Just saw that Joe Garagiola died at age 90. He played for St. Louis in the 1940s, making the 1946 World Series team, then bounced around with teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and the Giants. He last played in 1954.
Never a particularly great player he made his name as one of those broadcasters who came out of St. Louis in the 1950s (Jay Randolph, Jack Buck, Dizzy Dean were others). He was on national television broadcasting several World Series’ for NBC. He also did a stint on the “Today” show and hosted a handful of game shows. In 1991 he won the Frick Award for broadcasting, giving him an entrée into the Hall of Fame (he’s not actually a member but the award winners are recognized at the same time as the inductees). Additionally, his son Joe Junior became general manager of the Diamondbacks and serves as VP for on-field operations of MLB.
Garagiola was also famous for his books on baseball and for his after dinner speeches at various functions. Many of the stories about Yogi Berra and many of Berra’s more famous quotes came from Garagiola speeches. He’s someone who definitely deserved the title “lifelong baseball man.”
RIP, Joe.
Tags: Joe Garagiola
Verdun2's Blog 
March 25, 2016 at 2:56 am
I grew up listening to Garagiola and Tony Kubek announce those NBC Game of the Week Saturday broadcasts. I always liked his announcing. Wouldn’t Harry Carey also be one of those St Louis announcers or am I wrong about that?
March 25, 2016 at 7:09 am
Carey also came out of St. Louis at one point
v