Red Barber
Encyclopedia
Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American
sportscaster
.
Barber, nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", was primarily identified with radio
broadcasts of Major League Baseball
, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds
(1934–38), Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–1953), and New York Yankees
(1954–1966). Like his fellow sports pioneer Mel Allen
, Barber also gained a niche calling college and professional football
in his primary market of New York City
.
. He was a distant relative of poet
Sidney Lanier
and writer Thomas Lanier Williams
. The family moved to Sanford, Florida
in 1918 and, at the age of 21, he hitchhiked to Gainesville and enrolled at the University of Florida
, majoring in education. During his first year he worked at various jobs including part-time janitor at the University Club. There in January 1930 Barber got his start in broadcasting.
An agriculture professor had been scheduled to appear on WRUF, the university radio station, to read a scholarly paper over the air. When the professor's absence was discovered minutes before the broadcast was to begin, janitor Barber was called in as a substitute. Thus the future sportscaster's first gig was reading "Certain Aspects of Bovine Obstetrics". After those few minutes in front of a microphone
, Barber decided to switch careers. He became WRUF's director and chief announcer and covered Florida football games that autumn. Then he dropped out of school to focus on his radio work. After four more years at WRUF he landed a job broadcasting the Cincinnati Reds
on WLW
and WSAI
when Powel Crosley, Jr., purchased the team in 1934.
On Opening Day 1934 (April 17), Barber attended his first major league game and broadcast its play-by-play, as the Reds lost to the Chicago Cubs
6-0. He called games from the stands of Cincinnati's renamed Crosley Field
for the next five seasons.
, then president of the Reds. When MacPhail moved on to be president of the Dodgers for the 1939 season, he took the play-by-play man along. In Brooklyn, Barber became an institution, widely admired for his folksy style. He was also appreciated by people concerned about Brooklyn's reputation as a land of "dees" and "dems".
Barber became famous for his signature catchphrases, including these:
To further his image as a Southern gentleman, Barber would often identify players as "Mister", "big fella", or "old" (regardless of the player's age):
A number of play-by-play announcers including Chris Berman have adopted his use of "back, back, back" to describe a long fly ball with potential to be a home run. Those other announcers are describing the flight of the ball but Barber was describing the outfielder in this famous call from Game 6 of the 1947 World Series
. Joe DiMaggio
was the batter:
The phrase "Oh, Doctor" was also picked up by some later sportscasters, most notably Jerry Coleman
, who was a New York Yankee
infielder during the 1940s and 50s and later worked alongside Barber in the Yankees' radio and TV booths.
In Game 4 of that same 1947 Series, Barber memorably described Cookie Lavagetto
's ninth-inning hit to break up Bill Bevens
' no-hitter
and win the game at once:
In 1939 Barber broadcast the first major-league game on television
, on experimental NBC
station W2XBS
. In 1946 he added to his Brooklyn duties a job as sports director of the CBS Radio Network
, succeeding Ted Husing
and continuing through 1955. There his greatest contribution was to conceive and host the CBS Football Roundup, which switched listeners back and forth between broadcasts of different regional college games each week.
For most of Barber's run with the Dodgers, the team was broadcast over radio station WMGM (later WHN
) at 1050 on the AM dial. From the start of regular television broadcasts until their move to Los Angeles
, the Dodgers were on WOR-TV
, New York's Channel 9. Barber's most frequent broadcasting partner in Brooklyn was Connie Desmond
.
Barber developed a severe bleeding ulcer
in 1948 and had to take a leave of absence from broadcasting for several weeks. Dodgers president Branch Rickey
arranged for Ernie Harwell
, the announcer for the minor-league Atlanta Crackers
, to be sent to Brooklyn as Barber's substitute in exchange for catcher Cliff Dapper
.
While running CBS Sports, Barber became the mentor of another redheaded announcer. He recruited the Fordham University
graduate Vin Scully
for CBS football coverage, and eventually invited him into the Dodgers' broadcast booth to succeed Harwell in 1950 (after the latter's departure for the crosstown New York Giants
).
Barber was the first person outside the team's board of directors to be told by Branch Rickey that the Dodgers had begun the process of racial desegregation
in baseball, which led to signing Jackie Robinson
as the first black player in the major leagues after the 1880s. As a Southerner, having lived with racial segregation
as a fact of life written into law, Barber told Rickey that he wasn't sure he could broadcast the games, but he said he would try. Observing Robinson's skill on the field and the way Robinson held up to the vicious abuse from opposing fans, Barber became an ardent supporter of him and the black players who followed, including Dodger stars Roy Campanella
and Don Newcombe
. (This story is told in Barber's 1982 book, 1947: When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball.)
During this period, Barber also broadcast numerous World Series
for Mutual
radio and in 1948 and 1952 for NBC television, frequently teaming with Yankees announcer Mel Allen
. He also called New York Giants
football from 1942 to 1946, as well as several professional and college football games on network radio and TV, including the NFL Championship Game, Army-Navy Game
, and Orange Bowl
.
on television, than was originally offered. When Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley
refused to back him, Barber declined Gillette's fee and Vin Scully partnered with the Yankees' Mel Allen during the series. According to baseball historian Curt Smith
, it was O'Malley's lack of support that led to Barber resigning from the Dodgers later that October.
Soon afterward the crosstown Yankees hired Barber. Just before the start of the 1954 season, surgery resulted in permanent deafness in one ear. In 1955 he took his long-running television program Red Barber's Corner from CBS to NBC. It ran from 1949 until 1958.
With the Yankees, Barber strove to adopt a strictly neutral, dispassionately reportorial broadcast style, avoiding not only partisanship but also any emotional surges that would match the excitement of the fans. He'd already had a reputation as a "fair" announcer while with the Dodgers, as opposed to a "homer" who openly rooted for his team from the booth. Some fans and critics found this later, more restrained Barber to be dull, especially in contrast with Mel Allen's dramatic, emotive style.
Barber described the ways they covered long fly balls as one of the central differences between Allen and himself. Allen would watch the ball. Thus his signature call, "That ball is going, going, it is GONE!", sometimes turned into, "It is going ... to be caught!" or "It is going ... foul!" Barber would watch the outfielder, his movements and his eyes, and would thus be a better judge whether the ball would be caught. This is evident in his famous call of Gionfriddo's catch (quoted above). Many announcers say "back, back, back" describing the ball's flight. On the Gionfriddo call Barber is describing the action of the outfielder, not the ball.
Curt Smith, in his book Voices of Summer, summarized the difference between Barber and Allen in these words: "Barber was white wine, crepes suzette, and bluegrass music. Allen was hot dogs, beer, and the U.S. Marine Corps Band. Like Millay
, Barber was a poet. Like Sinatra
, Allen was a balladeer. Detached, Red reported. Involved, Mel roared."
Under the ownership of CBS
in 1966, the Yankees finished tenth and last, their first time at the bottom of the standings since 1912 and after more than 40 years of dominating the American League. On September 22, paid attendance of 413 was announced at the 65,000-seat Yankee Stadium
. Barber asked the TV cameras to pan the empty stands as he commented on the low attendance. Although denied the camera shots on orders from the Yankees' head of media relations, he said, "I don't know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game." By a horrible stroke of luck, that game was the first for CBS executive Mike Burke
as team president. A week later, Barber was invited to breakfast where Burke told him that his contract wouldn't be renewed.
, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat; contributed to occasional sports documentary programs on radio and television; and from 1981 until his death made weekly contributions to National Public Radio's Morning Edition
program. He would talk to host Bob Edwards
about sports or about other topics including the flora at his home in Tallahassee, Florida
. Barber would call Edwards "Colonel Bob", referring to the Kentucky Colonel
award to Edwards by his native state.
Red Barber died in 1992 in Tallahassee, Florida
. In 1993, Edwards' book Fridays with Red: A Radio Friendship (ISBN 0-671-87013-0), based on his Morning Edition segments with Barber, was published.
inducted Barber into its Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1978, Barber joined former colleague Mel Allen to become the first broadcasters to receive the Ford C. Frick Award
from the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1979, he was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Florida, given a Gold Award by the Florida Association of Broadcasters, and inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame
. In 1984, Barber was part of the American Sportscasters Association
Hall of Fame’s inaugural class which included sportscasting legends Don Dunphy
, Ted Husing
, Bill Stern
and Graham McNamee
. Barber was given a George Polk Award
in 1985 and a Peabody Award
in 1990 for his NPR broadcasts, and in 1995 he was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
The Red Barber Radio Scholarship
is awarded each year by the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications to a student studying sports broadcasting.
A WRUF microphone used by Barber during the 1930s is part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's collection. It has been displayed in the museum's "Scribes and Mikemen" exhibit, and from 2002 to 2006 it was featured as part of the "Baseball as America" traveling exhibition.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
.
Barber, nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", was primarily identified with radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasts of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
(1934–38), Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–1953), and New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
(1954–1966). Like his fellow sports pioneer Mel Allen
Mel Allen
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
, Barber also gained a niche calling college and professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
in his primary market of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Early years
Barber was born 1908 in Columbus, MississippiColumbus, Mississippi
Columbus is a city in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States that lies above the Tombigbee River. It is approximately northeast of Jackson, north of Meridian, south of Tupelo, northwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and west of Birmingham, Alabama. The population was 25,944 at the 2000 census...
. He was a distant relative of poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Sidney Lanier
Sidney Lanier
Sidney Lanier was an American musician and poet.-Biography:Sidney Lanier was born February 3, 1842, in Macon, Georgia, to parents Robert Sampson Lanier and Mary Jane Anderson; he was mostly of English ancestry. His distant French Huguenot ancestors immigrated to England in the 16th century...
and writer Thomas Lanier Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
. The family moved to Sanford, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
in 1918 and, at the age of 21, he hitchhiked to Gainesville and enrolled at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, majoring in education. During his first year he worked at various jobs including part-time janitor at the University Club. There in January 1930 Barber got his start in broadcasting.
An agriculture professor had been scheduled to appear on WRUF, the university radio station, to read a scholarly paper over the air. When the professor's absence was discovered minutes before the broadcast was to begin, janitor Barber was called in as a substitute. Thus the future sportscaster's first gig was reading "Certain Aspects of Bovine Obstetrics". After those few minutes in front of a microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
, Barber decided to switch careers. He became WRUF's director and chief announcer and covered Florida football games that autumn. Then he dropped out of school to focus on his radio work. After four more years at WRUF he landed a job broadcasting the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
on WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
and WSAI
WSAI
WSAI is an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Its studios are in the Towers of Kenwood building next to I-71 in the Kenwood section of Sycamore Township and its transmitter is located in Mount Healthy.WSAI is known as "Fox Sports 1360," including The Dan Patrick Show and The...
when Powel Crosley, Jr., purchased the team in 1934.
On Opening Day 1934 (April 17), Barber attended his first major league game and broadcast its play-by-play, as the Reds lost to the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
6-0. He called games from the stands of Cincinnati's renamed Crosley Field
Crosley Field
Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second and third American Football League...
for the next five seasons.
Brooklyn Dodgers
Barber had been hired by Larry MacPhailLarry MacPhail
Leland Stanford "Larry" MacPhail, Sr. was an American lawyer, and an executive and innovator in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
, then president of the Reds. When MacPhail moved on to be president of the Dodgers for the 1939 season, he took the play-by-play man along. In Brooklyn, Barber became an institution, widely admired for his folksy style. He was also appreciated by people concerned about Brooklyn's reputation as a land of "dees" and "dems".
Barber became famous for his signature catchphrases, including these:
- "They're tearin' up the pea patch" – used for a team on a winning streak.
- "The bases are F.O.B. (full of Brooklyns)" – indicating the Dodgers had loaded the bases.
- "Can of corn" – describing a softly hit, easily caught fly ball.
- "Rhubarb" – any kind of heated on-field dispute or altercation.
- "Sittin' in the catbird seatCatbird seat"The catbird seat" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe an enviable position, often in terms of having the upper hand or greater advantage in all types of dealings among parties. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded usage occurred in a 1942 humorous short story by...
" – used when a player or team was performing exceptionally well. This expression was the title of a well-known story by James ThurberJames ThurberJames Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
. According to a character in Thurber's story, the expression came from Red Barber, but according to Barber's daughter, her father did not begin using the expression until after he had read the story. - "Walkin' in the tall cotton" – also used to describe success.
- "Slicker than boiled okra" – describing a ball that a fielder was unable to get a grip on.
- "Easy as a bank of fog" – describing the graceful movement of a fielder.
- "Tighter than a new pair of shoes on a rainy day" – describing a closely contested game.
- "Tied up in a croker sack" – describing a one-sided game where the outcome was all but decided.
To further his image as a Southern gentleman, Barber would often identify players as "Mister", "big fella", or "old" (regardless of the player's age):
- "Now, Mister ReiserPete ReiserHarold Patrick "Pete" Reiser , nicknamed "Pistol Pete," was an outfielder in Major League Baseball during the 1940s and early 1950s. He played primarily for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and later for the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cleveland Indians.-Early career:A native of St...
steps to the plate, batting at .344." - "Big fella HattenJoe HattenJoseph Hilarian Hatten was a Major League Baseball pitcher.Hatten started in pro ball with Crookston in the old Northern League in 1937. Acquired by the Montreal Royals from the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in the 1941-42 off-season, Hatten pitched for the Royals briefly in 1942...
pitches, it's in there for strike one." - "Old number 13, Ralph BrancaRalph BrancaRalph Theodore Joseph Branca is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.From 1944 through 1956, Branca played for the Brooklyn Dodgers , Detroit Tigers , and New York Yankees...
, coming in to pitch."
A number of play-by-play announcers including Chris Berman have adopted his use of "back, back, back" to describe a long fly ball with potential to be a home run. Those other announcers are describing the flight of the ball but Barber was describing the outfielder in this famous call from Game 6 of the 1947 World Series
1947 World Series
The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning the Series in seven games for their first title since , and the eleventh championship in team history...
. Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
was the batter:
- "Here's the pitch, swung on, belted ... it's a long one ... back goes GionfriddoAl GionfriddoAlbert Francis "Al" Gionfriddo was a slightly built 5' 6" and 165 lb. professional baseball outfielder who batted and threw left-handed. He made his major league debut on September 23, at the age of 22 with the Pittsburgh Pirates...
, back, back, back, back, back, back ... heeee makes a one-handed catch against the bullpen! Oh, Doctor!"
The phrase "Oh, Doctor" was also picked up by some later sportscasters, most notably Jerry Coleman
Jerry Coleman
Gerald Francis "Jerry" Coleman is a former Major League Baseball second baseman for the New York Yankees. Currently, he is an analyst and former play-by-play radio announcer for the San Diego Padres...
, who was a New York Yankee
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
infielder during the 1940s and 50s and later worked alongside Barber in the Yankees' radio and TV booths.
In Game 4 of that same 1947 Series, Barber memorably described Cookie Lavagetto
Cookie Lavagetto
Harry Arthur "Cookie" Lavagetto was a third baseman, manager and coach in American Major League Baseball. He is most widely known as the pinch hitter whose double ruined Bill Bevens' no-hitter in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series and gave his Brooklyn Dodgers a breathtaking victory over the New...
's ninth-inning hit to break up Bill Bevens
Bill Bevens
Floyd Clifford "Bill" Bevens was a former right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher. He stood 6' 3" and weighed 210 lb. Bevens was signed by the New York Yankees at the age of 20 in , and spent seven seasons in the minor leagues, where he threw two no-hitters for the Wenatchee Chiefs...
' no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
and win the game at once:
- "Wait a minute ... StankyEddie StankyEdward Raymond Stanky , nicknamed "The Brat", was an American second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball. He played for the Chicago Cubs , Brooklyn Dodgers , Boston Braves , New York Giants , and St. Louis Cardinals...
is being called back from the plate and Lavagetto goes up to hit ... Gionfriddo walks off second ... MiksisEddie MiksisEdward Thomas Miksis was an American Major League Baseball player. Born in Burlington, New Jersey, he stood 6' 0" and weighed 185 lbs...
off first ... They're both ready to go on anything ... Two men out, last of the ninth ... the pitch ... swung on, there's a drive hit out toward the right field corner. HenrichTommy HenrichThomas David "Tommy" Henrich , nicknamed "The Clutch" and "Old Reliable", was a Major League Baseball right fielder. He played his entire baseball career for the New York Yankees . He led the American League in triples twice and in runs scored once, also hitting 20 or more home runs four times...
is going back. He can't get it! It's off the wall for a base hit! Here comes the tying run, and here comes the winning run! ... Well, I'll be a suck-egg mule!"
In 1939 Barber broadcast the first major-league game on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, on experimental NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
station W2XBS
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
. In 1946 he added to his Brooklyn duties a job as sports director of the CBS Radio Network
CBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
, succeeding Ted Husing
Ted Husing
Edward Britt Husing was an American sportscaster and was among the first to lay the groundwork for the structure and pace of modern sports reporting on television and radio.-Early life and career:...
and continuing through 1955. There his greatest contribution was to conceive and host the CBS Football Roundup, which switched listeners back and forth between broadcasts of different regional college games each week.
For most of Barber's run with the Dodgers, the team was broadcast over radio station WMGM (later WHN
WEPN
WEPN is a 24-hour sports talk formatted radio station in New York City featuring national and local sports talk programs and live broadcasts of sports matches. It is the New York affiliate for ESPN Radio...
) at 1050 on the AM dial. From the start of regular television broadcasts until their move to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the Dodgers were on WOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
, New York's Channel 9. Barber's most frequent broadcasting partner in Brooklyn was Connie Desmond
Connie Desmond
Cornelius "Connie" Desmond was an American Major League Baseball radio broadcaster, primarily for the Brooklyn Dodgers.Desmond began hiscareer in 1932 as the voice of the minor league Toledo Mud Hens...
.
Barber developed a severe bleeding ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
in 1948 and had to take a leave of absence from broadcasting for several weeks. Dodgers president Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...
arranged for Ernie Harwell
Ernie Harwell
William Earnest "Ernie" Harwell was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 years, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the action on radio and/or television...
, the announcer for the minor-league Atlanta Crackers
Atlanta Crackers
The Atlanta Crackers were minor league baseball teams based in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1901 and 1965. The Crackers were Atlanta's home team until the Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee in 1966....
, to be sent to Brooklyn as Barber's substitute in exchange for catcher Cliff Dapper
Cliff Dapper
Clifford Roland Dapper was a Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1942 season. Listed at 6'2", 190 lbs., he batted and threw right handed....
.
While running CBS Sports, Barber became the mentor of another redheaded announcer. He recruited the Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
graduate Vin Scully
Vin Scully
Vincent Edward Scully is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team on Prime Ticket, KCAL-TV and KABC radio...
for CBS football coverage, and eventually invited him into the Dodgers' broadcast booth to succeed Harwell in 1950 (after the latter's departure for the crosstown New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
).
Barber was the first person outside the team's board of directors to be told by Branch Rickey that the Dodgers had begun the process of racial desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
in baseball, which led to signing Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
as the first black player in the major leagues after the 1880s. As a Southerner, having lived with racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
as a fact of life written into law, Barber told Rickey that he wasn't sure he could broadcast the games, but he said he would try. Observing Robinson's skill on the field and the way Robinson held up to the vicious abuse from opposing fans, Barber became an ardent supporter of him and the black players who followed, including Dodger stars Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella , nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball...
and Don Newcombe
Don Newcombe
Donald Newcombe , nicknamed "Newk", is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers , Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians .Until 2011 when Detroit Tigers Pitcher Justin Verlander did it, Newcombe was the only baseball...
. (This story is told in Barber's 1982 book, 1947: When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball.)
During this period, Barber also broadcast numerous World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
for Mutual
Major League Baseball on Mutual
Major League Baseball on Mutual was the de facto title of the Mutual Broadcasting System's national radio coverage of Major League Baseball games. Mutual's coverage came about during the Golden Age of Radio in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. During this period, television sports broadcasting was in its...
radio and in 1948 and 1952 for NBC television, frequently teaming with Yankees announcer Mel Allen
Mel Allen
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
. He also called New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
football from 1942 to 1946, as well as several professional and college football games on network radio and TV, including the NFL Championship Game, Army-Navy Game
Army-Navy Game
The Army–Navy Game is an an American college football rivalry game between the teams of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The USMA team, "Army", and the USNA team, "Navy", each represent their services' oldest...
, and Orange Bowl
Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935 and celebrated its 75th playing on January 1, 2009...
.
New York Yankees
Barber wanted a higher fee from Gillette, sponsor of the 1953 World Series1953 World Series
The 1953 World Series matched the four-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch of the 1952 Series. The Yankees won in six games for their fifth straight title—a mark which has not been equalled—and their sixteenth overall...
on television, than was originally offered. When Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley
Walter O'Malley
Walter Francis O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from to . He served as Brooklyn Dodgers chief legal counsel when Jackie Robinson broke the racial color barrier in...
refused to back him, Barber declined Gillette's fee and Vin Scully partnered with the Yankees' Mel Allen during the series. According to baseball historian Curt Smith
Curt Smith (author)
Curt Smith is an American author, media host and columnist.Smith is a 1973 graduate of SUNY at Geneseo. He worked as a Gannett Company reporter, a speechwriter to former Texas Governor John Connolly, and an editor at the Saturday Evening Post. In 1989 he joined the George H.W...
, it was O'Malley's lack of support that led to Barber resigning from the Dodgers later that October.
Soon afterward the crosstown Yankees hired Barber. Just before the start of the 1954 season, surgery resulted in permanent deafness in one ear. In 1955 he took his long-running television program Red Barber's Corner from CBS to NBC. It ran from 1949 until 1958.
With the Yankees, Barber strove to adopt a strictly neutral, dispassionately reportorial broadcast style, avoiding not only partisanship but also any emotional surges that would match the excitement of the fans. He'd already had a reputation as a "fair" announcer while with the Dodgers, as opposed to a "homer" who openly rooted for his team from the booth. Some fans and critics found this later, more restrained Barber to be dull, especially in contrast with Mel Allen's dramatic, emotive style.
Barber described the ways they covered long fly balls as one of the central differences between Allen and himself. Allen would watch the ball. Thus his signature call, "That ball is going, going, it is GONE!", sometimes turned into, "It is going ... to be caught!" or "It is going ... foul!" Barber would watch the outfielder, his movements and his eyes, and would thus be a better judge whether the ball would be caught. This is evident in his famous call of Gionfriddo's catch (quoted above). Many announcers say "back, back, back" describing the ball's flight. On the Gionfriddo call Barber is describing the action of the outfielder, not the ball.
Curt Smith, in his book Voices of Summer, summarized the difference between Barber and Allen in these words: "Barber was white wine, crepes suzette, and bluegrass music. Allen was hot dogs, beer, and the U.S. Marine Corps Band. Like Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and was known for her activism and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work...
, Barber was a poet. Like Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Allen was a balladeer. Detached, Red reported. Involved, Mel roared."
Under the ownership of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1966, the Yankees finished tenth and last, their first time at the bottom of the standings since 1912 and after more than 40 years of dominating the American League. On September 22, paid attendance of 413 was announced at the 65,000-seat Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
. Barber asked the TV cameras to pan the empty stands as he commented on the low attendance. Although denied the camera shots on orders from the Yankees' head of media relations, he said, "I don't know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game." By a horrible stroke of luck, that game was the first for CBS executive Mike Burke
E. Michael Burke
Edmund Michael Burke was a U.S. Navy Officer, O.S.S. agent, C.I.A. agent, general manager of Ringling Bros...
as team president. A week later, Barber was invited to breakfast where Burke told him that his contract wouldn't be renewed.
Later life
After his dismissal by the Yankees in 1966, Barber retired from baseball broadcasting. He wrote several books, including his autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat; contributed to occasional sports documentary programs on radio and television; and from 1981 until his death made weekly contributions to National Public Radio's Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
program. He would talk to host Bob Edwards
Bob Edwards
Robert Alan Edwards is a Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio...
about sports or about other topics including the flora at his home in Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
. Barber would call Edwards "Colonel Bob", referring to the Kentucky Colonel
Kentucky colonel
Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation...
award to Edwards by his native state.
Red Barber died in 1992 in Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
. In 1993, Edwards' book Fridays with Red: A Radio Friendship (ISBN 0-671-87013-0), based on his Morning Edition segments with Barber, was published.
Honors
The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters AssociationNational Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, or NSSA, is an organization of sports media members in the United States. It constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports Press Association ....
inducted Barber into its Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1978, Barber joined former colleague Mel Allen to become the first broadcasters to receive the Ford C. Frick Award
Ford C. Frick Award
The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." It is named for Ford Christopher Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball...
from the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1979, he was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Florida, given a Gold Award by the Florida Association of Broadcasters, and inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame
Florida Sports Hall of Fame
The Florida Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honoring athletes with outstanding achievement in sports in Florida. It has expanded its goals to include encouraging physical fitness among Florida's citizens through the example of its honorees.The FSHOF was founded by the Florida...
. In 1984, Barber was part of the American Sportscasters Association
American Sportscasters Association
American Sportscasters Association was founded in 1979 by broadcaster Dick London and associate attorney Harold Foner as a non profit association to represent sportscasters by promoting and supporting the needs and interests of the professional sports broadcaster.-History:In 1980, Louis O...
Hall of Fame’s inaugural class which included sportscasting legends Don Dunphy
Don Dunphy
Don Dunphy was a United States television and radio sports announcer specializing in boxing broadcasts. Dunphy was noted for his fast paced delivery and enthusiasm for the sport. It is estimated that he did "blow-by-blow" action for over 2,000 fights. The Friday Night Fights were broadcast every...
, Ted Husing
Ted Husing
Edward Britt Husing was an American sportscaster and was among the first to lay the groundwork for the structure and pace of modern sports reporting on television and radio.-Early life and career:...
, Bill Stern
Bill Stern
Bill Stern was a U.S. actor and sportscaster who announced the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a Major League Baseball game. In 1984, Stern was part of the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame’s inaugural class which included sportscasting legends Red...
and Graham McNamee
Graham McNamee
Graham McNamee was a pioneering broadcaster in American radio, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade....
. Barber was given a George Polk Award
George Polk Awards
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States.-History:...
in 1985 and a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
in 1990 for his NPR broadcasts, and in 1995 he was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
The Red Barber Radio Scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
is awarded each year by the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications to a student studying sports broadcasting.
A WRUF microphone used by Barber during the 1930s is part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's collection. It has been displayed in the museum's "Scribes and Mikemen" exhibit, and from 2002 to 2006 it was featured as part of the "Baseball as America" traveling exhibition.
External links
- Fan essay on Red Barber
- Baseball Hall of Fame - Frick Award recipient
- Red Barber Collection at University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries
- Red Barber Radio Scholarship
- Baseball as America Traveling Exhibition
- Red on the Phil Silvers Show
- Audio: Barber calls Cookie Lavagetto's base hit in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series
- Audio: Barber calls Al Gionfriddo's catch in Game 6 of the 1947 World Series