List of Pittsburgh Pirates broadcasters

The Pittsburgh Pirates are members of Major League Baseball (MLB); they have employed sportscasters to provide play-by-play and color commentary during games broadcast over the radio and on television.

Forbes Field wall – 2006

On August 5, 1921, Pittsburgh hosted the first baseball game broadcast over the radio. Harold Arlin, a foreman at Westinghouse, announced the game over KDKA from a box seat next to the first base dugout at Forbes Field.^[1][2][3] Throughout the 1920s and 1930s "occasional" games would be broadcast, until Rosey Rowswell became the first "Voice of the Pirates" in 1936.^[4] While most of Roswell's early broadcasts were solo, he was joined by Pirates' co-owner Bing Crosby and his successor Bob Prince for games.^[4] Prince took over as lead broadcaster in 1955 and held the position over the next 20 seasons. Prince gained a reputation for giving players nicknames and inventing catchphrases to describe the game; he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in August 1986.^[5] After the Pirates fired Bob Prince and his sidekick Nellie King after the 1975 season, they hired Milo Hamilton away from Atlanta to be the lead broadcaster and brought Lanny Frattare from their minor league affiliate to be the second announcer. After Hamilton left after the 1979 season, Frattare held the position for 29 years—the longest tenure of any Pirates' broadcaster.^[6] Upon Frattare's retirement after the 2008 season, Greg Brown took over the role as lead broadcaster.^[7] Multiple people have held temporary positions as broadcasters, including former players Don Hoak, Dave Giusti, Willie Stargell, and Pittsburgh Penguins' broadcaster Mike Lange.^[8]

WWSW-FM broadcast Pirates' games on the radio during the 1940s and 1950s until KDKA became the franchise's flagship station in 1955.^[9] In 2006, the Pirates switched to WPGB in an attempt to reach younger age brackets; under the contract WPGB carried Pirates' games though the 2011 season.^[10] Starting with the 2012 season, KDKA-FM took over as the flagship station of the Pirates Radio Network. As of 2016, the Pirates Radio Network has stations located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland.

TV & radio broadcasters

Go ball, get outta here!

—Lanny Frattare after a Pirates home run^[11]

There are a reported 15,000 people at the game this afternoon. If that's true, then at least 12,000 of them are disguised as empty seats.

—Jim Woods^[12]

There was nooooo doubt about it.

—Lanny Frattare after a Pirates win^[11]

Clear the deck, cannonball coming!

—Greg Brown after a Pirates home run^[13]

Raise the Jolly Roger!

—Greg Brown after a Pirates win^[14]

Broadcaster	Years[a]	Reference
Harold Arlin	1921	[15]
Jimmy Murray	1934	[15]
Walter E. Sickles	1934	[15]
Pat Patterson	1935	[15]
Tony Wakeman	1936	[15]
Regis Welsh	1936	[15]
Jimmy Dudley	1937	[15]
Claude Haring	1937; 1963–1964	[15]
Rosey Rowswell	1938–1954	[4][15]
Jack Craddock	1936; 1942–1947	[15]
Bob Prince	1947–1975; 1985	[16]
Dick Bingham	1955–1957	[15]
Joe Tucker	1955	[15]
Paul Long	1957–1962	[17]
Jim Woods	1958–1969	[18]
Don Hoak	1965–1966	[15]
Nellie King	1967–1975	[18]
Gene Osborn	1970
Milo Hamilton	1976–1979	[19]
Lanny Frattare	1976–2008	[6][20][21]
Nellie Briles	1979–1980	[22]
Dave Martin	1980	[22]
John Sanders	1981–1989	[22]
Dave Giusti	1982	[15]
Jim Rooker	1981–1993	[22]
Steve Blass	1983–2019	[23]
Willie Stargell	1983–1984	[15]
Alan Cutler	1986
Mike Lange	1986–1987	[24][25]
Kent Derdivanis	1990–1993	[11]
Bob Walk	1994–present	[23]
Greg Brown	1994–present	[26]
John Wehner	2005–present	[7]
Tim Neverett	2009–2015	[7]
Joe Block	2016–present	[27]
Michael McKenry	2020–2021
Kevin Young	2021–present
Matt Capps	2021–present
Neil Walker	2021–present

Footnotes

• ^a Each year is linked to an article about that particular MLB season.

See also

• Baseball portal

• List of current Major League Baseball announcers