On the air

A look at how the game of
baseball made it to the radio

The game of baseball became much more accessible to the fans and opened up a whole new way of visualizing the game,, beginning in 1921.  From  its beginnings and its early legends to the voices we know today. here's look at how the broadcasts of baseball games evolved.

1921 : The game goes to the air

On August 25, Harold Alren of KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pa., broadcasts the first baseball game over the air. In the fall of 1921, KDKA installs a wire between Pittsburgh and New York. Famed sportswriter Grantland Rice uses this wire to issue reports from the world series game between the Giants and Yankees. WJZ of Newark, N.J., also gets into the radio game and broadcasts the series by relay. Sandy Hunt of the Newark Sunday Call reports play-by-play from the Polo Grounds and Tommy Cowen repeats Hunt's accounts for listeners.

1923 : McNamee excites the fans

Graham McNamee, baseball announcer, begins his career. Despite limited knowledge of the baseball game, McNamee attracts fans with his enthusiastic descriptions of what is happening on the field. New York's WEAF (the forerunner of WNBC) broadcasts the 1923 World Series.

1924: Windy City broadcasts

WMAQ of Chicago broadcasts home games of the Chicago Cubs and White Sox. Hal Totten is the announcer and is later joined by Pat Flaherty.

1929: Going, Going, Gone! 

Harry Hartman of Cincinnati becomes the first radio announcer to pioneer the "Going, Going, Gone!" phrase to announce a home run.

1935: A full slate of Cubbies

William Wrigley of the Cubs becomes the first owner to allow his team's entire schedule of games to be broadcast.

1938: Voice of the Yankees

The Giants, Dodgers and Yankees allow broadcasts of home games. Mel Allen is hired to become the voice of the New York Yankees and teams with Arch McDonald.

1939: From Princeton to Brooklyn

On May 17, W2XBS of New York televises a college baseball game between Princeton and Columbia. This leads to the Aug. 26 broadcast of a game between the Reds and Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

1949: How about that?

Mel Allen first utters his famous line, "How about that?" when Joe DiMaggio returns to the N.Y. Yankees lineup following an injury.

1951: The Giants win...

Russ Hodges shouts of the most famous lines from a baseball game. After Bobby Thomson homers to give the Giants the pennant, Hodges shouts repeatedly, "The Giants Win the Pennant!"

1966: Seeing Red

Red Barber is fired after 34 years in the booth when he angers N.Y. Yankees officials. Barber tells the camera crews to show a Yankees Stadium filled with only 413 fans. It was the first time the Yankees had been in the cellar since 1912.