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Russ Hodges
Russell Pleasant “Russ” Hodges (June 18, 1910 - April 19, 1971) was an American broadcaster who did play-by-play for several baseball teams, most notably the New York and San Francisco Giants.
Bor...view moreRussell Pleasant “Russ” Hodges (June 18, 1910 - April 19, 1971) was an American broadcaster who did play-by-play for several baseball teams, most notably the New York and San Francisco Giants.
Born in Dayton, Tennessee, he began his broadcasting career in 1934. He was sports editor of WBT, Charlotte, N.C. until 1941 before moving to WOL in Washington, D.C., where he had already been doing play-by-play for the Washington Redskins. He worked for the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, and Cincinnati Reds, before landing in New York City with the New York Yankees and New York Giants.
From 1948-1949 Hodges hosted the 15-minute DuMont series Scoreboard, also known as Russ Hodges’ Scoreboard. In 1949 he became a No. 1 announcer and remained the voice of the Giants for the next 22 seasons on both coasts.
On October 3, 1951, Hodges was on the microphone for Bobby Thomson’s famous Shot Heard ‘Round the World. It was Hodges who cried, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”
Hodges followed the Giants west when they moved to San Francisco in 1958, retiring in 1970. His signature home run call was, “Bye-Bye, Baby!”, a phrase that was set to music as the Giants’ theme song during the 1960s.
He died in Mill Valley, California in 1971, aged 60.
Albert Simon Hirshberg, (c.1910-1973), frequently credited as Al Hirshberg, was a Boston-based author and sportswriter who was primarily active in the 1930s-1960s. He is best known as the co-author of Jimmy Piersall’s 1955 autobiography titled Fear Strikes Out: The Jimmy Piersall Story, which was later made into the 1957 film Fear Strikes Out, starring Anthony Perkins. He also wrote several books on the history of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, and co-wrote dozens of memoirs. He wrote for The Boston Post from 1930-1952 and the Boston Herald from 1964-1968. He moved to Florida on his retirement in the late 1960s, where he died in 1973, aged 63.view less