Chuck Thompson
From SoSH
Charles L. Thompson (June 10, 1921 - March 6, 2005) was a sports broadcaster best known for his work with the Baltimore Orioles.
Broadcasting Biography
Thompson was born in Palmer, Massachusetts and grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania. He began in 1947 by doing double duty for the Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies before he was hired by the minor league Baltimore Orioles in 1949. When the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and renamed themselves the Orioles in 1954, Thompson worked for them until 1958. He had a brief tenure with the Washington Senators before he returned to Baltimore in 1962, where he remained for the rest of his career, though he cut back on his play-by-play duties in the 1990s due to macular degeneration.
Thompson broadcast the 1958 NFL Championship Game and several World Series on NBC. In particular, he is remembered for being surprised by the end of the 1960 World Series, when Bill Mazeroski hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 to help the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Yankees. He misidentified pitcher Ralph Terry as Art Ditmar, who was in the bullpen, and generally just got a little over-excited.
"Well, a little while ago, when we mentioned that this one, in typical fashion, was going right to the wire, little did we know...Art Ditmar throws...Here's a swing and a high fly ball going deep to left, this may do it! ... Back to the wall goes Berra, it is...over the fence, home run, the Pirates win!...(long pause for crowd noise)...Ladies and gentleman, Bill Mazeroski has just hit a one-nothing pitch over the left field wall to win the 1960 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of ten to nothing!...Once again, that final score, the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates TEN, and the New York Yankees NINE!"
Thompson received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Further Reading
- Chuck Thompson's biography at the Baseball Hall of Fame website
- Chuck Thompson - Courtesy of Wikipedia
