Tragic Death of Phillies Announcer

[BoeingKing77]

Today,at 1:20 PM,a hospital in Washington,DC, announced the death of Harry Kalas.He passed out in the broadcast booth today preparing for todays game against the Washington Nationals.This is a tragic loss as I am a phillies fan and I'm sad that when someone hits a home run,there won't be anymore "outta here",his famous phrase.I hope that his family and the Phillies will be able to get through this tough time.RIP

[rohank4284]

Very sad to hear about the death of this great announcer, he also used to work for NFL films, his voice will definitely be missed, my condolences to his family members. May his soul rest in peace.

Regards,

Rohan

[Chris Kilroy]

As a lifelong Braves fan, I have no love lost for the Phillies, but it's definitely a tragic end to a great career, and a huge loss for Phillies fans. He'd been with the Phillies for 35+ years calling games. My team lost one of our lead announcers of 33 years, Skip Caray, when he died last fall, and the other (Pete van Weiren, also calling games for 33 years) retired at the end of last year.

When you think about it, these announcers like Vin Scully, Harry Kalas, Skip Caray, Dave Neihaus, Jack Buck .. they are/were the true "faces" of the teams they've been with for so long. Players, managers, and success come and go, but for over 3 decades with many of them, you always knew that when you tuned into the game, the voice of a friend that you almost felt you knew would be there.

I remember hiding under my covers in April and May (before school let out for the summer, well past my bedtime) as a 10 year old kid with a radio, trying to adjust the antenna against the window without making too much noise so that I could pick up the Braves games on WSB in Atlanta and hear the last few innings without my parents knowing. It's pretty neat that, 18 years later, I could still tune in and enjoy the same duo of broadcasters, which brought back all those great memories of carefree summers as a kid enjoying my team.

Just as Braves fans miss Skip and Pete, Phillies fans will miss Harry Kalas terribly. As I said, I truly believe these talented, enjoyable, long time announcers mean possibly more to the fans than any player who's ever worn the uniform. They define the game experience, and it sucks to lose them, and all the memories they gave, in a flash.

[BoeingKing77]

It is a big loss.He WAS the VOICE of the phillies.He announced all of Mike Schmits 500+ home runs and was a fun-loving guy.On the news yesterday,they had a bunch of videos on him,and 1 was when the Phillies won the 1993 NLCS and sang "High Hopes" with the team.