Pirates' Broadcasting Legends: A Prince Among Men

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Roger l. McNamara

Seasons in Transition.  The College and Professional football 2022 Seasons have now played out their final acts.  At each level of play and with each Gender basketball and ice hockey tune up for the 2022-23 stretch drive leading to placements of some in tournaments and playoffs.  And although its official calendar date arrival remains five or so weeks downstream, Spring has various ways to beckon and tempt us.  The annual migration is at hand involving equipment trucks out on the highways hauling baseballs, bats, gloves, protective gear, resin bags, bases  --- which like bears in the woods have passed the Winter months in hibernation --- South and West to the 30 Spring Training sites.  As hitters eyes are sharpened and pitchers arms strengthened it is well to remind ourselves that it is Spring Training also for those who favor and delight us with media broadcasts of the games, in the case of radio covering every pitch of every inning.   

Men at Microphones.  Pittsburgh Pirate enthusiasts who cannot attend every game are favored with Radio Stations 93.7 THE FAN; 100.1 FM; 1020 KDKA-AM;  with TV AT&T SportsNet and the recently arrived PIT2 available on a host of cable systems serving a wide geography.  Talented voices belong to  29 year veterans  Greg Brown and former Pirate right handed pitcher  Bob Walk;   Bethel Park resident Joe Block, now entering his seventh season behind a microphone;   John Wehner, in his 18th season as radio and TV analyst (John clubbed the final home run hit at Three Rivers, where he also hit into that Stadium’s final putout); also providing insights and analysis is Matt Capps, former Pirate relief hurler now prepping for his 2nd Season with the Pirate broadcast crew, joined in that capacity by Kevin Young, ex-Pirate 1st baseman;  Pittsburgh native and ex Pirate 1st Baseman Neil Walker now gearing for his 2rd full season as play-by-play caller; and Robby Incmikoski, in game reporter/interviewer with AT&T SportsNet.   As anyone filling a role involving skill and training, these men stand on the shoulders of giants.  It is perhaps not widely known that the first baseball game ever broadcast on radio was a Pittsburgh Pirates versus Philadelphia Phillies matchup played on August 5, 1921. The game was broadcast by KDKA of Pittsburgh, and the Pirates defeated the Phillies 8-5. It was broadcast by KDKA staff announcer Harold Arlin.

Pioneers in the Booth. Future decades marked arrivals of men in a broadcast booth who would go on to be identified with a particular team for longer than most players and coaches.  Listeners and fans were treated to, In alphabetical order by last name, together with team(s) most commonly associated:

                       Mel Allen,  New York Yankees 

                  Walter (Red) Barber, Brooklyn Dodgers

                  Harry Caray, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs

                 Jimmy Dudley, Cleveland Indians --- best known for his signature sign off wish, “So long, and lots o’ good luck, ya heah” 

                  Ernie Harwell, Detroit Tigers --- 1981 winner of Ford C. Frick Award; only announcer ever to be traded for a player!

                  Russell Hodges, New York/San Francisco Giants  (he made the call on one of the more iconic moments in Sports history, Bobby Thompson’s October 3, 1951 game and pennant winning walk off home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  “The Giants win the Pennant.  The Giants win the Pennant” boomed the voice of an ecstatic Hodges repeatedly over the airwaves;

                 Vin Scully, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers --- 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; name engraved on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

These men shared a common cultural heritage.   All except Scully --- who arrived and was reared in The Bronx --- hailed from the American Southeast, any one of the States comprising the Old Confederacy.  In the first half of the previous Century it was a region where a combination of weather and speech accents fused effortlessly with the game of baseball.  Their voices were the ideal recipe for the relay of events on the diamonds.

A Pair of Matchless Stars.    To the above roster must be added a pair of men who were brought together in one of those magic moments which can be neither rehearsed nor anticipated. Out of Holyoke, MA and a Purple Heart honoree with the U.S. 9th Infantry Division in World War II European theater, John Francis Buck would go on to be graduated by the School of Journalism at The Ohio State University.  Sports broadcasting landed him spots with St. Louis Cardinal Minor League Affiliates.  In mid-1954 Jack Buck was “called up”  to the varsity, assigned to the Red Birds KMOX radio booth.  While perhaps nervously preparing for the task at hand Jack glanced into the adjoining booth, occupied by a veteran Pittsburgh Pirate play-by-play master.  Jack noticed that his counterpart had an attractive Lady on each arm --- on the table in front of them a bottle of Bourbon Whiskey, a bucket of ice cubes and three glasses.  A time pre-dating the omni present day snooping, scandal searching media led Jack to think to himself “I think I’m gonna like it up here in the Big Leagues.”  Feelings of mutual admiration between Jack and Cardinal listeners were quickly cemented, giving rise to a 47 year stint behind a KMOX microphone.   

A Pirate for All Ages.  Who owned the voice in the adjoining booth?  Robert Francis Prince was born in 1916 in Los Angeles.  His father’s service as a career military officer meant a sort of nomadic childhood before settling in Pittsburgh where Bob earned his degree from the Panthers at the University of Pitt. His love and knowledge of sports soon landed him a 1948 broadcast position at Radio KDKA, where for the ensuing three decades he was a fixture.  “We need a bleeder, a bloop and a blast” he would often intone for a Pirate rally, and his introduction of a good luck charm --- dill pickle shaped  Green Weenie --- gained instant and widespread popularity with Pirate listeners.  Later personality conflicts with Westinghouse managers resulted in his 1975 dismissal. Although returned to the booth for a short stint in 1985, Prince’s lifetime of smoking, drinking and party going led to his earthly demise that same year, barely 68 years of age.  “The Gunner” is interred in Pittsburgh, while Bob and his distinctive style were inducted  posthumously into the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.

In his own and always unique manner Bob was truly a Prince Among Men. He will not be forgotten.  May he rest in Peace.