Robert Ferris Prince (July 1, 1916 – June 10, 1985) was an American radio and television sportscaster and commentator, renown for his 28-year stint as the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball club, with whom he earned the nickname "The Gunner" and became a cultural icon in Pittsburgh.

Prince called Pirates games from 1948 to 1975, including the World Series championship years of 1960 and 1971. Nationally, he broadcast the 1960, 1966, and 1971 World Series and the 1965 All-Star Game for NBC, as well as the first season (1976) of ABC's Monday Night Baseball. He also broadcast at different times for other Pittsburgh-area sports teams, including Steelers football and Penguins hockey.

Prince was known for an unabashed approach, garish sports coats, rapid-fire delivery, a deep, gravelly voice, and clever nicknames and phrases, which came to be known as "Gunnerisms." The unique style influenced numerous broadcasters after him, a list that included Pirates successors Lanny Frattare and Greg Brown as well as Pittsburgh Penguins voice Mike Lange and Pittsburgh Steelers color analyst Myron Cope.

Early life and career

Born in Los Angeles, California, Prince was the son of a former West Point football player and career military man. An Army brat himself, Prince attended several schools before graduation from Schenley High School in Pittsburgh. As an athlete, he lettered in swimming at the University of Pittsburgh.

Prince got his start at radio station WJAS before he landed a sports show on KDKA-TV. Prince joined Rosey Rowswell in the Pirates broadcast booth as a commentator in and he was promoted to the top spot shortly after Rowswell's death in February, 1955. He also broadcast Pittsburgh Steelers and Penn State football, Pittsburgh Hornets hockey and a Duquesne basketball game in the 1950s.

For three decades, Prince was a fixture on team broadcasts on KDKA-AM, a clear-channel station whose 50,000 watts and non-directional transmitter provided him and the Pirates with a vast radio audience. In daylight hours, it could be heard throughout central and western Pennsylvania as well as portions of the adjacent states of Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. Barring inclement weather, it also was audible in far western New York State and the southernmost part of the Canadian province of Ontario. After sunset, Prince's voice could be heard across much of the Eastern and Midwestern United States as well as Eastern Canada.

In the 1971 World Series, rookie Bruce Kison had scheduled his wedding to take place after Game 7. In exchange for World Series tickets, Prince negotiated a private jet so the pitcher could make it to his wedding on time.

The Possum and The Gunner

Many observers believed that Prince did his best work while paired with longtime sidekick Jim "The Possum" Woods and vice versa from the 1958 through 1969 seasons, a period that coincided with the rise of the Pirates as a consistent winner. It was roughly halfway through Woods's debut season when Prince, inspired by Pittsburgh's dramatically improved showing after nearly a decade mired deep in the National League's second division, first dubbed Forbes Field "The House of Thrills." It was Woods who first referred to his sidekick as "The Gunner." Some say this was because of his staccato style. Others claim it was the result of an incident with a jealous, gun-toting husband.

Prince came up with the idea when he saw Pirates trainer Danny Whelan wave a Green Weenie while he yelled at Houston Astros pitcher Dave Giusti to walk a batter. Guisti obliged, the Pirates went on to win the game and soon Prince began to talk about its mystical powers on broadcasts. "Never underestimate the power of the Green Weenie," he liked to remind his listeners. In 1966, the height of its popularity, Prince often punctuated the final out of a victory with, "The great Green Weenie has done it again!"

Even when the Green Weenie failed to produce immediate results, it could have a positive effect just the same. In one June game, Prince pointed it towards San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, but the attempt couldn't prevent a 2-1 loss. When the Giants ace had the middle finger of his pitching hand crushed in a car door the next day, however, he was forced to skip his next start then dropped two of three upon his return.

By late season, the Pirates were locked in a tense National League pennant race with the Dodgers and Giants. They lost their final three games of the season to finish in third place with a 92-70 record, three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. But as Pirates fans liked to point out, the Giants didn't win the pennant, either. The Giants finished one game out of first place, and the Green Weenie-induced injury to Marichal very well might have made the difference.

Later career

Controversial departure

Soon after control of the broadcasts changed from Atlantic Richfield to Westinghouse Broadcasting in 1969, Prince had personal conflicts with Westinghouse management. Pirates management often interceded to quell tensions between Prince and KDKA executives. Finally, in 1975, inexplicably, Prince and sidekick Nellie King were fired, a decision that Pirates management did not try to reverse, with regional director of Westinghouse Broadcasting Ed Wallis being labeled as the public target for fans to draw their ire. Pirates fans were shocked by the news. Egged on by competing radio station WEEP, hundreds of supporters held a parade and downtown rally. Several Pirates players also went to bat for him, but rehiring Prince was never a consideration.

KDKA hired Milo Hamilton in December and distributed press kits at a news conference that had a cover sticker proclaiming, "The New Voice of the Pirates." Hamilton was never popular with fans, later accusing Prince of badmouthing him and being "bitter" about this departure. After the 1979 season, Hamilton left the team, calling the experience "living hell.” Lanny Frattare avoided the implied negativism toward Prince and worked as Hamilton's junior partner and occasional play-by-play man. He went on to broadcast Pirates games with almost universal acceptance until 2008.

After his time with the Pirates, Prince had stints calling Houston Astros baseball (1976), Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, and ABC's Monday Night Baseball. On ABC, he was partnered with Warner Wolf and Bob Uecker. He was frustrated that ABC wouldn't let him employ his usual style (the network encouraged talking without much personality) and was removed from the primary Monday night broadcast team during his first season () before being dropped altogether after the season. He also was released by the Astros after a one-year stay; he later said that Houston didn't agree with him. His work with the Penguins was a cause of consternation for hockey fans because he didn't understand the game and didn't know the Penguins' personnel. Eventually he was taken off play-by-play and re-cast as an intermission interviewer. Eventually, he returned to Pirate baseball, thrilling his loyal fans, in 1982, calling a limited number of Pirates games for a cable station.

Triumphant return

Three years after his return, KDKA and the Pirates decided to make Prince a member of the regular radio broadcast team in 1985. Broadcaster Lanny Frattare suggested that KDKA should launch a campaign to have Prince recognized with the Hall of Fame's Ford Frick Award. At about the same time, independently, station executives Rick Starr and Chris Cross decided Prince should have a role on the radio broadcasts. The announcement came days after he had been released from a hospital for cancer treatments. Prince returned to the Pirates broadcast booth on May 3<!--, 1985--> to announce the middle three innings of the game between the Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Weakened from mouth cancer, Prince was able to announce only two innings but was given three standing ovations. The Pirates scored nine runs in the fourth, the first inning that Prince announced, one for each year of his absence from the booth. In the next inning Prince called for first baseman Jason Thompson to park one "so we'll have a little bit of everything," and Thompson homered; the Pirates won&nbsp;16–2 to improve to .

The 1985 team finished last in the majors at . Willie Stargell had retired three years earlier, and most of the 1979 championship team had disbanded. The fourth inning broadcast announced by Prince on May 3 was the fifth-most runs scored in any one inning (9) in Pirates franchise history. A commentator on KDKA-TV (Channel 2) referred to it on the 6&nbsp;p.m. news as the "last revival of the Green Weenie," Prince's good luck charm from 1966. Prince announced a few following homestands. Weeks later, he reported to the park for another game, but his illness forced him to go home after waiting through a long rain delay. Prince was unable to report for work again and was re-admitted to the hospital, where he died at age 68 on June&nbsp;10. He also was a 1986 inductee in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

Even today, his name remains synonymous with Pirates baseball including the naming of the new "Gunner's Lounge" at PNC Park in 2012. In 1999, Prince was selected for the Pride of the Pirates award, a lifetime achievement honor given annually to a member of the organization.

References

Further reading

  • O'Brien, Jim. (1998). We Had 'Em All the Way: Bob Prince and His Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: James P. O'Brien Publishing. .
  • Bob Prince Ford C. Frick Award biography at the National Baseball Hall of Fame