"No one hit home runs the way Babe (Ruth) did. They were something special. They were like homing pigeons. The ball would leave the bat, pause briefly, suddenly gain its bearings, then take off for the stands."
Jimmy Dudley
was a sportscaster
best known as the play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Cleveland
Indians for nearly two decades.
A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Dudley majored in chemistry at the
University of Virginia. After serving as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air
Corps during World War II, he turned to broadcasting.
Dudley was the Indians' lead announcer from 1948 until his firing by
the club in 1967. In 1969 Dudley broadcast for the expansion Seattle
Pilots; when the club moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers the
following year, he did not join them. Dudley broadcast for a number of
minor league teams in the Super70s before retiring. As an announcer,
Dudley was known for his friendly, homespun style and his signature catch
phrases: "Hello, baseball fans everywhere" (to start a
broadcast), "The string is out" (describing a full count on a
hitter), and "So long and lots of good luck, you hear?" (signing
off at the game's end).
In addition to baseball, Dudley also broadcast football at various
times for The Ohio State University and the NFL's Cleveland Browns and
Baltimore Colts.
Dudley was presented with the Ford
C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
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