former Cub, pointing to Deshaies and Brenly.

“Is it good to have a connection to the Cubs? Yeah,” he said. “Is it a necessity? Not if we get the right person. Having chemistry with Pat is important.”