Fred Manfra (born September 1946)[1] is anAmerican retiredsportscaster, best known for radio and television broadcasts of theBaltimore Orioles. He has covered many other sports, includingfootball,basketball,ice hockey,horse racing and theOlympics. He retired in May 2017 as a Baltimore Orioles sportscaster.
ABaltimore native, Manfra is a 1964 graduate ofPatterson High School, where he was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1996.[2] He began his broadcasting career at radio station KREL inCorona, California in the early 1970s, and gradually moved up through other jobs inVentura, California (KBBQ-FM and KBBY-FM),Davenport, Iowa (KSTT-AM),Milwaukee (WRIT-AM), andDetroit (WWJ-AM). He also worked for theAssociated Press radio sports network inWashington, D.C. before moving toNew York City to begin a long stint withABC network radio.
Manfra worked for ABC for 15 years, doing many weekend sports shows. He has handled varied assignments including theNBAFinals andAll-Star Game (1985–1990), Winter and Summer Olympic events, theNHLStanley Cup Finals andAll-Star Game (1991), theBreeder's Cup (2000–2002), and horse racing'striple crown races. He also broadcastcollege football,USFL andarena football games,New York Knicks basketball, andboxing andwrestling events. He has also called football and basketball games for theIowa Hawkeyes and theMichigan Wolverines.
Manfra was hired as aplay-by-play announcer forBaltimore Oriolesradio broadcasts onWBAL-AM on December 16, 1992. He succeededJoe Angel, who had moved to theexpansionFlorida Marlins in a similar capacity. Primarily teamed withJon Miller for most games, Manfra also worked withChuck Thompson whenever Miller did Orioles telecasts onWMAR orSunday Night Baseball onESPN.[3] He was joined in the radio booth by Angel upon the latter's return in early-February 2004.[4] He works innings 3, 4, 6, and 7 while Angel does the rest. He drastically cut back his assignments in 2016, and only called 10 games in the first half of the 2017 season before his retirement on June 4 of that year.[5] Manfra was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2018.[6]
Manfra and his wife live inTampa, Florida,[7] and have two grown daughters. While working for the Orioles, he lived inFallston, Maryland. In April 2014, Manfra underwent hip replacement surgery, and required a second operation in May. These procedures kept him out of the broadcast booth for several months of the 2014 season.[8]
| Preceded by | National radio play-by-play announcer,NBA Finals 1985–1990 | Succeeded by |