Red Barber

From SoSH

Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 - October 22, 1992) was the longtime voice of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Barber spent 15 seasons with the Dodgers, sandwiched between the 1934-1938 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and the 1954-1966 seasons with the New York Yankees.

Broadcasting Biography

Barber grew up in Columbus, Mississippi. His family moved to Florida when he was ten. At 21, Barber hitchhiked to Gainesville and enrolled in the University of Florida as an education major. Barber got his break in 1930 when an agriculture professor was scheduled to read a paper on the air of the school's station, WRUF. The professor was suddenly unavailable at the last minute, and the station's only available option was Barber. The time he spent on the air reading "Certain Aspects of Bovine Obstetrics" was enough to tell him to change careers and become a broadcaster. He became WRUF's director and chief announcer, announcing Florida football games in the fall. He subsequently dropped out of school to focus on broadcasting.

Barber remained at WRUF for four years before he became a broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds in 1934. He made his debut with the team on April 13, 1934, Opening Day, despite the fact that he had never attended a major league game, much less broadcast one. Barber stayed with the Reds until Reds president Larry MacPhail, who had hired him to broadcast, became the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers. MacPhail took Barber with him to Brooklyn.

Barber was the broadcaster for the first-ever televised major league baseball game in 1939 when the Dodgers hosted his former employer, the Reds. Shortly thereafter, he became the director of CBS Sports, where he met and mentored a young Vin Scully. Barber eventually left the Dodgers either because owner Walter O'Malley wanted him to become more of a homer during his broadcasts or, according to Curt Smith, because Barber resigned on his own because O'Malley did not back Barber's demand to be paid more by Gillette during the 1953 World Series. Scully replaced Barber and Barber went across town to the New York Yankees.

Barber's strive to be completely neutral ended up spelling the end of his career with the Yankees. First, many fans felt Barber's reporter-like style of broadcasting to be rather dull, especially compared to his partner, Mel Allen, who was more emotive. Second was the September 22, 1966 game against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees finished in last place for the first time since 1912 and drew only 413 fans for this September game. Though Yankee brass would not allow shots of the empty seats, Barber commented on the poor attendance at the game. His contract was not renewed at the end of the season.

Barber retired from broadcasting after his dismissal from the Yankees. In retirement, he wrote several books, contributed to radio and television sports programming, and made weekly contributions to NPR's Morning Edition. He died in 1992 in Tallahassee, Florida.

Barber, with Mel Allen, received the inaugural Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978. He was honored 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 1995, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. The University of Florida named a scholarship after him that is awarded annually to a student studying sports broadcasting.

Trivia

• Partially responsible for Chris Berman's incessant use of "back back back back back" for anything from home runs to infield pop-ups.
• Famous for his catchphrase "Oh, doctor!" later used by Jerry Coleman and in the film A League of Their Own by the broadcaster for the Rockford Peaches.

Further Reading

• Red Barber's biography at the Baseball Hall of Fame website
• Red Barber - Courtesy of Wikipedia