Arthur Levi Gleeson (September 29, 1906 – November 27, 1964) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

announcer. Gleeson was born in

Sumpter, Oregon Sumpter is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. The population was 204 at the 2010 census. Sumpter is named after Fort Sumter by its founders. The name was inspired by a rock as smooth and round as a cannonball, which reminded a loca ...

. He got his start calling games for teams in the California League games during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Gleeson served in the U.S. Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and worked for the

Armed Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which in ...

after being discharged from submarine service. From 1946 to 1949 he was play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. In 1950, he joined

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

, where he called

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

games with

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, ...

from 1951 to 1952 and the "Mutual Game of the Day" from 1953 to 1959. From 1956 to 1960 Gleeson was the sports director of MBS. Gleeson joined the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

broadcast team in 1960, calling games with

Curt Gowdy Curtis Edward Gowdy (July 31, 1919 – February 20, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC S ...

, Bill Crowley (1960), and

Ned Martin Edwin Martin III (August 9, 1923 – July 23, 2002) was an American sportscaster, known primarily as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox from 1961 to 1992. Broadcasting career Martin was born in Wayne, Pennsylvani ...

(1961–1964) for five seasons. Gleeson died of an apparent heart attack in a hotel room in

Gold Beach, Oregon Gold Beach ( Tolowa: yan-shu’-chit, yan-shuu-chit’-dvn) is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, Oregon, United States, on the Oregon Coast. The population was 2,241 at the 2020 census. History The community was originally named Ell ...

, after the 1964 season. He was replaced by

Mel Parnell Melvin Lloyd Parnell (June 13, 1922 – March 20, 2012) was a professional baseball pitcher who spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Boston Red Sox. Listed at and , he threw and batted left-handed. Playing career Parne ...

in the Red Sox booth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gleeson, Art 1906 births 1964 deaths American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Boston Red Sox announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters New York Yankees announcers People from Sumpter, Oregon Sports in Boston Sportspeople from Oregon United States Navy personnel of World War II