21 Facts About Bob Prince

Bob Prince called Pirates games from 1948 to 1975, including the World Series championship years of 1960 and 1971.

An Army brat, Bob Prince attended many schools before graduating from Schenley High School in Pittsburgh.

Bob Prince worked for radio station WJAS, then landed a sports show on KDKA-TV.

Bob Prince joined Rosey Rowswell in the Pirates' broadcast booth as a commentator in 1948, and he was promoted to the top spot shortly after Rowswell's death in February 1955.

Bob Prince once claimed to have gone into the booth without anything more than a pencil, a scorecard, and his imagination; the approach of warm announcing and occasional rambling drew plenty of admiration from fans, albeit with detractors, most notably with Branch Rickey, who was general manager of the Pirates in the 1950s.

Bob Prince became good friends with slugger Ralph Kiner and even formed a business to handle Kiner's business interests.

Many veteran observers believe Bob Prince did his best work while paired with longtime sidekick Jim "The Possum" Woods and vice versa from 1958 through 1969, which coincided with the rise of the Pirates as a championship-caliber team.

Woods allegedly recounted to an interviewer in Cleveland that two decades ago, during Woods' first spring-training with the Pirates in Fort Myers, Florida, Bob Prince had had a narrow escape from an encounter with a jealous husband who was packing a gun.

Bob Prince was especially close friends with Milwaukee Braves pitchers Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette.

Bob Prince would reunite with Woods on two separate occasions for the USA Network.

In 1966, Bob Prince popularized a good-luck charm known as the Green Weenie, a plastic rattle in the shape of an oversized green pickle that Pirates fans used to jinx opponents.

Bob Prince picked up on it and began talking about it on the broadcasts.

Several Pirates players went to bat for him, but rehiring Bob Prince was never a consideration.

Bob Prince was frustrated that ABC wouldn't let him employ his usual style and was removed from the primary Monday night broadcast team during his first season before being dropped altogether after the season.

Bob Prince was released by the Astros after a one-year stay; he later said that Houston didn't agree with him.

Bob Prince's 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.

Broadcaster Lanny Frattare suggested that KDKA should launch a campaign to have Bob 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 Bob Prince should have a role on the radio broadcasts.

The Pirates scored nine runs in the fourth, the first inning that Bob Prince announced, one for each year of his absence from the booth.

Bob Prince was a 1986 inductee in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

In 1999, Bob Prince was selected for the Pride of the Pirates award, a lifetime achievement honor given annually to a member of the organization.