John Sanders is an American sports broadcaster, with over 25 years' experience commentating Major League Baseball games. He spent 16 years as a television announcer for the Cleveland Indians. Previously, he was on both television and radio broadcasts for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He also called Big East football and basketball games through the mid-2010’s.
Sanders, a Kansas native, worked at WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas. He then moved to KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, where he spent 12 years. [1] While at KMBC, he did play-by-play for preseason telecasts of the Kansas City Chiefs.
In 1978, he moved to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as weekend sports anchor. He later became sports director, appearing on the station's 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts. Then, in October 1980, KDKA announced that he would join Pirates broadcast legend Lanny Frattare for televised games during the 1981 season. [1] He continued on the Pirates' broadcast team for nine seasons. [2]
In 1991, Sanders moved to Cleveland to do television play-by-play for the Cleveland Indians on FSN Ohio. Following the 2006 season, the team declined to renew his contract. [3]
Sanders and his wife, Cherie, have two daughters, Gabrielle and Hilary.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central Division. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881 under the name Pittsburgh Alleghenys, the club joined the National League in 1887 and was a member of the National League East from 1969 through 1993. The Pirates have won five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles and made three appearances in the Wild Card Game.
Leonard Ray Dawson was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. After playing college football at Purdue, Dawson began his NFL career in 1957, spending three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and two with the Cleveland Browns. He left the NFL in 1962 to sign with the AFL's Chiefs, where he spent the last 14 seasons of his career, and rejoined the NFL after the AFL–NFL merger.
Mike Lange is a retired American sportscaster, best known for his long career as a play-by-play announcer for Pittsburgh Penguins hockey. In 2001, he received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for his outstanding work as an NHL broadcaster.
Robert Ferris Prince was an American radio and television sportscaster and commentator, best known 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.
WPKD-TV, branded KDKA+, is an independent television station licensed to Jeannette, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Pittsburgh area. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside KDKA-TV, the market's CBS owned-and-operated station. The two stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh; WPKD-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood along with KDKA-TV. As CBS has done with most of its other duopolies in other markets, WPKD-TV's web address has been folded within the CBS News website with only basic station and programming information, along with entertainment news and promotional video.
KDKA-TV, also known as CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed WPKD-TV, an independent station. The two stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh; KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood. KDKA-TV, along with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, are the only CBS-affiliated television stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.
WPXI is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Fineview section of the city, at the site of the station's original studio location.
Charles D'Donte Batch is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Eastern Michigan Eagles. He was selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 1998 NFL draft and played 15 seasons in the NFL, most of it as a backup with his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, with whom he earned two Super Bowl rings.
George Bevan "Bo" Strickland was an American professional baseball player and manager who spent ten seasons from 1950 to 1960 as an infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians. He served as the Indians' interim manager twice in the 1960s. He was also a cousin of Hal Bevan.
Joseph Tait was an American sports broadcaster who was the play-by-play announcer on radio for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and both TV and radio for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. With the exception of two seasons in the early 1980s and illness during his final season, he was the Cavaliers' radio announcer from the team's inception in 1970 through the 2010–11 season. He won the Basketball Hall of Fame 2010 Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Lanny Lawrence Frattare is an American semi-retired sportscaster. For 33 years he was a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, the longest such tenure in the team's history. In 2008, he was nominated for the Ford Frick Award, which is given by the Baseball Hall of Fame for broadcasting excellence.
Greg Brown is an American sportscaster, born in Washington, D.C., who has worked as a play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Pirates on SportsNet Pittsburgh and KDKA-FM since 1994. He works with Bob Walk, Neil Walker, Matt Capps, Kevin Young, and John Wehner. Originally, Brown called games with Lanny Frattare until Frattare retired after the 2008 season.
SportsNet Pittsburgh is an American regional sports network serving Greater Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. Jointly owned by Fenway Sports Group and Robert Nutting via the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pittsburgh Pirates, respectively. It serves as the main broadcaster of both teams. It is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with some of its operations handled from the facilities of sister network NESN in Watertown, Massachusetts.
James Edward Zinn was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics (1919), Pittsburgh Pirates (1920–22), and Cleveland Indians (1929). In five seasons he had a 13–16 win–loss record, 66 games pitched, 108 strikeouts, and a 4.30 ERA.
James Joseph Britt was an American sportscaster who broadcast Major League Baseball games in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s and 1950s. On June 15, 1948, Britt was at the microphone on WBZ-TV for the first live telecast of a Major League game in New England, as the Boston Braves defeated the Chicago Cubs, 6–3, at Braves Field.
The 1957 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 76th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 71st in the National League. The Pirates finished tied with the Chicago Cubs for eighth and last in the league standings with a record of 62–92.
James McCarthy Woods was an American sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play work on Major League Baseball broadcasts.
John Joseph Block is a radio and TV play-by-play announcer who calls games for the Pittsburgh Pirates on SportsNet Pittsburgh, KDKA-AM, and KDKA-FM, joining the team in 2016 after four years with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Harold Wampler Arlin was an American engineer and foreman and was arguably the world's first full-time and salaried announcer in broadcast radio.