Pat Flanagan (sportscaster) explained

Pat Flanagan
Birth Name:Charles Carroll Flanagan
Birth Date:11 April 1893[1]
Birth Place:Clinton, Iowa, U.S.
Death Place:Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Occupation:Broadcaster
Alma Mater:Grinnell College
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Spouse:Hazel Elinor Rieman

Charles Carroll "Pat" Flanagan (April 11, 1893 – July 2, 1963) was a play-by-play broadcaster for Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs from 1929 to 1943.

Biography

Flanagan was born in 1893 in Clinton, Iowa; graduated in 1913 from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa; and later studied at the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, during the 1920s.[2] After college, he worked in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Chicago.[2] He served with the medical detachment of the 33rd Infantry Division during World War I.[2]

Flanagan first broadcast sports for WOC in Davenport in 1921, getting his start as a fill-in announcer.[2] He joined WBBM in Chicago in 1927, and became their first baseball announcer.[2] He served as the radio announcer of Chicago Cubs games from 1929 to 1943,[3] and also announced Chicago White Sox games. While home games in Chicago were broadcast live, Flanagan recreated the play-by-play for road games from reports transmitted by ticker tape.[4]

In 1933, Flanagan served as radio announcer for the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game, held at Comiskey Park. He also did the play-by-play for three World Series (and) for CBS Radio.[5] In his final season of announcing for the Cubs, 1943, he was assisted by Bert Wilson, who took over the lead role in 1944.[6]

Flanagan died in 1963 in Scottsdale, Arizona. At the time of his death, he was the sports director for KOOL in Phoenix, Arizona.[7] Flanagan has twice been a finalist for the Ford C. Frick Award, presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.[8] [9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Draft Registration Card . . June 1917 . November 14, 2021 . fold3.com . subscription.
  2. News: They Started Here: Pat Flanagan, Baseball Broadcaster . . . 16 . September 28, 1940 . November 15, 2021 . iagenweb.org.
  3. Web site: Cubs Broadcasters . MLB.com . November 14, 2021.
  4. News: 2022 Ford C. Frick Award Ballot . baseballhall.org . October 2021 . November 15, 2021.
  5. Web site: 2006 Ford Frick Award nominees . MLB.com . November 14, 2021.
  6. Web site: Bert Wilson . baseballhall.org . 2016 . November 14, 2021.
  7. News: Pat Flanagan, Pioneer Sportscaster, Dies . . . . 13 . July 3, 1963 . November 14, 2021 . newspapers.com.
  8. Web site: Pat Flanagan, early Cubs broadcaster, is a 2019 Frick Award finalist . Al . Yellon . bleedcubbieblue.com . October 22, 2018 . November 14, 2021.
  9. News: Hall of Fame announces finalists for 2022 Ford C. Frick Award . . October 16, 2021 . November 14, 2021.