Lost Ballparks

George Grande (ESPN, HOF, Reds)

• Mike Koser • Season 8 • Episode 10

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 41:44

Before there was a SportsCenter… before ESPN became a juggernaut… there was George Grande—sitting behind a desk, ushering in a new era of sports television with some of the the very first words ever spoken on the network. But his story doesn’t begin there. He played alongside Tom Seaver at USC, interned for Vin Scully, called games for the Yankees, Cardinals, and Reds, and for 31 summers was the voice of baseball immortality as the host of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He’s shared dugouts with legends, airwaves with icons, and memories with millions. This month, he shares them with us. 

Send a text

Mike Koser:

Before there was Sports Center, before ESPN became worldwide, there was George Grande sitting behind a desk, ushering in a new era of sports television with some of the very first words ever spoken on ESPN. But his story doesn't begin there. He played alongside Tom Seaver at USC, called games for the Yankees, Cardinals, and Reds, and for 31 summers was the voice of baseball immortality as the host of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He shared dugouts with legends, airwaves with icons, and memories with millions. And today, he shares them with us. George Grande, welcome to Lost Ballparks. How are you?

George Grande:

Good, Mike. How are you, buddy?

Mike Koser:

I'm doing great. Listen, thanks so much for doing this. I really appreciate it. Let's go back um to a cool September day in 1954. You race home from school, heart pounding, and find your dad already there. He just made it back from work. And the two of you settle in in front of the family TV just in time to witness one of the greatest moments in baseball history.

George Grande:

Wow. That's a pretty good job, Mike. Yeah, it was one of the most memorable days of my life and certainly of my baseball life. It started me on a lifelong connection to the number 24 and to "say Hey kid ", Willie Mays. My dad was sitting in his chair. He was a high school teacher. I got home, and lo and behold, um we had an antenna that got the World Series back then, and um Willie made the the catch off Vic Wertz. And uh from that moment on, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, wherever I played, I always try to get number 24.

Mike Koser:

You still live in that same house, right?

George Grande:

You got it.

Mike Koser:

That's incredible.

George Grande:

Yeah, it's uh it's pretty amazing. My mom and dad uh this was uh just a cottage in the woods, and uh they moved in uh in the 1940s. I grew up here, uh, went to school, moved away, worked in Rhode Island, and we had a house in Rhode Island, Joanne and I, and this house, though not so much the house, but the land got to be too much for my mom and dad. So they moved into our house. I moved into their house, and that was 1975, and um still here.

Mike Koser:

Do you remember the first time you walked into a major league ballpark as a kid? Where was that and what hit you most about that experience?

George Grande:

Well, I remember I remember walking out of Yale Field. Um, we're in New Haven, Connecticut, and I remember to me, Yale Field looked like a big, gigantic field after playing on little league fields, and uh the Yale Field had an old, and it still does, an old uh seating capacity behind it. It's been redone now, it has artificial surface, it's beautiful. But I remember walking there and remembering what an impression that made on me. And then um my dad eventually uh took me to the Polo Grounds, and to me, the Polo Grounds looked like uh an airport. It was just gigantic. And looking out, uh, we were down the third baseline, and I remember looking out to center field, and it seemed like it went forever. And after the game, we walked down on the field, and it it was a moment and a memory. In fact, I picked up a piece of grass, put it in my mouth. Um, I think I still taste that grass.

Mike Koser:

Do you remember how you got into the polo grounds that day? Did you walk down the uh walk down Coogan's Bluff or a long time ago?

George Grande:

We were... it took us forever to get there. We went with uh uh another couple of uh friends, and all I remember is a lot of people jammed into each other. And I do remember that the difference though, you know, we look at games today, and you know, very seldom are people dressed, but back then everybody got dressed up to go to a ball game, it's like you're going to a um, you know, a show or going out to dinner. It was certainly memorable.

Mike Koser:

Once you were old enough to drive, you'd make your way to East Rock along the Long Island Sound, drive up to the mountain, sit at the top, tune your AM radio to baseball games from across the Midwest and Northeast. What voices do you most associate with those mountaintop nights, George?

George Grande:

Uh, Mike, you do your homework. You're right. Um, there's a place called the East Rock Park, big statue on the top of it. It's right along Long Island Sound in New Haven, Connecticut. And we all all of us went there when we went parking with our dates. That was where everybody went. Uh, you know, it was a beautiful view. And yeah, I went there sometimes for that, but more often than not, I drove up by myself. And because of the height, and all the games were on AM radio back then, you could get Philadelphia, New York, you could get um the Yankees. You could get Detroit. You could get Baltimore. You could get St. Louis.

Harry Caray:

(Jack Buck) Good evening to you, Harry Caray. Thank you, Jack. Hello again, everybody. All set to play baseball here.

George Grande:

It was amazing, and you just sit there and you'd flip from one to another. I had an old Jeep and I had a a radio that was a friend of mine put it in the Jeep. It was a giant radio, and people say, Why the heck do you want a big radio like that? Because it got all those broadcasts. And you'd be up there and on a nice, beautiful summer night, you could sit there and flip from one to the other. And it was pretty uh pretty memorable and one of the moments that uh you remember forever, just sitting there looking out at the stars and listening to the stars broadcast games.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, maybe you didn't realize it at the time, but all those guys sort of served as your professor in the school of play-by-play broadcasting.

George Grande:

You're not kidding. Almost every one of them I got to meet in different venues for different reasons. Some of them uh enlightened me uh with funny stories, others touched my life. You know, I was fortunately uh when I went to the University of Southern California, my coach Rod Dedeaux introduced me to Vin Scully. We used to play an exhibition game in January against the Dodgers. It was the Dodgers had a workout at Dodgers Stadium, and Rod Dedeaux and the O'Malley family were very close, and we would always be there for their first workout. And I'm out at shortstop getting ground balls, and and Rod uh the gray fox whistles for me to come in. He says, uh, Vin, this young man's interested in broadcasting. And uh he says, Well, give me a call. And I did, and while I was playing at SC for the four years I was there, not every game, but whenever I could, I'd be a gopher for him. I guess now they call it internships. Back then you were just a gopher. You swept up the booth, you got them coffee or tea, and you ripped the wires, had big wire machines, eight associated press machine in the booth, and you'd keep up on the scores for them. So, you know, all of those guys. Um, you know, uh Jack Buck, I got to work with in St. Louis, and certainly uh Red Barber was a mentor, and I got to speak with him over the years and learned a lot about the art of broadcasting. Uh, I didn't really get to sit next to him like I did with Vin. And it was uh it was pretty special. And of course, Ernie Harwell was one of my all-time favorites. Ernie and Lulu. Um, he would call me very often and ask me how things are going, or I'd I'd make a home run call and he'd he'd call me the next day and say, That was great. And I say, What are you kidding me? You're calling me and telling me that. It was uh, you know, and lucky, Chuck Thompson. I mean, so many great guys that you got to know little by little over the years as people, not as broadcasters, as deities in our profession, but as people. And I mean, in my mind, there's no greater human being, more Christian a man than Vince Scully. I mean, I learned about broadcasting, yeah, but I learned more about how to be a man. And like my dad, he was a very special person.

Mike Koser:

In high school, George, after a weekend baseball tournament in Cincinnati, you're at the airport heading back to Connecticut when you realize that you are just feet away from one of the most important figures in American history. And I don't think most of us would have had the courage to do what you did next.

George Grande:

Yeah, I you did you did your homework real well, Mike. Um, I don't know where you got that, but I I haven't talked about it very often. But um we had a traveling team that played in a tournament, and some of the best tournaments were down in Cincinnati, had great youth baseball all the way through high school and college. And we're in a rain delay at the airport. This is the old Cincinnati airport, it was a little rinky dink airport, and we're sitting there, you know, it's foggy, it's rainy, all the flights are delayed. And there on the other side of the room was, you know, an entourage of people hanging around and talking. And one of them was Martin Luther King, Dr. King. We're all standing around, and I just happen to go over and I'm listening, I'm listening. And he finally looks at me and says, What are you doing? And I said, Uh nothing, sir. Uh, I'm here to play baseball. I said, Would you come over and give our team a pep talk about teamwork? And he came over, he walked over, and he started to tell us a story. He said, Where are you boys from? I said, We're from Connecticut. He said, You know, when I was a kid, I came up to Connecticut. I used to pick tobacco there. We'd come up for the summer and pick tobacco, and he told us a couple of stories, and then and then he touched our hearts by telling us about just like you in baseball on this team, we all have to work together. We all have to help each other to be better, help each other to make our country better. Um, and for me, that was uh a moment, a memory that uh is indelibly marked uh in my heart, not just in my mind. And um, you know, people always ask me, what are the greatest moments that you experienced in Cincinnati? And most of them want to know about broadcasting moments, and there were great ones, but for me, that was at the top of the list. Meeting Martin Luther King Jr. and the words that he gave to us. And also during my tenure there, I got to meet Rosa Park. She was honored in downtown Cincinnati one day. I just happened to be walking by Fountain Square and she's waiting for a car to pick her up. And I I realized who she was, and I sat there for 20, 25 minutes and talked to her about what she went through and what life was like for her. The the moments aren't always for all of us in sports, are always on the field. Uh, in fact, if I were to list a hundred special moments, more than half of them would be in the locker room, in the clubhouse, in a quiet moment, or even away from the ballpark with somebody like a Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, amazing. And as you mentioned, you had this great relationship uh with Vin Scully. During Vin's final year with the Dodgers, you interviewed him at Dodgers Stadium, but he turned the tables on you and asked you a question. What was it and what did you say that day?

George Grande:

In fact, uh we would every time we go to LA or he'd come to Cincinnati, I'd always say, Can we sit? He said, sure. And we'd always talk about the the Reds and the Dodgers rivalries over the years and some of the players that were involved. And we were in his booth at Dodger Stadium, his back is to the field, and I'm facing the field, and I'm interviewing, we're sitting there, and I thanked him for all the things he did. And we talked a little bit about the Reds and the Dodgers, and and then he turns to me, he says, Well, tell me, you know, I I thank you for your comments and and everything, but what what was the most important thing I taught you? And I said, Well, I said, maybe it's not the most important thing, but it certainly is a memorable thing. I said, You told me he used to broadcast some of the games with Jerry Coleman, the great Yankee infielder who then later broadcasts in San Diego. Jerry would throw his arms up in the air all over the place, and Vin would have usually tea uh next to his scorecard and sometimes some coffee or whatever, whatever you happened to be drinking. And Jerry Coleman, in a one of his demonstrative moves after a home run was hit, he knocked over the tea on the scorecard. And so Vin said to me, he said, What I learned was if I'm gonna drink something and have a tea on the with me, I'm gonna take it and I'm gonna put it down by my foot under me so that Jerry wouldn't knock it over. And that was something he did throughout his career. And as as he's saying that, the cameraman pans out, and there is Ben's tea by his foot right while we were doing the the uh the interview. So and you know, he laughed, I laughed. It was uh what a great man. I mean, we talked after he retired, and on the phone, he sounded uh 110% every time. But as we all know, he he had some health issues, and what a wonderful person, wonderful human being. He raced the game, the greatest ever to in our profession to do baseball, but even more importantly, a wonderful person.

Mike Koser:

Speaking of scorebooks, let's fast forward to 1989, your first year calling Yankees games on TV, sitting in the booth with uh your former teammate at USC Tom Seaver and the legendary "scooter" Phil Rizzuto.

George Grande:

Hi, hello, and welcome to Yankee Stadium, everybody. And happy holiday to all of you on this 4th of July. As you can tell, this is a very special day for all of us here, along with "the scooter" Phil Rizzuto and Tom Seaver. I'm George Grande.

Mike Koser:

At some point, I think you realize that you've missed maybe marking a strikeout somewhere in your scorebook. So naturally, you you turned to Scooter for some help. Take me through what happened next.

George Grande:

Well, we would the three of us would do the games. The game would be sectioned off in three inning stints. And sometimes I'd do all nine, and scooter would get three off, or Tom would get three off. So Scooter would go out and everybody wanted to see Scooter. So Scooter would leave and get a cup of coffee or whatever and sit in the back of the booth or go talk to some friends who might be visiting. Then he'd come back on that day. Scooter got up, left, then came back, and then I got up. And later in the game, I'm looking and I missed one at bat. For some reason, I hadn't put it on my scorecard when I had gotten up to go to the men's room. I think I went to the men's room and I looked down. I said, Scooter, remember Fisk in the uh fifth inning for the White Sox, what did he do? And he looks down, he goes, Ooh. I said, uh, and I said, What's the matter? I said, and I look at his scorecard and it says WW. And I said, What's WW mean? He says, "wasn't watching". So and if you looked at his scorecards, in fact, I kept a scorecard. I gave it to a friend of mine who wanted to make a copy of it, and he never gave it back to me. I got to get it back from him. But every time he'd take a couple of innings off, there'd always be a couple of WWs that were on his scorecard.

Mike Koser:

That's so great. George, in 1979, you made history as the first, very first person to host SportsCenter on ESPN.

George Grande:

Welcome everyone to the ESPN Sports Center. On this very desk in the coming weeks and months, we'll be filling you in on the pulse of sporting activity, not only around the country, but around the world as well. If it takes an interview, we'll do it. If it takes play-by-play, we'll do it. If it takes commentary, we'll do that too. That's the way we'll function from the ESPN Sports Center. And we'll be filling you in on further updates as the broadcast progresses.

Mike Koser:

Today we know the show is a spectacle, state-of-the-art sets, high-tech graphics, but back then it was a completely different story, especially on day one. The studio was so bare bones that the windows weren't even installed yet. What do you remember about that first broadcast?

George Grande:

Almost every moment of it. I remember uh Chet Simmons and Scotty Connell asked me to come up because I had worked, they had seen me do uh the pre- and post-game show to the Giants. So uh Scotty, who I knew well, Scotty said, would hey, would you come up, just do the first show? I mean, no strings attached. We need somebody that can move on their feet, you know, because we didn't know, uh, like you said, there were no glass on the windows. The all of our technical operations were coming out of remote trucks. So I went there just really to do the first weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and there was no guarantees after that. And they called Lee Leonard and they asked, I said, you know, why don't you try Lee? Because Lee's, you know, he's in between acts right now. So Lee Leonard called me and said, Georgie, what's the story with this place up in Connecticut in the boondocks? And I said, Well, hey, Lee, you know, let's go up, we'll have some fun. And who knows? Um, so I picked Lee up and I drove him there the day before. And we drive up, I'll get off I I-84 and drive into Plantsville, and we drive up and there's no driveways, there's mud, and it rained. The remote truck that was in the back was tilting because it sunk in the mud. We knew what we were in for. I remember that uh Bill Creasy was the man who produced the show, and uh, we sat down and we were supposed to have three different live shots. All the live shots fell through, and we had a bunch of other things that that didn't pan out. So uh we sat there and Bill Creasy said about five minutes before the show, he says, Guys, I don't know what we're gonna do, but good luck. It was it was a kind of flying magic moment.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, flying by the seat of your pants, and just you know, you had to make it work. And by the way, that original Sports Center theme music that you're hearing right here, so good. And to think about what ESPN has become and to know that you were there on day one. What an incredible ride. And and throughout that ride, you have crossed paths with some of the game's all-time great players. For a few summers, you were part of the broadcast team that called the old timers classics at RFK Stadium.

George Grande:

We've got a couple of guys in the dugouts with us. George Grande is in the American League dugouts. Thanks, Dan. I have to be honest with you. We've had about a 20 minutes of a rain delay, and then the big daily game all told about two hours of rain delay. And all this was going on, and I went into the American League Dugout and I had a chance to talk with some of these old stars and Hall of Famers. They're still ready to play baseball. It's gonna be an exciting day. The likes of DiMaggio and the rest are here. And we're set, to take a look at some great old-time baseball.

Mike Koser:

I was watching footage from the 1982 game last night. One by one, the Legends stroll through the clubhouse, down the tunnel, and onto the field for one more night under the lights. Guys like DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Brooks Robinson, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew. And then at 75 years old, Luke Appling steps into the box to face Warren Spahn. Do you remember that moment?

George Grande:

I I remember um, and I mean, this is old RFK Stadium, and Luke Appling was um the hitting instructor for the minor leagues for the Atlanta Braves. And Warren Spahn and Bob Feller were talking the night before. We did a show the night before, and I said to Bob, and you know, I had gotten to know Bob at the Hall of Fame, and same thing with Sponnie. I said, What are you gonna do? Um, you know, is you you're gonna just have fun out there? He says, Have fun, no. So I'm gonna try to strike everybody out. And Sponnie says, not me. He says, I'm gonna have some fun. And it played out that way. But the thing you remember about that night was Luke Appling steps up and Warren Spahn was on the mound, and he just threw a lollipop pitch, and Luke hits a home run over the left field wall.

Announcer:

75 years old.

George Grande:

And he comes running around, and I mean, the look on his face, you would have thought he just won the World Series. It was the most remarkable moment you could ever imagine. And and Luke, to his credit, said you know, now maybe when I go back, some of those young kids will listen to me. Look what I did.

Mike Koser:

Uh speaking of the Hall of Fame, you did have the privilege for 31 years of being the Masters of the Ceremony at the ball uh baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

George Grande:

Another guy who at one time held the record for home runs by a catcher, another man who still is beloved throughout the game of baseball today. Let's welcome back Yogi, Yogi Berra.

Mike Koser:

And you uh got to hear some of the game's great legends share their stories. Is there one speech that still sticks with you?

George Grande:

Uh heck no. Everyone, everyone. And you know, like we talked about, uh, getting to know some of the great broadcasters as people was certainly the most important thing about my career. But getting to know Hall of Famers and their families for me was the greatest joy of those years in Cooperstown. I mean, yeah, there was there were great speeches. Ozzie Smith, his great line from his youth coach, you know, he almost paused with tears in his eyes as he started to deliver it. He thought it was easy when he was in high school and and getting ready to go into the pros until his coach said, you know, you're good, but you got to be better than that. He said,

Ozzie Smith:

Nothing is good enough if it can be made better, and better is never good enough if it can be made best.

George Grande:

And that stuck right in Ozzie (Osborne Earl's) head, uh, and it's with him today. You talk about Andre Dawson saying,

Andre Dawson:

I will never forget this day, and I will never forget those who helped make it possible. I will never forget that it was my love for the game that propelled me and kept me going when times got tough. I will never forget that if you love this game, it will love you back.

George Grande:

You go down the list of so many great moments. I I'll never forget the first year we did it at ESPN 1980, it was Al Kaline got in, and here's his mom and his dad in the front row.

Al Kaline:

I never would have had that chance to prepare for a career every boy dreams of. Without the love and hard work of two people, my mom and dad.

George Grande:

And he starts to cry, and they start to cry, and I'm sit sitting next to him looking down, three of them crying as he's trying to get through his speech because he had so much love for his dad and what he taught him about the game. You know, Harmon Killebrew.

Harmon Killebrew:

I was born and raised in a little town in Idaho called Payette, and when I was eight years old, my father gave me uh my first baseball glove. I'll never forget. Uh we used to play a lot of ball out in the front yard. My mother would say, Uh, you're you're tearing up the grass.

George Grande:

And his mom comes out and says, You wait till your father gets home. Father gets home, they're sitting at dinner. And his father says, Hon, let me tell you something. We're not growing grass, we're growing children.

Harmon Killebrew:

Harmon Clayton Killebrew Sr. would be uh very proud today. And uh I wish he were here, and. Some somehow I I know he is. Believe me, I know he is.

George Grande:

Maybe the greatest speech was one that never happened, and and that was Bill Mazeroski. Maz got up, started to speak, got about 30 seconds into his speech.

Bill Mazeroski:

And I'm uh proud and honored to be going in to the Hall of Fame on the defensive side and mostly for my defensive abilities. I feel uh special.

George Grande:

Broke down and cried and sat down. He couldn't go on.

Bill Mazeroski:

ad I went,

George Grande:

I introduced somebody else, and I went back. I said, Maz, you want to try again? He says, No, he says, I can't do it. He said, But please just go up and thank my wife, my so I got up and thanked Milene for him. The moments, the memories, the emotion for all of those men. Obviously, I didn't cover Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and people like that, but then you watch guys that you covered through their whole career, like Ozzy Smith or like George Brett, but then a list of those great Hall of Famers leading to Barry Larkin, who I was with for so long in Cincinnati. And to see the emotion and to see what they went through and the the to watch them reach that pinnacle for them and their families. And you got to know their wives, their kids, you know, their mothers, their fathers. To me, that was um probably the greatest part of that experience was getting to know all those people. And I still still am in contact with so many of those families on a regular basis, just to talk. And some of the the Hall of Famers have passed, but I still keep talking to some of the wives and kids uh with a smile on my face and and happy that I was able to get to meet them.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, I'm curious, George, during those induction weekends, was was there ever a conversation or a lunch or a dinner, a moment where you thought, okay, did that really just happen? Was I really there for that?

George Grande:

Yeah, every single Hall of Fame weekend. Yeah, I remember every Hall of Fame I would I'd sit with Warren Spahn and we'd we'd just sit and talk on the veranda of the Otesaga (hotel) about what happened that year. He always would bring one of his kids or grandkids with him. You know, I I remember you mentioned uh Phil Rizutto and and Tom Seaver. I remember uh Tom and I were sitting having a glass of wine uh the night before Phil Rizutto got inducted, and I toasted him. I said, I said, 41. I said, you and I are the only two people that know what the world is in for tomorrow when Scooter gets up there and starts to talk. And he was Scooter was great. He was you know off off the off the cuff.

Phil Rizutto:

I'm I mean, I'm so nervous about being up here that I think it's like psychosomatic. My voice is if you can hear me and understand me, fine. If not, you're lucky that I don't have to go through all the pennants and World Series that the Yankees want to be here til next Wednesday.

George Grande:

His speech was was so entertaining.

Mike Koser:

Oh listen, that that speech is still talked about.

Phil Rizutto:

And the Leo the Lip, who was my type of manager, the only thing was that he would get on me every once in a while in some of the World Series, and he'd like to find out something personal about you. Durocher's favorite with me in the World Series was when I pop one up, he'd say, home running in an elevator shaft.

George Grande:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think that was, I mean, it it was anyone that knew him, you knew it was coming. Uh, for anybody that didn't know him, you really got the full view of who he was and what he was. And you know, that speech and the Bob Uecker speech are two of my most favorites, you know.

Mike Koser:

And by the way, the Bob, the Bob Ucker speech, you got to hear it before anybody else the night before, at least a little taste of it, didn't you? Like a pre-game show.

George Grande:

Yeah, actually, it was about a it was about three or three weeks before we were, I'm doing the Reds games, and we go every time we go to Milwaukee, I'd say, You, could we do a pregame show? Yeah, sure, George. So he came into the our booth, which is right next to his booth in Milwaukee, and he said, I said, could we do like a just talk about the Hall of Fame coming up? He said, Oh, you know what I'll do? I'll give you a little preview of what I'm gonna do. And he got he gave us he gave us the five, six-minute version of what was about a 25-minute talk.

Bob Uecker:

Of course, any championship involves a World Series, the ring, the ceremony, the following season in St. Louis at Old Busch Stadium, and we were standing along the sideline, I was in the bullpen warming up the pitcher. And when they call my name for the ring, it's something that you never ever forget. And when they threw it out in the left field, I found it in the fifth inning, I think it was it, wasn't it? Yeah. And uh once once I spotted it in the grass, man, I was on it. I mean, it was it was unbelievable.

George Grande:

And everybody in our booth was rolling in the aisles. I mean, we're all laughing, and you knew we're finished, he says, he said, I I think I'm ready. I think I'm in good shape, don't you? And he was. It was enjoyable speech. It was unbelievable.

Mike Koser:

Hey, during your uh play-by-play career, you worked for the Yankees, the Cardinals, 17 years with the Reds.

George Grande:

He's the king of the Queen's City to night.

Mike Koser:

You called some games at some of baseball's great old lost ballparks. Uh starting with the American League, tell me about the American League ballpark that uh that you love the most to broadcast from.

George Grande:

You know, the old parks were the ones that that really touched you. I mean, I was blessed because I got to broadcast in almost all the old parks, and then I got to be in the new parks too. But every time we go someplace, I mean, Fenway Park means something to me because, you know, I grew up, you know, in New England and I got to know Ted Williams, I got to know uh Carl Yastrzemski and so many other Boston Red Sox players and front office personnel. And I got to do the pre- and post-game shows to the Red Sox during that 1975 season on WMEX radio in Boston in the American League. Always will be something special for me. The old Yankee Stadium, something very special. When I I think of my favorite broadcast booth for two reasons, it was Detroit.

Mike Koser:

Tiger Stadium had a very unique position for the visiting. Team's broadcast booth.

George Grande:

Yes. It hung underneath the press box. You were about 40 feet from home plate, which you could hear the catcher and the umpire. That's the good news. The bad news was rifle up there like a bullet. You remember Ernie Harwell used to have a net in front of him when he would do the games down there. So it was it was the most unique place. And I remember I'll never forget when they closed the stadium. I went in early on the final day on the Sunday and just sat there for about an hour. And Ernie Harwell came by and we sat. You know, I said, Ernie, tell me your favorite and most uh touching memories. And he went through a litany of the moments he remembered, and I went through a litany of the small fraction of what he had. But we, you know, I'll never forget that moment of sitting there looking out at Tiger Stadium and remembering what transpired there before I ever got there and feeling sad that it was going to be closed.

Ernie Harwell:

Baseball memories have come here to live and to be treasure. And you and I have been pulling to those memories. We've dribbled the home runs and striking up the double players from generation to generation. We've joined the joyous crowd and all of us, love this old pace. And it's closing tugs at our heart . And like you, like a ll of us, I will cherish its memory. I know that there's never been a corner like Michigan and Trumble.

George Grande:

So in the American League, I'd probably, you know, I'd list Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and Tiger Stadium as my three favorite. Although, I mean, every park, whether it was the park, the town, Joe Castiglione and I always uh talk, we match up. What are your favorite restaurants in Baltimore, in Detroit? You know, what Italian restaurant did you go to here? Or what, you know, so yeah, in the American League, I'd list those old ballparks as as being my favorites.

Mike Koser:

How about the National League? Do you have one that stands out for you?

George Grande:

You know, I mean, you talked about the polo grounds. I'll remember that as a just a flash, is a big screen picture in my memory. But certainly the for me, the most important one was Dodger Stadium because that's where I went to school. That's where I learned my trade with Vin Scully. That's where I spent so many memorable nights, whether it was in the press box or, you know, Tommy Lasorda was a mentor for me my whole life, not just my my career. Uh we were very close. And he and Rod Dedeaux were best friends. He would come to our games whenever he could. And he come, he and and Rod went to every USC football game for many years. Um I would I'd put Dodger Stadium at the top of that list.

Mike Koser:

One of the things I think I love the most about old ballparks, I mean, it's not just the structure. The structures are great and historic, but it's the people behind the structures, the ball boys, the organists, the ticket takers, the clubhouse managers, um the folks who who make a ballpark tick that make it run so smoothly. And the there's and a lot of them are just a such characters. One in particular that I think of that that you came into contact with a lot was Bernie Stowe for the Cincinnati Reds. He was the equipment manager for the Reds for uh something 60-some years, going back to the ball club's days at Crosley Field, in fact. And yeah, he I mean he was a character. Do you have Do you have a favorite Bernie Stowe story? Because I know you would uh before games, you and Bernie and Cincinnati Reds legendary broadcaster, the late Joe Nuxhall, would sit in the dugout and just talk before games about life, about baseball, about whatever.

George Grande:

Oh, I would always uh I always joked, even before I started doing games. And I was for 17 years, Chris Welch and I did the games together, but I actually did games with the Reds for 30 years because I ended up 20 games a year after I stepped back from my my full-time job. And even before that, starting in in 75, I got to know Bernie and Joe Nuxhall's son, Kim, were very close with the Nuxhalls and the Stowes were like brothers, and the families were connected to each other. Uh and we would, every time I'd walk into the clubhouse, even when I was at ESPN and covering baseball, I get there early. I always get there like three or four hours before the game, go in the clubhouse and usually talk to the clubhouse guys. You know, now it's Rick Stowe and Mark Stowe there, uh Bernie's kids that are still there. But I don't go in just because to me, those are the people that make the game what it is. You know, it's the trainers, the clubhouse guys, the PR people, the traveling secretaries, they're the ones that you really become attached to uh in the game. No matter where you go, every single city and ballpark it has those people that you want to get to know and be close with. And back when I started, you know, a meal for the players was tuna fish salad and soup and crackers. So Bernie would make a tuna fish salad, a big bowl of it, and I'd walk in, I'd go, Here's Bernie, there's tuna fish salad number 4,233. And then next time, there's Bernie Stowe, tuna fish salad number 4,543. And we would laugh. And I mean, now you have, you know, they have chefs, you know, it's it's amazing what the players get. But back then it was it was soup, crackers, and tuna fish sandwiches. And when it was done, it was done. If you ate it all before the game, you didn't have anything after the game. Now they have a pre-game, pre-game meal, post-game meal, and it's all five-star stuff. We would always, in my days in Cincinnati, Joe Nuxhall would come in, and Nuxie was great. Nuxie's wife, Donzetta, tried to get him to stop smoking. And Nuxie said, I'm not, I g I guarantee you, I give you my word, I'm not gonna buy another pack of cigarettes. Well, we'd sit in the dugout about oh, maybe 1:30, 2 o'clock. Bernie would come out, Nuxie would come out, and lo and behold, Nuxie would walk down the the walkway to the dugout, and on top of the bat rack was a pack of cigarettes. Now he didn't buy that pack of cigarettes, but it miraculously showed up. So he got to have a cigarette. We'd sit down there and we just talk about life. We talk about baseball. We'd, you know, they'd remember moments, they'd remember people. But those moments of sitting with Bernie and sitting with Nuxie are the moments that I cherish the most uh about at being at the ballpark in Cincinnati, whether it was the old ballpark or the new ballpark.

Mike Koser:

I'll get you out of here on this, George. Not long before he became commissioner, uh, you had breakfast with Bart Giamatti in New Haven, Connecticut. What did he share with you that morning? I heard this not that long ago and it blew me away.

George Grande:

Um well, there's a history and a tradition uh from our families. My dad went to Yale and he was in New Haven, Connecticut, and my dad and uh Bart's dad established the first Italian club at Yale University. They had never had an Italian club, and they were both students at that time. Um so we go back a long way. Bart became president of Yale eventually, and we developed a friendship. And when Bart became nationally president, and then when when they didn't renew Peter Uberoth's contract, he was going to become commissioner. And that was when the Pete Rose saga had just started in 1989. And we would we'd have breakfast very often right next to Yale, there's a place called Patricia's. It's a little breakfast shop on Whaley Avenue. And we'd have coffee and sit and talk and reminisce. And and I asked him, I said, what are you going to do about Pete Rose when you take over as commissioner? He said, I'm said, I'm a big Pete Rose fan. I love the way he plays the game. I think he represents on the field everything that you know we would want to have represented as a player. But I mean, from what I see, we've got the goods he bet on baseball. And we all know, you do, I do, and they did back then, you know, that from Judge Landis's era, that the framed uh poster that's on every single wall as you walk into a clubhouse says, if you bet on baseball, you're banned from the game forever. Uh we all knew it, and he knew it. But he said, I'm gonna give him an option. If he admits to me he bet on the game, I'll give him a one-year suspension and it'll be over. And he did. He offered him that. And Pete, you know, I mean, Pete was a uh great competitor, but that urge of competition, you know, did him in in this particular case. He wouldn't admit and he wouldn't uh acknowledge the fact that he did bet on the game. It would have been over in a year.

Mike Koser:

Can you imagine? Like he would be in the Hall of Fame now. Uh imagine the years of him managing the Reds, what that would have been like. Uh more involvement with the game.

George Grande:

He made a mistake and he did bet on the game, and he eventually admitted he bet on the game. But I never saw anybody that played the game harder, that when he was on the field, did more to honor the game than Pete Rose. And I I feel bad down deep because we'll never be able to see him stand up and give his Hall of Fame speech. Right. I mean, I I'd be I'd be with him and we'd meet here or there, and I did a couple of events for him uh over the years, and he said, I got my speech already. He says, I he says, I, you know, and it would have been spectacular. And the other thing I think he would have been spectacular at was being a color commentator and analyst in baseball because he he knew the game, he's stayed up on the game. When I was at ESPN during the strike, I'll never forget I got a call uh from Pete one night. He says, George, you guys are gonna do during the strike, you're gonna do minor league games? I said, Yeah. He says, You got a schedule? I said, uh we're you know, we just do it week by week, but I'll get you on it. What do you want it for? He says, some of these guys, I'm gonna be playing again. Some of these pitchers I want to know about them. That was Pete. And he gave a speech to Reds minor leaguers, which the Reds were fined for. This was after he was banned, that might have been the greatest 40 minutes of a pep talk on how to be a major leaguer. It it's a it's a sad saga. Uh he got what he deserved, but it's sad that um we'll never be able uh to to see him stand up there and tell some stories that would have been, you know, we talk about Scooter's speech and Euchre speech and some of the other great speeches. I think his speech might have been the greatest. Um yeah. He knew what to do and when to do it.

Mike Koser:

Yeah, George, listen, this has truly been an honor for me. Your stories, your voice, your love for the game, it all comes through uh and bright colors. Thank you for sharing your time, your memories, and your heart with us today. I know our listeners will treasure this conversation as much as I have. So thank you. Thank you so much for your time today, George. I really appreciate it.

George Grande:

I do a lot of interviews and I've been doing this for a long time. You do your homework. You got some stories that I haven't told publicly. Um I've told them to friends or whatever. So

Mike Koser:

well, I appreciate that, man. And uh

George Grande:

honor being with you.

Mike Koser:

All right, George, all the best to you. Thanks, Mike. See you at the ballpark.

Head Shot

Mike Koser

Host