Eloy "Buck" Canel (March 4, 1906 – April 7, 1980) was an American

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

sportscaster of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

games. Canel was born in Argentina when his father was working for the Spanish consulate in that country. His famous

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

was "¡No se vayan, que esto se pone bueno!" ("Don't go away, this is going to get good!").Boyle, Robert H. "'El As' Is the Voice of America," ''Sports Illustrated'', October 14, 1963.
Retrieved August 28, 2017.

Career

Canel achieved international renown and became a household name in Latino communities when he joined in the late 1940s the ''

Gillette Cavalcade of Sports The ''Gillette Cavalcade of Sports'' is an American radio-turned-television program by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) that ran from 1942 to 1960. The program included broadcasts of a variety of sports, although it is primarily remembere ...

''. By then, the Cavalcade was aired through

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

and extended their Spanish programming activities to Latin American countries, where it was known as ''La Cabalgata Deportiva Gillette''. On there Canel shared duties with Spanish-language broadcasters such as Pancho Pepe Cróquer, Omar Lares, and

Felo Ramírez Rafael "Felo" Ramírez (22 June 1923 – 21 August 2017) was a Cuban-American Spanish language sports announcer, most notably for the Miami Marlins. Born in Bayamo, Cuba, Ramirez was also a boxing expert, having broadcast fights for Latin Americ ...

. During the opening presentation, Canel habitually introduced Cróquer as ''La Voz Deportiva de América''. From 1954–1957, Canel called select

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

games over

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

station

WHOM WHOM (94.9 FM, "94.9 HOM") is an American radio station which airs an adult contemporary radio format. WHOM is owned by Townsquare Media and transmits from atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire, its community of license. Mount Washington ...

, which was then a Spanish-language

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

in New York City. In the 1970s he called

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and

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

games, again for WHOM. These feeds were occasionally simulcast by

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n radio stations. Starting in 1937 until 1979, he was the Spanish voice of the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. He called a total of 42

Personal life

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

was a great admirer of Canel. Castro listened to him regularly and even spoke with him on at least one occasion. Canel died of emphysema on April 7, 1980 in

Croton-on-Hudson, New York Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern subu ...

Legacy

Canel was posthumously awarded the

Ford C. Frick Award The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball". It is named for Ford C. Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Before h ...

by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985. He began his career in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. The

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

of WHOM are now used for an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

station in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

References

External links

Buck Canel
Ford C. Frick Award biography at the National Baseball Hall of Fame 1906 births 1980 deaths Brooklyn Dodgers announcers Ford C. Frick Award recipients Major League Baseball broadcasters New York Mets announcers New York Yankees announcers People from Croton-on-Hudson, New York {{US-radio-bio-stub