Al Helfer | |
|---|---|
 Helfer broadcasting the Mutual "Game of the Day" in the 1950s | |
| Born | George Alvin Helfer (1911-09-26)September 26, 1911 Elrama,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 16, 1975(1975-05-16) (aged 63) Sacramento,California, U.S. |
| Known for | Sports broadcaster |
George Alvin "Al"Helfer (September 26, 1911 – May 16, 1975) was an American radio sportscaster.
Nicknamed "Mr. Radio Baseball", Helfer called theplay-by-play of sevenWorld Series, tenAll-Star Games, and regular season broadcasts for several teams (among them theNew York Yankees,Brooklyn Dodgers andOakland Athletics) and theMutual andNBC networks. He also broadcast theArmy–Navy Game during the 1940s and '50s and severalRose Bowl games forNBC Radio in the 1950s.
Helfer was born inElrama, Pennsylvania. He playedfootball andbasketball atWashington & Jefferson College, and took his first job as a sports reporter for thePittsburgh Post-Gazette after graduation, also calling the football games of thePittsburgh Pirates (as they were then called) andPittsburgh Panthers for radio stationWWSW. He started broadcasting recreations ofPittsburgh Pirates baseball games in1933.
He joinedRed Barber as the regular broadcast team of theCincinnati Reds in1935. He left Cincinnati to joinCBS in1937, working a few baseball games and a lot of football games. Helfer was reunited with Barber (who often addressed him on-air as "Brother Al") on theBrooklyn Dodgers broadcasts in1939. They worked together until1941, when Helfer joined theU.S. Navy during World War II.
When he returned the Dodgers job was no longer available, so Helfer started doing "Game of the Day" broadcasts for Mutual. He was paired withDizzy Dean on the network's broadcasts in the early 1950s, though the two men often argued and never got along.[1] He did eventually rejoin the Dodgers for their last years in Brooklyn, calling their final home game and introducing the players to the crowd for the final time. In 1958 Helfer calledPhiladelphia Phillies games which were broadcast to the New York market byWOR-TV, helping to fill the void of National League baseball left in the city by the departure of the Dodgers andGiants.[2]
He worked a number of teams after that, including theHouston Colt .45s (1962),Denver Broncos (1962–63), andOakland Athletics (1968–69).
On December 12, 2018 it was announced Helfer had been awarded theFord C. Frick Award for Excellence in Baseball Broadcasting from theBaseball Hall of Fame.[3]
His second wife was vaudeville performerRamona; they married on 14 June 1944, and stayed together until her death in December 1972. The following June, he married Sacramento resident Margaret Grabbe, to whom he remained married until his death. He died, aged 63, inSacramento, California.