Robert F. Prince was born in Los Angeles July 1, 1916. His father was an army officer, so the Princes moved a lot. Bob graduated from Schenley High School in Pittsburgh, spent time at Pitt and Stanford before graduating from Oklahoma, and attended Harvard Law School for a while.
He moved back to Pittsburgh in 1941, selling insurance and doing a daily sports show on WJAS. After the 1947 season, there was an opening on the Pirate radio team, and Prince was able to use a connection he'd made with Pirate co-owner Tom Johnson to get considered and eventually hired. He worked with Rosey Rowswell until Rowswell's death in 1955.
Prince ascended to the No. 1 broadcaster's chair, and remained there for the remainder of his career. His style was unique, with a raspy voice, a homer's attitude, and a number of colorful sayings. Some of those sayings appeared on the cover of the 1971 Pittsburgh World Series program.
Prince was also well-known for many charitable endeavors, including the Allegheny Valley School.
By the 1970s, he would admit that there were two games going on: the one on the field and the one in the booth. Losing that step, combined with an increasing animosity between Prince and Westinghouse Broadcasting, who owned the rights to the Pirates. That came to a head after the 1975 season was over, when Westinghouse fired Prince and Nellie King. There was a great uproar among the fans, but Westinghouse decided to move on to Milo Hamilton and Lanny Frattare.
Prince went to Houston in 1976, but Astro fans didn't take to his idiosyncratic style. ABC also named him play-by-play man for their new Monday Night Baseball series, with Warner Wolf and Bob Uecker, but that failed. So Prince returned home to Pittsburgh to see what was available. The Penguins hired him as a public relations man who'd also call some games, but he's remembered for a lot of, "Now we have it. Now they have it. Now we have it..."
He eventually got to call some Pirate games on cable in the '80s, but he was feeling the effects of mouth cancer by then.
On May 3, 1985, he was officially part of the Pirate broadcast team. The Gunner was in bad shape by then, though, and only lasted two of his scheduled three innings. Prince died June 10, 1985. The reaction was swift and loud, and he is still remembered fondly by most of us who heard him.
To continue reading, log into your account:
