Mel Allen | |
|---|---|
 Allen in 1955 | |
| Born | Melvin Allen Israel February 14, 1913 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | June 16, 1996(1996-06-16) (aged 83) Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Alabama |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
Mel Allen (bornMelvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an Americansportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primaryplay-by-play announcer for theNew York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been "The Voice of the Yankees."
In his later years, Allen was the first host ofThis Week in Baseball.
Allen was born Melvin Allen Israel inBirmingham, Alabama. He attended theUniversity of Alabama, where he was a member of theKappa Nu fraternity as an undergraduate.[1]
During his time at Alabama, Israel served as thepublic address announcer forAlabama Crimson Tide football games. In 1933, when the station manager or sports director of Birmingham's radio stationWBRC asked Alabama coachFrank Thomas to recommend a new play-by-play announcer, he suggested Allen. His first broadcast was Alabama's home opener that year, against theTulane Green Wave.[2][self-published source][3]
Allen graduated from theUniversity of Alabama School of Law in 1937. Shortly after graduating, Allen took a train to New York City for a week's vacation. While on that vacation, he auditioned for a staff announcer's position at theCBS Radio Network. CBS executives already knew of Allen; the network's top sportscaster,Ted Husing, had heard many of his Crimson Tide broadcasts. He was hired at $45 (equivalent to $984 in 2024) a week.[4] He often did non-sports announcing such as forbig band remotes, or "emceeing"game shows such asTruth or Consequences, serving as an understudy for both sportscaster Husing and newscasterBob Trout.[2][3][5]
In his first year at CBS, Allen announcedthe crash of theHindenburg when the station cut away from singerKate Smith's show. He first became a national celebrity when head libbed for a half-hour during the rain-delayedVanderbilt Cup from an airplane.[6] In 1939, he was the announcer for the Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film musical short-subject,On the Air, withLeith Stevens and the Saturday Night Swing Club.[7][8]
Stephen Borelli, in his biographyHow About That?! (a favorite expression of Allen's after an outstanding play by the home team), states that it was at CBS's suggestion in 1937, the year Melvin Israel joined the network, that he go by a different last name on the air. He chose Allen, his father's middle name as well as his own, and legally changed his name to Melvin Allen in 1943.[3]
Allen was used as acolor commentator forCBS's radio broadcast of the1938 World Series. This ledWheaties to tap him to replaceArch McDonald, who was moving on to New York as the first full-time radio voice of both the Yankees and theNew York Giants for their home games, as the voice of theWashington Senators forthe 1939 season. Senators' ownerClark Griffith wantedWalter Johnson, a former Senators pitcher, instead of Allen, and Wheaties relented.[4]
In June 1939, Garnett Marks, McDonald's partner on Yankee broadcasts, twice mispronouncedIvory Soap, the Yankees' sponsor at the time, as "Ovary Soap." He was fired, and Allen was tapped to replace him. McDonald himself went back to Washington after only one season, and Allen became the Yankees' and Giants' lead announcer,[4] doing double duty for both teams because only their home games were broadcast at that time.
He periodically recounted an anecdote that occurred during his first full season (1940) as Yankee play-by-play man.Hall of Fame first basemanLou Gehrig had been forced to retire the year before after having been diagnosed withamyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal illness. Speaking with Allen in the Yankee dugout, Gehrig told him "Mel, I never got a chance to listen to your games before because I was playing every day. But I want you to know they're the only thing that keeps me going." Allen broke down in tears after Gehrig departed.[4]
Allen's stint with the Yankees and Giants was interrupted in 1941, when no sponsor could be found and both teams went off the air, but the broadcasts resumed in 1942. Allen was the voice of both the Yankees and the Giants until 1943, when he entered theUnited States Army duringWorld War II, broadcasting onThe Army Hour andArmed Forces Radio.[3]
After the war, Allen called Yankee games exclusively. By this time, road games were added to the broadcast schedule. Before long Allen and the Yankees were fused in the public consciousness,[9][self-published source] an association strengthened by the team's frequentWorld Series appearances. Allen eventually called 22 World Series on radio or television, including all but one in the 17-year stretch between1947 and1963, and also called 24All-Star Games.[3] Interestingly, Allen's play-by-play of the1948 World Series between theCleveland Indians and theBoston Braves alongsideBoston Braves announcerJim Britt occurred because neitherCleveland Indians announcer was selected byMLB commissionerHappy Chandler;[10]Jack Graney was ineligible due to having been a former player, andJimmy Dudley was passed over due to a lack of experience.[11]
In 1952, Allen was one of the first three celebrities spoofed in the just-createdMad satirical comic book. In the second issue, Allen, Giant managerLeo Durocher and Hall of Fame Yankee catcherYogi Berra were all caricatured in a baseball story, "Hex!", illustrated byJack Davis. His likeness was also licensed byStandard Comics for a two-issue "Mel Allen's Sports Comics" series between 1949 and 1950.[12]
AfterRuss Hodges departed from the Yankee booth to become the longtimevoice of the New York (and starting in1958, San Francisco)Giants, the youngCurt Gowdy replaced him as Allen's broadcast partner in 1949 & 1950, having been brought in fromOklahoma City after winning a national audition. Gowdy, originally fromWyoming, credited Mel Allen's mentoring as a big factor in his own success as a broadcaster and becamethe voice of theBoston Red Sox from1951 to1965.Red Barber, the formerBrooklyn Dodgers announcer who had served as Allen's crosstown rival and frequent World Series broadcast partner, joined the Yankees' booth in1954 and teamed with Allen until the latter's dismissal a decade later.
Allen called the second half of Game 7 of the1960 World Series, as broadcasting duties were split between Allen andPittsburgh broadcasterBob Prince.[13]Bill Mazeroski hit a walk-off home run offRalph Terry to win thefall classic for thePittsburgh Pirates. It was the onlywalk-off home run ever to occur in a Game 7 of a World Series.
There's a drive into deep left field, look out now…! That ball is going… going gone! And the World Series is over! Mazeroski… hits it over the left field fence for a home run, and the Pirates win it 10–9 and win the World Series…!
— Mel Allen callingBill Mazeroski's game winning home run in Game 7 of the1960 World Series onNBC television.[14]
Allen lost his voice late in the fourth and last game of the1963 World Series, in which theDodgers swept theYankees in four games and their longtime announcer,Vin Scully, paired with Allen on the national telecast, spontaneously took over from him for the end of the game after he could no longer talk, telling him soothingly, "That's all right, Mel." (Scully had announced the first half of the game, and Allen had begun to announce the second half.)[4]
Among Allen's manycatchphrases were "Hello there, everybody!" to start a game, "How a-bout that?!" on outstanding Yankee plays, "There's a drive, hit deep to right. That ball is go-ing, go-ing, gonnne!!" for Yankee home runs, forfull counts, "Three and two. What'll he do?" and after a robust Yankee swing and miss, "He took a good cut!"[6]
Allen variously called regular-seasoncollege football for theDuMont,NBC, andABC networks throughout the 1950s and early '60s. He also broadcast a number ofbowl games, including 14Rose Bowls, twoOrange Bowls, and twoSugar Bowls.[15] In theNational Football League, Allen served as play-by-play announcer for theWashington Redskins in 1952 and 1953 and for theNew York Giants onWCBS-AM in 1960, with some of the Giants' broadcasts also carried nationally by theCBS Radio Network. He also did radio play-by-play for theMiami Dolphins and for theMiami Hurricanes.[16][17]
Allen hostedJackpot Bowling on NBC in 1959 afterLeo Durocher had left to return to major league baseball coaching, but his lack of bowling knowledge made him an unpopular host andBud Palmer replaced him as the show's host in April.[18][19]
Allen narrated a film about the1961 Maccabiah Games which took place in Israel, titledThe Sixth World Maccabiah Games.[20][21]
In the early 1940s, Allen hostedThirty Minutes to Play onCBS radio. The program featured "interviews of sports and musical personalities."[22] In the early 1940s Mel Allen announced a few Glenn Miller radio programs as well.
In 1947, Allen was adisc jockey on 1010WINS in New York City, with a 2–5 p.m. program daily. An ad for the station inBroadcasting called the show "the initial step in our plans for bloc [sic] programming."[23]
In the early 1960s, Allen hosted the three-hour Saturday morning segment of the weekendNBC Radio programMonitor. He also contributed sportscasts to the program until the late 1960s. Allen also providedvoiceover narration forFoxMovietonenewsreels for many years.
Allen appeared in a cameo role in the 1988 comedy filmThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.
In 1994, he voiced the stadium announcer for theBroadway revival ofDamn Yankees, as himself.[24]
On September 21, 1964—prior to the start of the World Series—the Yankees informed Allen that his contract with the team would not be renewed for 1965. In those days, the main announcers for both Series participants always called the World Series onNBC television. Although Allen was thus technically eligible to call the1964 World Series, Baseball CommissionerFord Frick honored the Yankees' request to have retired Yankee star shortstopPhil Rizzuto, Allen's sidekick in the radio booth, join the Series crew instead. It would be one of only four Yankee World Series going back to1938 that Allen had not broadcast, and the first since1943 (which he'd missed due to his Army service).[citation needed]
On December 17, 1964, after much media speculation and many letters to the Yankees from fans disgruntled by Allen's absence from the Series, the Yankees issued a terse press release announcing Allen's firing; he was replaced byJoe Garagiola. NBC and Movietone dropped him soon afterward. To this day, the Yankees have never given an explanation for the sudden firing, and rumors abounded. Depending on the rumor, Allen was eitherhomosexual, analcoholic, adrug addict, or had anervous breakdown.[6][page needed]
Years later, Allen told authorCurt Smith that the Yankees had fired him under pressure from the team's longtime sponsor,Ballantine Beer. According to Allen, he was fired as a cost-cutting move by Ballantine, which had been experiencing poor sales for years[6][page needed] (it would eventually be sold in 1969). Smith, in his bookVoices of Summer, also indicated that the medications Allen took to see him through his busy schedule may have affected his on-air performance. (Stephen Borelli, another biographer, has also pointed out that Allen's heavy workload did not allow him time to take care of his health.)[citation needed]
Allen becameMerle Harmon's partner forMilwaukee Braves games in1965, and workedCleveland Indians games on television in1968. But he would not commit to either team full-time, nor to theOakland Athletics, who also wanted to hire him after the team's move from Kansas City. Despite the firing in 1964, Allen remained loyal to the Yankees for the remainder of his life, and to this day—years after his death—he is still popularly known as "the Voice of the Yankees."[15][16][25][26][27]
The Yankees eventually brought Allen back to emcee specialYankee Stadium ceremonies, includingOld-Timers' Day, which Allen had originally handled when he was lead announcer. Although Yankee broadcasterFrank Messer, who joined the club in1968, replaced him as emcee for Old-Timers' Day and other special events likeMickey Mantle Day, the Yankees continued to invite Allen to call the actual exhibition game between the Old Timers, and to take part in players' number-retirement ceremonies.[citation needed]
Allen was brought back to the Yankees' on-air team in 1976 as a pre/post-game host for the cable telecasts withJohn Sterling, and also started calling play-by-play again. He announced Yankees cable telecasts on SportsChannel New York (nowMSG Plus) withPhil Rizzuto,Bill White,Frank Messer, and occasionally,Fran Healy.[28][29][30]
Allen remained with the Yankees' play-by-play crew until 1985 and made occasional appearances on Yankee telecasts and commercials into the late 1980s. In 1990, Allen called play-by-play for aWPIX Yankees game to officially make him baseball's first seven-decade announcer. Among the memorable moments Allen called in his latter stretch were Yankee outfielderReggie Jackson's 400th home run in1980, and Yankee pitcherDave Righetti's no-hitter on July 4, 1983.[31]
In his later years, Allen was exposed to a new audience as the host of the syndicated highlights showThis Week in Baseball, which he hosted from its inception in 1977 until his death. WhenFOX relaunchedTWIB in2000 (after a one-year hiatus), it used aclaymation version of Allen to open and close the show until2002.[citation needed]
Allen recorded the play-by-play for two computer baseball games,Tony La Russa Baseball andOld Time Baseball, which were published byStormfront Studios. The games included his signature"How about that?!" home run call. He also used the same catch-phrase during his cameo appearances in the filmsThe Naked Gun (1988) andNeedful Things (1993).[32]
ProducerDon Daglow said in a 1995 interview withComputer Gaming World that
Allen was a dream to work with. If something sounded the least bit off, he caught it himself and self-corrected before you even had a chance to ask for another take. Sometimes he'd hear a problem live that we would only have noticed later. When he was reading the long list of numbers that would be spliced into sentences to announce batting averages and so on, he stopped suddenly and said, 'That's not good.' Then he started again and finished the list. When we checked the tape we heard that he had just started to get a sing-song rhythm from repeating too many numbers in a row, and he'd noticed before anyone else had.[citation needed]
TheNational Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association inducted Allen into its Hall of Fame in 1972. In1978, he was one of the first two winners of theBaseball Hall of Fame'sFord C. Frick Award for broadcasting, along withRed Barber. In 1985, Allen was inducted into theAmerican Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame along with former Yankee partner (and later Red Sox and NBC Sports voice)Curt Gowdy and Chicago legendJack Brickhouse. He was inducted into theNational Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.[28] In 2009, theAmerican Sportscasters Association ranked Allen as the #2 greatest sportscaster of all time, second only toVin Scully.[33]
Allen died of heart failure at age 83 on June 16, 1996; he had undergone open-heart surgery in 1989.[26] His one-week vacation to New York had turned into 60 years; he had settled in New York after landing a job atCBS Radio and lived there and in southwestern Connecticut for the rest of his life.
Allen was buried at Temple Beth El Cemetery inStamford, Connecticut. On July 25, 1998, the Yankees dedicated a plaque in his memory atMonument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque calls him "A Yankee institution, a national treasure" and includes his much-spoken line "How about that?!"[34]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
