#red barber

[wordfromoursponsor]

"To these and other announcers and performers who help us sell our clients' goods and services on television, BBDO sends its appreciative greetings" (1953)

[oldshowbiz]

Red Barber the Old Redhead

[this-day-in-baseball]

April 17, 1934

On Opening Day at the newly-named Crosley Field, Reds’ announcer Red Barber calls his first play-by-play for a major league team. The 26-year-old future Hall of Fame broadcaster had never attended a major league game before today’s 6-0 loss to Chicago.

[electronicsquid]

Red Barber

(William C. Shrout. 1940)

[delux22]

Feb 17

“Writing is easy. Just sit down and open a vein.” Happy Birthday, Red Barber (1908-1992)

[famousdeaths]

Red Barber : Died October 22, 1992

Walter Lanier "Red" Barber was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League...

Link: Red Barber

[racingtoaredlight]

Closing Bell: On This Day - April 17

1869 - The Cincinnati Red Stockings defeat the rival Amateurs, 24-15, in baseball's first professional game. Team captain Harry Wright had put all of his players under contract, making the club, that will become known as the Reds, the first pro team in sports history.

Three pitches into the game the world’s first asshole sports fan started complaining that Fred Waterman was overpaid and demanded he be traded despite the lack of another professional baseball team at the time.

Also this guy fucked your great-great-great-grandmother.

1904 - By not charging admission but requiring fans to buy a scorecard, the Brooklyn Superbas are able to play their first Sunday game. The strategy is an attempt to circumvent the existing blue laws, legislation designed to enforce religious edicts, including the observance of Sunday as a day of worship.

Because sometimes the universe is just and fair, by spitting in the face of religion the Superbas pummeled the Boston Beaneaters 9-1.

1934 - On Opening Day at the newly-named Crosley Field, Reds' announcer Red Barber calls his first play-by-play for a major league team. The 26 year-old future Hall of Fame broadcaster had never attended a major league game before today's 6-0 loss to Chicago.

Mr. Barber was disgusted by what he saw from this game base-ball but that opium wasn’t going to pay for itself so he stuck around in the business for 30 years and was named the Best Broadcaster of the 1950s. No one will ever forget his signature home run call: "I love opium and hate baseball".

1977 - At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the umpires walk off the field in he fourth inning to protest the Braves showing a controversial play on the ballpark's large instant replay screen that involves Houston's Bob Watson scoring on a close play at the plate. Team executive Bill Lucas persuades the crew, which includes Terry Tata, Ed Sudol, Dick Stello, and Bruce Froemming, to return the field, after assuring the arbitrators the incident would not be repeated.

Cunts.

1995 - The Devil Rays and the City of St. Petersburg come to terms on a 30-year lease for the new American League expansion team to play their home games at the ThunderDome. The domed stadium, now known as Tropicana Field, was built originally as the Florida Suncoast Dome in an attempt to coax the White Sox to leave their aging ballpark in Chicago and relocate to the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area.

Baseball in Florida has clearly been a mistake, two weird Marlins championships notwithstanding, and instead of making you think about the pointless Rays any longer than you’d like here’s some good toilet reading about the White Sox odyssey to get a new ballpark and how they crapped the bed by not going with Armour Field.