Monongahela grad Helfer was recipient of Frick Award
Submitted photo
Monongahela graduate Al Helfer was the recipient of the 2019 Ford C. Frick Award.
Submitted photo
Monongahela graduate Al Helfer is shown during his baseball broadcasting days doing the Mutual Game of the Day.
Submitted photo
Monongahela graduate Al Helfer was the recipient of the 2019 Ford C. Frick Award.
It is a little known fact that Al Helfer, who was born in the Mon Valley, was the recipient of the 2019 Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for 无毛视频渕ajor contributions to baseball.无毛视频�
It is named for Ford C. Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Though they are sometimes erroneously referred to as 无毛视频淗all of Famers,无毛视频� honorees are not inducted into the Hall of Fame. Honorees (if living) give a speech at the Hall of Fame during induction weekend, and their names are added to a plaque in the Hall无毛视频檚 library.
Helfer was born Sept. 26, 1911 in Elrama and grew up on Jackson Street in Monongahela. Al was a 1929 graduate of Monongahela High School where he was an outstanding athlete, lettering in football, basketball and track and field. He earned a football and basketball scholarship to Washington & Jefferson College. For many years Al gave a trophy and scholarship to an outstanding Monongahela High School athlete.
In Curt Smith无毛视频檚 outstanding book 无毛视频淰oices of the Game,无毛视频� Helfer recalled his youth in the Mid Mon Valley.
无毛视频淢y father was about 5-8 and my mother was about 5-3. They could never understand why their children were so big.
Helfer grew into a mountain of a man at 6-4 and 275 pounds. He was the first of two sons of George Helfer, an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the former Margaret Pritchard. he grew up in Monongahela.
A first baseman at Washington & Jefferson College, Helfer also lettered in football, basketball and track. He was offered a pro contract to play baseball by Philadelphia Athletics manager and future Hall of Famer Connie Mack in 1935, but turned it down to focus on his broadcasting career. Forced to go to work, a college friend helped Helfer get a job at a small radio station in Silver Haven, Pa., for $5 a week with room and board.
After graduating from W&J Helfer entered medical school at the University of Pittsburgh, but dropped out after a year for lack of money. Joining the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a sportswriter, he broadcast Pitt football and re-creations of some Pirates games over the paper无毛视频檚 radio station in 1933.
In 无毛视频淰oices of the Game,无毛视频� Helfer admitted he was always controversial.
In 1951 Helfer said, 无毛视频淧eople have always reacted strongly, not blandly, to what I have to say.无毛视频�
Helfer broadcast his first game at age 16 in 1933 for Pittsburgh and also worked games for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, and Brooklyn Dodgers and later called games on radio for the Mutual Game of the Day in the 1950s.
He enlisted in the Navy prior to the 1942. Often aboard destroyers and destroyer-escorts in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean Theaters, and was wounded once before being discharged as a lieutenant commander. He returned to the microphone in 1945. By this time he was divorced from his first wife, Agnes Charney; they had a son, George Helfer.
He was rotated back home in time to marry again on June 14, 1944. His bride, Estrild Raymona Myers, was a jazz pianist and singer who used the stage name Ramona. She had performed with Paul Whiteman无毛视频檚 orchestra and had several hit records in the 1930s. She quit show business to raise their daughter, Raymona, who was born the next year.
无毛视频淥ther guys had it a lot worse,无毛视频� Helfer said of his Navy service. 无毛视频淚 won无毛视频檛 trade on it. I无毛视频檓 glad I did it, but I wouldn无毛视频檛 want to do it again.无毛视频�
Helfer, the 无毛视频渟ports voice无毛视频� of the Mutual Broadcasting System无毛视频檚 unique Game of the Day radio broadcasts from 1950 through 1954, gained a national audience. Mel Allen and Red Barber already were famous then because they had been broadcasting New York Yankee and Brooklyn Dodger games. But their broadcasts (except for the World Series) reached only a small area of the northeastern United States. Helfer无毛视频檚 went around the world almost every day of the season, as the Mutual Game of the Day was picked up by the Voice of America and the Armed Forces Radio Network.
Helfer had an exhausting schedule during this period. He was travelling to a different ballpark six days a week.
无毛视频淵ou can无毛视频檛 beat this life if you like sports as much as I do. If this were not my business, it would be my hobby,无毛视频� he told the Chicago Tribune in 1952. 无毛视频淏ut every job has a hook in it. Mine is traveling. I无毛视频檝e been living out of a suitcase most of my working life.
无毛视频淔ans repeatedly say they envy me. I see a ballgame every day and get paid for it. The broadcast is the whipped cream on my cake. What they don无毛视频檛 know is that there is a lot of book work to sportscasting.无毛视频�
Helfer described his travels in 无毛视频淰oices of the Game.无毛视频�
无毛视频淚 became the Ghost of Hartsdale,无毛视频� his home outside New York.
无毛视频淚 was the only guy I ever knew,无毛视频� he said, 无毛视频渨ho would come home, pick up fresh laundry, and get out the door before it could swing shut. The only time I spent with my wife was on the long-distance telephone. My daughter was growing up and I didn无毛视频檛 know her.无毛视频�
As Mutual无毛视频檚 star announcer, Helfer called five World Series on radio from 1951 through 1955, plus the 1957 Fall Classic on television; four All-Star Games on radio; and four more on TV. In 1951 he broadcast six of the highest-profile sports events: baseball无毛视频檚 All-Star Game and World Series, the Giants-Dodgers playoff with Bobby Thomson无毛视频檚 无毛视频淪hot Heard Round the World,无毛视频� the Army-Navy football game, the Rose Bowl, and the East-West college football all-star game.
He worked seven Rose Bowls and one Orange Bowl, the Indianapolis 500, and basketball at Madison Square Garden. He began a long run as master of ceremonies for the New York Downtown Athletic Club无毛视频檚 annual Heisman Trophy banquet. The club eventually awarded him an honorary Heisman.
Helfer无毛视频檚 last network baseball broadcast was the 1958 All-Star Game, his fourth straight for NBC-TV. He went to Houston in 1962, with the expansion Colt .45s. He had a one-year run in Houston. Moving to Denver he was newscaster and football announcer for the Inter-Mountain network, and called some college and pro football games for ABC.
There was one last hurrah for Helfer in Major League baseball. In 1968 when the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland. The A无毛视频檚 No. 1 announcer, Monte Moore, welcomed him; Moore had listened to the Game of the Day while growing up in Oklahoma.
Helfer called 14 no-hitters during his career, including Catfish Hunter无毛视频檚 perfect game for the Oakland Athletics on May 8, 1968.
Helfer always scoffed at the superstition that announcers were supposed to hide the fact that a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檝e broadcast many no-hitters,无毛视频� he told The Monongahela Daily Republican in 1968. 无毛视频淚 did two by Allie Reynolds, two by Carl Erskine and one by Tex Carleton. I say tell the fan what无毛视频檚 going on. The people in the ballpark know and I represent the fans who aren无毛视频檛 there.无毛视频�
He was let go by the A无毛视频檚 after two years. Helfer无毛视频檚 last stop was KRAK in Sacramento, where he served as vice president for news beginning in 1970. Wife Ramona died of cancer in 1972, and he married a Sacramento woman, Margaret Grabbe. Helfer died of cancer on May 16, 1975, at 63.
Helfer had the distinction of being the only person to broadcast for three New York teams: the Yankees; Giants, who relocated to San Francisco in 1957; and the Brooklyn Dodgers, who moved to Los Angeles the same year.
无毛视频淏rother Al无毛视频� or 无毛视频淢r. Radio Baseball无毛视频� as Al Helfer was known, was a well deserved recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasting excellence.
George Von Benko无毛视频檚 无毛视频淢emory Lane无毛视频� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 无毛视频-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.