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Jim Britt | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1910-04-11)April 11, 1910 |
| Died | December 31, 1980(1980-12-31) (aged 70) Monterey, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Detroit |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Team(s) | University of Notre Dame (football, basketball) (1934–1935) Boston Braves (1940–1942, 1946–1952) Boston Red Sox (1940–1942, 1946–1950) Cleveland Indians (1954–1957) |
| Genre | Play-by-play |
James Joseph Britt (April 11, 1910 – December 31, 1980) was an Americansportscaster who broadcastMajor League Baseball games inBoston, Massachusetts, andCleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s and 1950s. On June 15, 1948, Britt was at the microphone onWBZ-TV for the first live telecast of a Major League game inNew England, as theBoston Braves defeated theChicago Cubs, 6–3, atBraves Field.[1]
A native ofSan Francisco, Britt graduated from theUniversity of Detroit and began his broadcasting career inMichigan before taking on play-by-play announcing for theUniversity of Notre Dame'sfootball andbasketball teams, then theBuffalo Bisonsminor league baseball club. He joined the air staff of Boston'sWNAC radio in 1939.[2]
From 1940 through 1950, with time out forUnited States Navy service inWorld War II,[1] Britt was the voice of both theNational LeagueBoston Braves (officially the "Bees" from 1936 to 1940) and theAmerican LeagueBoston Red Sox, succeedingBaseball Hall of Famesecond baseman andmanagerFrankie Frisch as play-by-play broadcaster when Frisch returned to uniform as pilot of the1940Pittsburgh Pirates.[3] Britt also hosted an evening sports show on WNAC.
At the time, the Braves and Red Sox each broadcast only their home games and shared announcing teams and flagship stations. Because MLB schedules were then arranged so that the two Boston clubs were never home at the same time, there were no schedule conflicts. As such, Britt was the voice of two pennant-winning clubs, the1946 Red Sox and the1948 Braves. During the latter year, only the Red Sox' defeat at the hands of theCleveland Indians in the1948 American League tie-breaker game on October 4 kept Britt from being the play-by-play voice of both league champions.
At the close of the1950 season, the teams' co-operative radio arrangement ended and each decided to air a full schedule of 154 games, home and away. Britt chose to stay with the Braves, and the Red Sox were left to look for their own lead announcer.
As fate would have it, the Sox would hire the "second banana" for theNew York Yankees — aMel Allen protégé namedCurt Gowdy — who would be the voice of the Red Sox for 15 years before moving on toNBC'sGame of the Week and a place in theBaseball Hall of Fame as aFord C. Frick Award winner. Meanwhile, the Braves' attendance fell disastrously in1951 and1952, and the club moved toMilwaukee inMarch 1953, in the middle ofspring training.
Britt did not accompany the Braves to Wisconsin. Instead, he relocated to Cleveland and joined the TV announcing crew of the Indians in1954, working through1957 withKen Coleman, a native of the Boston area (and Gowdy's eventual successor, in1966, as voice of the Red Sox). The highlight of Britt's Cleveland tenure was the Indians' 1954 American League pennant with their league-record 111–43 season (one game better than the 110–44 1927 Yankees). But the Indians were upset in four straight games by theNew York Giants in the ensuing1954 World Series.
Nationally, Britt participated in theMutual network radio coverage of theWorld Series in1948 and1950, and worked onNBC's television coverage of the Series in1949 and1951. He also announced several baseballAll-Star Games in the late 1940s and early '50s, as well asNFL games on theDuMont network andcollege football coverage (including the1953 Sugar Bowl game) onABC.
Britt returned to Boston in the late 1950s as a newscaster and sportscaster for the city's ABC affiliate, thenWHDH-TV, Channel 5. The station also was the flagship of the Red Sox' television network, but Britt never regained his former role announcing for the team. Instead, he initiated a popularcandlepin bowling show he would host until 1966, and also hostedDateline: Boston (a nonsports predecessor to many of the modern-day magazine-style television programs) and an ABC-TV network series of hourlong 18-hole matches between two golfers calledAll-Star Golf featuring the best of their time including Ben Hogan, Sammy Snead, Lloyd Mangrum and Billy Casper.
In retirement he eventually returned to his nativeCalifornia, where he died, aged 70, inMonterey.[1]
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