Welcome to Memory Lane! This show is a bit different than the rest of our DK Sports Radio content. Unlike the daily sports team podcast's, Morning Java or Daily Shot, Memory Lane will be an evergreen podcast, meaning it is not time sensitive.
The episodes will be extra long so you lunatics will have something to listen to over the weekend. Heading on a road trip out of town or busy with an afternoon full of house chores? This is the podcast for you.
On this week's show: I sit down to chat with former Pirates broadcaster Lanny Frattare. In honor of the World Series taking place this week, I wanted to bring someone on the show to talk about the 1979 Pirates. I figured rather than speaking with a member of the team, I could talk to the guy who narrated their season.
For those who'd rather read than listen to the interview, here is a transcribed Q&A:
Noah: So there's a lot I want to talk to you about, especially involving the 1979 Pirates, but before that, I want to kind of just go through your entire career. Let's start from the beginning. Instead of asking the cliche, 'when did you want to become a broadcaster,' I found the answer that question myself. You said it was in the eighth grade during a report. So my question to you would be what did you find during that report that inspired you to want to become a baseball Major League Baseball broadcaster?
Lanny: The point was that before it was a, it was a vocational booklet that was the assignment. For an eighth grader, you know, you're talking about 13 years of age. And I certainly knew a lot about, about broadcasting from the standpoint that I listened to a lot of baseball announcers. But it wasn't until I started investigating the career, then I really felt that this was a possibility for me. And I started to dream I started to dream about maybe someday being a baseball announcer and, and then as I told my parents about it, and also told my teachers about it, I had so many wonderful people that found ways to encourage me and to find ways for me to start practicing for what I hoped would be my my career.
Noah: Now, that's funny that you say that, because I had a similar goal. I wanted to get in sports media, and I figured it out right around the same time you did, but I had a lot of people that pushed me away from that goal. Why do you think that is? Why were more people encouraging toward media careers, when you were growing up compared to when I was growing up?
Lanny: That's interesting, you should bring up that point. Because when I started, and I did at 17, and 18, I, I started calling radio stations and TV stations and asking announcers if I could come and visit them. And I and I did a lot of that. I was amazed at the number of people in broadcasting, who told me don't go into this business. And I'm still to this day, mystified as to why they had that attitude, especially now. And of course, you know, I teach at Waynesburg University and I know, from having been there 11 years that, that the dream that I have, or had, is still very much alive in the hearts and minds of a number of young people that I've come in contact with. I certainly would never would do anything to discourage them. I might tell them how tough I think it is. How difficult a challenge it may be for them. But I'm not afraid to say to them, hey, if you want it badly enough, if you're willing to pay the price, if you're willing to put into work, and if you're willing to hone your skills, then then go for it.
Noah: So who were some of your inspirations growing up? Some of the guys that you heard on the radio maybe just late night you're able to pick up a lot back then on the AM? Who did you listen to that made you really want to go for this?
Lanny: Well, the main guy was because Rochester was New York Yankees territory and I suspect that it still is the Yankees were on WHO AM, a 50,000 watt station and the great voice of the New York Yankees, Mel Allen. So I listened a great deal with Mel Allen as a matter of fact, I think if there's a foundation to my style, it's from having listened to Mel. We also in my hometown of Rochester, had a great AAA affiliate of at then at that time, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Baltimore Orioles. The guy that was the voice of my minor league baseball team in Rochester was a guy named Tom Decker. And interestingly enough, Tom Decker would do the six o'clock news on TV. He then go do the baseball game on radio and then he'd come back and do the 11 O'Clock News on television. So those are the two guys Tom Decker. Mel Allen.
Noah: Interesting. That's that's cool because I mean, everyone has those guys. I mean, quite frankly, you are one of those guys for me. I remember listening to you when I was a kid and then Greg Brown and Mike Lang, Bill Hillgrove all those guys. It's always fun to hear who that was for someone else. Another person that you connected yourself with, in the early years of your career, was Bob Prince. Can you talk to me about your relationship with the Gunner?
Lanny: I was one of the two guys that replaced Bob Prince and Nellie King. What's important to keep in mind is that in 1974, when I was announcing in Charleston, on my way back to Rochester, I stopped and visited with Bob and Nellie and Bob put me on the air for an inning to do play by play. I did the same thing in 1975. On my trip from Charleston to Rochester, I stopped in Pittsburgh and, and visited with Bob and Bob put me on the air. And Bob and Nellie were both talking to me in 1975, about maybe me being the third man of the broadcast booth. So when I heard about a month later, month and a half later that Bob and Nellie had been fired, I thought that my dream had been dissipated with with them and, and then after, I submitted my tape and talked to the people about me being a candidate for the job. In that winter, Bob Prince would call my house in Rochester, maybe every five or six weeks, and give me updates on what he was hearing. And, and hey maybe, you know, maybe he was calling other young broadcasters too. But I was just touched by the fact that, that he cared enough to call me while I was in this position of wanting this job very badly. And by the way, I should also point out that I interviewed for the Atlanta Braves job in the fall of 1975. And I didn't get that job. And so I was somewhat crushed by thinking that that was my big break, and it didn't happen for me. After I got the Pirates job, I was amazed also that Bob, continued to reach out to me and continued to offer me advice. I remember my first spring training, I went out to Annamarie Island, which is just west of Bradenton, and when I was on the beach, and I came across Bob, also on the beach, and he and I started talking about broadcasting. And then after I started the regular season, Bob started giving me advice as to things that he thought I should do to enhance my abilities, and to continue to make to enhance my ability to connect with with pirate fans.
Noah: That's that's such an interesting thing to hear. It is a tough business, especially when you're let go, it can be personal to see who replaces you. For him, to go out of his way, not just immediately after, which is big, but continually to do that, I'm sure that meant a lot to you.
Lanny: It really did. And I needed it, you know? I was I was fortunate that I had a good number of people around me that were offering valuable advice to me, but to have the advice of Bob Prince as well. One of the things that Bob told me, for example, early in my career was that he felt that a Pirate broadcaster was not just a voice on the radio or television. He encouraged me to get out and meet fans, and told me that in the offseason, I should make appearances for the ball club. So for my 33 years as the team's broadcaster, I averaged some 50 to 55 appearances every winter. You know, I couldn't make those appearances during the baseball season because there there are almost no free nights during baseball season to do that. But in the offseason I could and it was tremendous advice for me, because I really did connect well with pirate fans because I get to meet so many of them one on one.
Noah: So, in one of your earlier answers you talked about your days in Charleston calling games for the Charleston Charlie's. I wanted to talk talk to you about some of the things that went down when you were there. Just looking at the names of the players that you covered there. Ed Ott, Omar Moreno, Kent Tekulve, Steve Blass, John Candelaria, Tony La Russa, Art Howe, Mario Mendoza, Willie Randolph just to name a few. My first question after reading that group of names: Did you see the guys like Candelaria, Moreno, Tekulve and think man, this is a team in the big leagues is already winning division titles, going head to head with the Reds for pennants, and now they're going to add in these young guys, they're going to have something special at the back end of the decade.
Lanny: The honest answer to that is no. I wasn't smart enough as a baseball announcer to know what I was watching really from a talent standpoint. But keep in mind, you know, here I am at age 26 venturing into minor league baseball, announcing in a city. In Charleston, we were lucky we got 500 people come to the ballpark. So think about it from an announcer standpoint, if you've got 500 people coming to the game, how many people you think are listening on the radio? But for me, I was more geared up towards this is my opportunity to do baseball every night 130 140 games a year to really get down my, my approach to how to do the game. Let me also point out when you're been naming names... Of the two years I was in Charleston, three of the players from those two years, went on to be major league managers. You mentioned Tony La Russa, you mentioned Art Howe. In 1975, Bobby Valentine was in Charleston. So three guys from those two years. You mentioned Ed Ott who, by the way, when my young son when he was five or six years old, was his favorite player. When Ed was in Charleston, he was a right fielder. He had such a great arm that the Pirates, because they knew they had Dave Parker in right field, they knew they had to think about moving into a different position. So they moved him to catcher. We had a whole crazy crew of guys. And I was pleased that, you know, they included me in there were long, long bus rides, some real terribly long bus rides. And you mentioned Steve Blass. Remember, Steve was in Charleston in 1974 because he was having control trouble. And Steve came to me one day and he said, 'Hey, Lanny when I get knocked out of games in the second inning, can I come up and broadcast with you? I said, if it's okay with the manager, Steve Detme, i'd be thrilled. I could have a World Series hero sitting next to me in a minor league broadcast booth. So it was funny because and you know how comical Steve is and was back then even while he was going through his troubles. I see Steve before game when he was going to pitch and he'd say he would see in the second inning. And in most cases he did! He'd go into the locker room, shower and come up to the broadcast booth and so what a treat for me to have a chance to work in a broadcast booth and have a color analyst that was a World Series hero.
Noah: You hit me with the trademark there, 'No doubt about it.' How did that come to fruition? How did that become your your your go to line?
Larry: Well, one of the conversations I had with Bob, and as a matter of fact, I can remember exactly where this first conversation about about signature phrases started. Bob Prince remember in 1976, my first year as a Pirate broadcaster with Milo Hamilton, Bob Prince, worked down in Houston with the Astros and and we played the Astros and had an off day so Bob asked if he could fly home to Pittsburgh on the team charter. And he did. He spent much of that flight with his knees in the seat in front of me, leaning over the back of the back of the chair, talking to me about broadcasting. He started telling me I had to develop a home run call. And, and I and I certainly appreciated that he was right about wanting to have a home run call. So I started sitting down and writing possible home run calls. And none of them sounded authentic. Yeah, they all sounded hokey and ridiculous. But, but one of the things that I started to think about was, you know, Bob Prince, and this is the thing that also mystified me. I was was constantly in contact with Pirate fans in those early years after a Pirate game in which the Pirates, you know, it was a close game idea. Pirate fans say, 'Hey, we had them all the way. We had them all the way.' And that was Bob's signature phrase. Well, I wanted to do something, not in those first four years because I was the number two guy behind Milo, but after Milo left, I found I was trying to find more and more ways to pay tribute to Bob. And so I said to somebody, a friend of mine, 'And there was no doubt about it,' and I thought, you know what, that could be used as a as an indirect way to pay tribute to Bob. So when I got down to Pirate games, you know, if there was no doubt about it fine. But if there really was some data about it, that I was going to have fun with it.
Noah: So, I want to talk to you about 1979. However, I know in order to do that, we need to start in 1970 In a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, and you've been on record saying the pirates had a comeback when in 1978 against the Phillies, and that's when you saw the vision when you kind of noticed that this is a team that can win another world series.
Lanny: Well, let me point out first of all in 1978, I remember this so vividly, this was my third year with Milo Hamilton and in we were at Veteran Stadium on a Saturday afternoon Game of the Week on NBC. In the hotel for the team was right across the parking lot from the ballpark. So when Milo and I finished up we were walking, the Pirates lost the game by like 10 runs and fell 11 and a half games out of first place. They just got clobbered by the Phillies, and fell so far out of first place. And, Chuck Tanner in the locker room that day after this terrible loss said 'This may not be the end, it might only be the beginning.' I'm walking back with Milo and I said to him, that sounds so ridiculous. You know, how can you say that? And how should we approach that on the air? The final month and a half of the season.Well, as it turned out, the Pirates went on this tremendous run. Chuck was right! They went on this tremendous run and took the season down to that final weekend of the campaign. Final Four games against the Phillies in Pittsburgh. And if the Pirates won all four I think they would have secured an opportunity to still be alive. So the Friday night, doubleheader, Pirates win both games. Kent Tekulve saves both games. Then Saturday afternoon daygame first inning Willie Stargell, hits a Grand Slam. I was told by people that were at the Pitt game that day, that when Willie hit the Grand Slam in the bottom of the first inning of that game against the Phillies on Saturday, the whole stadium at Pitt stadium erupted. But unfortunately, they lost that game on Saturday and it was all over. But you're right about the fact that that '78 comeback did much to set the table for '79.
Noah: When you think about that year, I'm sure you and everyone else who is watching the Pirates, they hear one song and that's of course 'We are Family.' Do you ever get tired of hearing that song? Or will it always have a special place in your heart?
Lanny: I don't to have it on my iPod. Are there such things as iPods anymore? I don't know. I don't have a it's not in my top 100 songs. But Okay. Hey, Jude is by the way. There are so many things about that song. Willie [Stargell] was the guy that realized it. There are aren't many things in baseball, that find their way from the clubhouse out into the real world or out into the stadium. But, you know, Willie came up with that song. The guys used it as inspiration after games and got fired up. Then of course, then it became, you know, part of the entertainment value it at Three Rivers. Even to the point that the network announcers criticized the Pirate wives in game three of the National League Championship Series against the Reds because they were dancing on the dugout. So and they the announcers were critical of the Pirate wives for doing that, but I could I couldn't be because one of the women dancing was my wife.
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