CHUCK THOMPSON---THE VOICE OF BALTIMORE SPORTS
Charles L. "Chuck" Thompson (June 10, 1921–March 6, 2005) was a sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Colts. He was well-recognized for his resonant voice, crisply descriptive style of play-by-play, and signature on-air exclamations "Go to war, Miss Agnes!" and "Ain't the beer cold!"
In 1949, Thompson was hired by the Gunther Brewing Company to be WITH-AM's play-by-play voice for both the International LeagueOrioles and the Colts, at the time a member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Despite being laid off following the 1951 IL season because the brewery felt no need for a salaried announcer, he joined WITH in order for him to continue doing the broadcasts.
When the American League's St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore, Maryland and were rechristened the Orioles in 1954, his previous connections with Gunther prevented him from becoming a broadcaster for the franchise. The National Brewing Company had purchased the team's broadcast rights and hired Ernie Harwell as the lead voice, but still wanted Thompson to be part of the coverage. He agreed to work with Harwell on Orioles broadcasts on WCBM-AM and WMAR-TV in 1955. Two years later he joined Bob Wolff to call Washington Senators games on WWDC-AM and WTOP-TV, succeeding Arch McDonald as a result of National Brewing becoming the team's new sponsor.
Thompson returned to broadcast Orioles games on both radio and television (WBAL-AM and WJZ-TV from 1962–1978, WFBR-AM from 1979–1982, and WMAR-TV from 1979–1987), and would continue to do so until his first retirement after the 1987 season. The prime of his career was the seventeen years he shared the broadcast booth with Bill O'Donnell, beginning in 1966. During that span, the pair would describe two World Series Championships, five American League Pennants, six A.L. Eastern Division titles and only one losing season. Others who worked with Thompson on Orioles broadcasts included Frank Messer (1964–1967), Jim Karvellas (1968–1969), John Gordon (1970–1972), Brooks Robinson (1978–1987), and Tom Marr (1979–1982). Thompson was also the narrator of the official 1966 World Series highlight film jointly produced by both major leagues.
Besides his baseball-related achievements, Thompson also called Colts football for many years, first on CBS television in the 1950s and '60s, and then alongside Vince Bagli on WCBM Radio from 1973 until the team's relocation to Indianapolis in 1984. From 1964–1969 he narrated the Colts' season review films produced by NFL Films, making on-camera appearances in the first two. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Thompson as Maryland Sportscaster of the Year for eight consecutive years from 1959 to 1966. Thompson was also the host of WBAL-TV's Duckpins and Dollars from 1962–1974.
Catch phrase origins
"Go to war, Miss Agnes!" was picked up from a golfing friend who never swore and whose putting failed to improve even after reading a book about it. Thompson explained the details in Curt Smith's Voices of The Game:
"He was a great guy, very proper, and like any golfer, he had some real frustrations. But instead of cussing, he'd come up with the phrase, 'Go to war, Miss Agnes!' I didn't know what it meant, but don't feel bad – he may not have known. What I did know was that it sounded so funny. I picked it up and used it to emphasize something big and exciting on the ball field, and it just caught on – with listeners, it snowballed." Thompson phased out the expression when the Vietnam War was protracted.
"Ain't the beer cold!" became the title of Thompson's autobiography, in which he described the story behind the exclamation:
"For years in my game broadcasts I had used the expression, 'Ain't the beer cold!' when things were going especially well for the home team. I got that phrase from Bob Robertson, a spotter who worked with me on Baltimore Colts football games (that were sponsored by the makers of National Beer). Eventually, I received lots of mail from people in the Carolinas, the area sometimes referred to as the Bible Belt. The listeners felt they shouldn't have to put up with my ad libs about beer with all the beer advertisements they were already exposed to, and I thought they had a legitimate beef. So, I stopped using the line sometime in the 1970s."
Thompson's national television debut was in 1954 when he succeeded Ray Scott as the voice of the NFL's Saturday night Game of the Week on the DuMont Television Network, as well as that year's NFL Championship Game. Four years later, he teamed with Chris Schenkel to call the telecast of the legendary 1958 Championship Game on NBC. The announcers flipped a coin to determine play-by-play assignments for the two halves. Schenkel won the toss and chose the second half. Thompson ended up broadcasting the first-ever sudden-victory overtime in professional football history. Thompson also called the 1959 and 1964 Championship Games for NBC and CBS, respectively, and regular-season NFL games for the Mutual radio network. In 1988, he was among several veteran announcers who called some September NFL telecasts for NBC while many of the network's regular broadcasters were working that year's Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Thompson also did baseball work for NBC, beginning with the Game of the Week in 1959 and 1960. He, along with Curt Gowdy, covered the Memorial Stadium legs of the World Series in 1966, 1970 and 1971, and conducted the victorious post-Series clubhouse interviews in 1966 and 1970.
Thompson came out of retirement in 1991 to work part-time on Orioles games for WBAL-AM when Jon Miller was away broadcasting ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Failing eyesight caused by macular degeneration forced him to retire for good in 2000. He received theFord C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1993.
A class all to himself
by Ed Waldman, Baltimore Sun 3/7/05
Chuck Thompson, whose familiar radio voice painted the picture of Baltimore sports for more than half a century, died yesterday morning after suffering a stroke Saturday. He was 83.
Mr. Thompson, known for his catch phrases "Ain't the beer cold!" and "Go to war, Miss Agnes!" came to Baltimore in 1949 to broadcast the games of the International League Orioles and never left.
"He was a joy to work with," said Vince Bagli, Mr. Thompson's longtime announcing partner with the Colts. "He was the best who ever worked in this area. Other than [for] Brooks Robinson, the best ovation [at an Orioles game] was when they said that Chuck Thompson was going to Cooperstown."
Said former Colt Tom Matte, now a radio analyst for Ravens games: "In my opinion, he was probably the greatest announcer I've ever known. He had a class all to himself. He had the greatest voice in the world."
Mr. Thompson died at 8:17 a.m. yesterday. He was stricken shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday at the Mays Chapel home he shared with his second wife, Betty, and was rushed to Greater Baltimore Medical Center, according to his brother-in-law, Fred Cupp.
Craig Thompson told reporters at GBMC yesterday that his father died "very peacefully, in his sleep," with his family by his side.
"This city of Baltimore has lost a good friend," Craig Thompson said. "And the sports media has lost one of the greatest voices of all time."
He asked that the news media respect the family's privacy and said it will be releasing more information in the coming days.
Mr. Thompson's health had declined in recent years. In 2000, he was forced to stop calling play-by-play on Orioles games part time because he suffered from macular degeneration, which made it impossible for him to read documents or follow the ball. He also suffered from some dementia and short-term memory loss, his brother-in-law said.
"He was without a doubt a giant in the business," said Jim Hunter, a current Orioles announcer. "As far as I'm concerned, he'll always be the voice of the Orioles. He was Mr. Oriole. You could even argue as much as Brooks [Robinson] and Cal [Ripken Jr.] were."
Veteran sportscaster Ted Patterson featured Mr. Thompson in two of his books, The Golden Voices of Baseball and The Golden Voices of Football.
"He was a throwback to an era when the broadcasters painted the pictures," Mr. Patterson said. "And he was tremendous at it."
In 1993, Mr. Thompson received the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award, which, while not signifying induction into the Hall, is the highest honor a baseball announcer can receive.
"It was well-deserved," Mr. Bagli said. "It was overdue. But he never had the national profile. He never wanted to leave here. He had chances. But he loved Baltimore."
Said former Orioles manager Earl Weaver: "He did his job, he did it every day, and he did it as well as anybody could do it. He's going to be remembered, and there are going to be a lot of tapes that will still be played of some of Chuck's calls during all those fantastic years that the Orioles had."
To the day of his death, Mr. Thompson's voice could be heard on radio in commercials for a number of local companies.
Mr. Thompson was born in Palmer, Mass., on June 10, 1921. His family moved to Reading, Pa., in 1927, just before he began first grade.
While in high school, Mr. Thompson worked as a singer with dance bands, earning $1 a night for singing eight songs and $5 for a New Year's Eve gig.
Earning $5 a game
He broke into broadcasting in 1939, calling the games of Albright College for WRAW radio in Reading. He earned $5 a game.
He was inducted into the Army on Oct. 5, 1943, and after 17 weeks of basic training was sent to Europe aboard the Queen Mary. A sergeant, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
After an honorable discharge in August 1945, Mr. Thompson resumed his broadcasting career with WIBG, a radio station in Philadelphia.
Besides being a fine announcer, Mr. Thompson's career was marked by being in the right place at the right time.
He broadcast his first major-league game in 1946 when the Philadelphia Phillies' regular announcers were delayed getting to the radio booth because they had been honored on the field between games of a doubleheader and the elevator operator wasn't there to bring them back.
"The next thing I knew, Whitey Lockman was coming to the plate to start the second game and I just started talking," Mr. Thompson told The Sun in 1993.
When the veteran announcers finally made it back, a station executive instructed them to "sit down and work with the kid," Mr. Thompson recalled.
Then, in 1948, Mr. Thompson was supposed to do color commentary on the radio broadcast of the Navy-Missouri football game from Baltimore.
The play-by-play announcer got sick, and Mr. Thompson had to do the game by himself.
A few days later, the Gunther Brewing Co., which owned the broadcast rights to the International League Orioles, offered him the job of replacing Bill Dyer. To sweeten the offer, Gunther threw in the job of broadcasting the pro football games of the All-America Football Conference Colts.
It was the start of a wonderful love affair between Mr. Thompson and Baltimore.
"He got to Baltimore and became a legend in the town," Mr. Hunter said. "If you were a fan, you followed your favorite team with Chuck behind the mike, and that includes the Orioles and Colts. And that's rare for someone to be identified so strongly with two teams."
When the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore in 1954, the National Brewing Co. acquired the team's broadcast rights, and Mr. Thompson was temporarily out of a job. But before the next season, an agreement was struck allowing Mr. Thompson to call Orioles games.
In 1957, a dispute between National Brewing and Gunther Brewing, which was still his employer, forced Mr. Thompson to leave the Orioles to call Washington Senators games. During those years, he was also hired by NBC to call its Game of the Week telecast.
It was during the 1960 World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees that Mr. Thompson made an error that, in his 1996 autobiography, he called "easily the most embarrassing moment of my career behind the microphone."
Bill Mazeroski hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game to win the Series for Pittsburgh. The homer, off pitcher Ralph Terry, made the final score 10-9. But Mr. Thompson said the Pirates' second baseman had gotten the hit off Art Ditmar and announced the final score as 10-0.
Given a chance to correct the error on a souvenir record the Pirates produced, Mr. Thompson declined. "I figured it had gone on the air that way, so it wouldn't be honest to change it," he wrote.
In 1962, Mr. Thompson returned to broadcasting the Orioles. Mr. Cupp said his brother-in-law's loyalty to National never wavered.
Once, while taking former Orioles star Boog Powell out for crabs at Bo Brooks, Mr. Thompson told the manager he wanted "the biggest crabs that they had," Mr. Cupp recalled.
"The manager came out with the crabs in an American Beer box," he said. "An American Beer box. You know how Chuck was with National Brewery. He said, 'I'm not going to take those crabs. No way.'"
Mr. Thompson called Orioles games until his first retirement in 1987. In 1991, he came back to work part time and continued on a limited schedule until 2000.
"He was such a gentleman," said Jeff Beauchamp, vice president and station manager of WBAL radio, Mr. Thompson's longtime employer. "I don't know if he had any enemies. He was never too busy to shake a hand or sign an autograph. And that's why he had earned that respect around the community.
"He had a distinctive style. It was a very rich style that was familiar to Baltimore, and people felt comfortable with him. He was someone they trusted."
Another moment in the national spotlight for Mr. Thompson came in 1958, when he was part of NBC's telecast of the National Football League championship, won by the Colts in overtime against the New York Giants and dubbed by many as "the greatest game ever played."
Mr. Thompson shared the booth with Chris Schenkel. The two announcers flipped a coin to decide who would do the play-by-play for which half, according to Mr. Thompson's recollection in Mr. Patterson's book. Mr. Schenkel won the toss and chose the second half, giving Mr. Thompson the job for the overtime period.
In a statement yesterday, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said: "'Go to war, Miss Agnes!' and 'Ain't the beer cold!' are phrases that will live with the generation that experienced one of the greatest sports announcers of all time. Our hearts go out to Betty and the entire Thompson family."
RICK on CHUCK THOMPSON
Chuck Thompson was Baltimore’s sports announcer in a time when announcers were synonymous with their city. St. Louis had Jack Buck. Chicago had Jack Brickhouse. New York had Phil Rizzuto. Detroit had Ernie Harwell. Los Angeles had (and still has) Vin Scully. Chuck was ours and he loved Baltimore. His crisp, clear, melodious voice told the stories of all the great moments in Orioles and Colts history; moments that marked the times in our lives. Summertime was incomplete without Chuck calling a Boog blast, a pitching gem by Palmer, Cuellar or McNally, a defensive gem by Brooks, Belanger, Grich or Blair or Earl being Earl with an umpire. A true gentlemen, a true professional and a deserved Hall of Famer. Yes Chuck, the beer is cold!
