MEL ALLEN







Born: February 14, 1913 Birmingham, Alabama
Died: June 16, 1996


Mel Allen was born Melvin Avrom Israel. He was educated as a lawyer, but a boyhood love for baseball led him to become first a sports columnist and then a radio announcer. He attended the University of Alabama where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity as an undergraduate. He went on to earn a law degree from the University as well. His first broadcast was not a baseball game but a football game, between Tulane University and the University of Alabama.

In 1937, Allen was invited to join the CBS Radio Network as a staff announcer, and often did non-sports announcing such as big band remotes or game show announcements. Among the game shows, he did Truth or Consequences.

In 1939, Allen started doing play-by-play for both the New York Yankees and the then-New York Giants. Ultimately he became the main broadcaster for Yankees' games, though he also did Giant games until 1943. He was known for his signature catchphrases following Yankee home runs: "Going, going, gone!" and, "How about that?"

In 1943 (during World War II), he entered the United States Army, and while in the service changed his name legally to Mel Allen; he broadcast on The Army Hour and Armed Forces Radio Service programs.

After returning to civilian life, Allen resumed baseball announcing, doing 24 All-Star Game broadcasts for Major League Baseball as well as Yankee games (including World Series broadcasts when the Yankees were in it, which was most of the years, a total of 20 World Series).

During the peak of his career in the 1940s and '50s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. In his later years, he gained a second professional life as the first host of This Week in Baseball. To this day - years after his death - he is still identified as the Voice of the Yankees, for his long tenure as the New York Yankees' principal play-by-play announcer.

In his later years, Allen was exposed to a new audience as the host of the syndicated highlights show This Week in Baseball, which he hosted from its inception in 1977 until his death. Between his Major League Baseball assignments and his announcing duties for the Yankees, Allen again became the embodiment of the national pastime's spirit.