Charley Steiner (born ) is an American
sportscaster and
broadcast journalist
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...
. He is currently the
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 transmi ...
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
announcer for the
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), ...
's
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
, paired with
Rick Monday
Robert James "Rick" Monday Jr. (born November 20, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player who now serves as a broadcaster. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1966 to 1984, most notably as a member ...
.
Early career
Steiner grew up a
Brooklyn Dodgers fan in a Jewish family in
Malverne, New York
Malverne is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 8,514 at the 2010 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total are ...
. He attended
Bradley University
Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...
in
Peoria, Illinois, and began his career as a newscaster for
WIRL
WIRL (1290 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a conservative talk format. Licensed to Peoria, Illinois, United States, the station serves the Peoria area and broadcasts in AM stereo. The station is currently owned by Midwest Communication ...
radio in Peoria, in 1969. After graduating from Bradley in 1971, he hosted his first sports show on
KSTT radio in
Davenport, Iowa. A year later, Steiner moved to
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...
, and worked for
WAVZ radio as its news director, before moving north to
Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
and
WPOP radio in a similar capacity.
In 1977, Steiner relocated to
WERE (1300 AM) in
Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as a sportscaster and later news director. While in Cleveland, he received his first television exposure when
WKYC-TV
WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lon ...
hired him as a sports commentator.
Steiner entered the New York market in 1978 at
WXLO-FM where he did newscasts for, among others, then-morning host and future actor
Jay Thomas
Jay Thomas (born Jon Thomas Terrell; July 12, 1948 – August 24, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, and radio personality. He was heard in New York from 1976–1979 on top-40 station 99X, and later on rhythmic CHR station 92KTU, and in ...
. He later moved over to sister station
WOR for several years as its
morning drive
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...
sportscaster, while working simultaneously as the
sports director
The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department.
Director
{{Job-stub ...
for the
RKO Radio Network
The RKO Radio Network, a subsidiary of RKO General, was the first commercial radio network to distribute programming entirely by satellite. When it began operations on October 1, 1979, the initial RKO network was the first new full-service Ameri ...
. He was also the play-by-play voice for the
USFL
The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
's
New Jersey Generals
The New Jersey Generals were a franchise of the United States Football League (USFL) established in 1982 to begin play in the spring and summer of 1983. The team played three seasons from 1983 to 1985, winning 31 regular season games and losing ...
entire existence from 1983 to 1985, and for the
NFL's
New York Jets in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
and
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
.
It was during his time with RKO Radio that he was involved in a fracas at the conclusion of a
press conference
A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...
after
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
had won his semifinals match at
Wimbledon in 1981. Throughout the tournament, McEnroe had consistently requested not to discuss the status of his relationship with then-girlfriend
Stacy Margolin
Stacy Margolin (born April 5, 1959) is a former American professional tennis player in the WTA tour and the ITF world tour from 1979 to 1987 whose career-high world singles ranking is No. 18 (career-high end of season ranking of No. 25 in 1979 ...
.
When James Whittaker, a
gossip columnist from the ''
Daily Star'' persisted in broaching the subject, McEnroe cursed at him and the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
media and prematurely ended the press conference by storming out of the room. Steiner confronted Whittaker to say, "C'mon, man, you are just messing it up for everybody else. We want to get our quotes." Right at that point, Nigel Clarke, another British reporter who then worked for the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'', stuck his index finger in Steiner's face.
Clarke then got up on a chair and attempted to rain punches down on Steiner, who successfully wrestled his adversary to the floor. Surprisingly, Steiner later was personally thanked by the head of the
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...
, who also had a disdain for the British
tabloids.
Career at ESPN
Steiner joined
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
in 1988, primarily as an anchor on ''
SportsCenter''. In addition to those duties, he served as the network's lead
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
analyst.
Steiner was involved in many comical situations during his tenure on ''SportsCenter'', including one broadcast in 1993 when
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996 ...
sang "
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
" prior to a
New Jersey Nets
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
game. Amused by hearing Lewis' terrible rendition of the song, Steiner began chortling during the ''SportsCenter'' show that night, unable to stop until the show ended. His famous comment on the event was that the song had apparently been written by "Francis Scott Off-Key", a pun on the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner",
Francis Scott Key.
Steiner was featured in a series of well-known television promos from ESPN's ''
This is SportsCenter
This is ''SportsCenter'' is a series of comical television commercials run by ESPN to promote their ''SportsCenter'' sports news show that debuted in 1995, based on the show's opening tagline. The ads are presented in a deadpan mockumentary styl ...
'' comical promo campaign. In 1999, amid fears of the
Y2K situation, Steiner starred in a promo where the ''SportsCenter'' cast spoke about a "contingency plan" at ESPN's studios ''after'' Y2K, and Steiner was featured wearing a tie as a head band (along with ''
Braveheart''-style face paint) and screaming the phrase "Follow me to freedom!" A second promo featured Steiner being traded from ESPN to ''
Melrose Place'' in exchange for actor
Andrew Shue
Andrew Eppley Shue (born February 20, 1967) is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series ''Melrose Place'' (1992–1999). Shue played soccer professionally for several years. He co-founded and served on the ...
. While Shue delivers a straight-up report on a meeting with
Paul Tagliabue
Paul John Tagliabue (; born November 24, 1940) is an American lawyer who was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL). He took the position in 1989 and served until September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL ...
, Steiner is then seen wearing shorts and introduces himself to
Laura Leighton
Laura Diane Leighton is an American actress. She played Sydney Andrews on the television series '' Melrose Place'' (1993–1997) and its continuation (2009–2010), and Ashley Marin on Freeform's series ''Pretty Little Liars'' (2010–2017).
...
(in character as "Sidney Andrews") as the new "pool boy" in the show's apartment complex. Steiner starred in a third promo with boxer
Evander Holyfield. In the opening shot, Evander questions Stuart Scott about Steiner's assessment that Holyfield is only the "50th best heavyweight of all-time"; Stuart then deadpans that he meant "the 50th best heavyweight — in Georgia". In the final scene, an angry Holyfield is seen roaming the halls of ESPN screaming, "Charley! Come on out and get your whoopin'! Charley, come on out! Steiner!" Steiner is seen cowering under a desk. In another promo for the campaign, Steiner talks about how at ESPN the personalities can cover the sports that they enjoy and he says that his is boxing. During the promo several personalities try to pick a fight with him and he walks away from them all until the end when Steiner is getting into his car and
Otto the Orange comes up to him and Steiner takes out all of his frustrations out on Otto by punching him square in the face.
On August 9, 2004, Steiner returned to ESPN to co-host an "old school" version of ''SportsCenter'' with
Bob Ley.
Steiner also hosted a program on the
NFL Network
NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...
called ''
Football America'', which ran from 2003 to 2005. He has also been shown in frequent cuts of interviews for the network's
NFL Top 10
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
series, discussing such subjects as former Jets defensive end
Mark Gastineau
Marcus Dell Gastineau (born November 20, 1956) is an American former football player who was a defensive end for the New York Jets from 1979 to 1988. A five-time Pro Bowler, he was one of the quickest and most feared pass rushers of his generatio ...
. Cuts of his play-by-play of the Jets' September 1986 overtime victory (51-45) over the
Dolphins
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...
are used in retrospectives on that game. Steiner was also interviewed on the 1986
New York Jets–
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
playoff game in which he proclaimed the Jets would win following a fourth-quarter touchdown only to see the Browns tie the game and win in double overtime.
Baseball broadcasting
ESPN Radio
When
ESPN Radio gained broadcast rights for
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), ...
's national radio package from
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
in 1998, Steiner became its lead announcer, working Sunday night games, the
All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...
, and
postseason
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
games. (Steiner never worked 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 ...
while he was calling games for ESPN Radio, however, as those were covered by then-lead TV voice
Jon Miller
Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997 he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball annou ...
.)
Steiner's most controversial
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
call came in the
2001 All-Star Game at
Safeco Field
T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the western ...
on July 10. His utterance of "Who wrote this script?" to punctuate
Cal Ripken Jr.
Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed " The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his posit ...
's third-
inning homer off
Chan-Ho Park
Chan Ho Park (; ; born June 30, 1973) is a South Korean former professional baseball pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with ...
fueled speculation about whether the achievement was legitimate or that the pitch was
grooved to enable a legendary sendoff.
New York Yankees (2002-2004)
Steiner left ESPN in 2002 and joined the
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 ...
' radio booth, replacing
Michael Kay as
John Sterling's play-by-play partner. Steiner was at the microphone when
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 ...
third baseman
Aaron Boone
Aaron John Boone (born March 9, 1973) is an American baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 13 seasons from 1997 through 2009. As a player ...
won Game 7 of the
2003 American League Championship Series
The 2003 American League Championship Series (ALCS) was played between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees from October 8 to 16, 2003. The Yankees won the series four games to three to advance to the World Series, where they lost in six g ...
with a home run in the eleventh inning to defeat 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 ...
.
After Steiner completed his call, he joined Sterling in his famous "Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!" call, saying he "had always wanted to do that".
Steiner and Sterling reportedly had a contentious relationship during their three years together.
Los Angeles Dodgers (2005-present)
Steiner left the Yankees after the following season, his last game being the infamous Game 7 of the
2004 American League Championship Series
The 2004 American League Championship Series was the Major League Baseball playoff series to decide the American League champion for the 2004 season, and the right to play in the 2004 World Series. A rematch of the 2003 American League Champion ...
in which the Red Sox completed its historic series victory over its rivals after trailing 3 games to 0. He was originally slated to move to the
YES Network
The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), ...
as a studio host, but after
Ross Porter, longtime radio voice of the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
(Steiner's favorite team growing up, with the team still based in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
) was let go by the team, Steiner was hired to take his place.
For four years covering the 2005 through 2008 seasons, the Dodgers' unique broadcasting arrangement had Steiner teamed with analyst
Rick Monday
Robert James "Rick" Monday Jr. (born November 20, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player who now serves as a broadcaster. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1966 to 1984, most notably as a member ...
and working play-by-play on radio during all home and
intra-divisional road games. However, Steiner's duties during these games would begin with the fourth inning and cover the remainder of the game, as the first three innings were a radio/television
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...
voiced by
Vin Scully
Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for his 67 seasons calling games for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the franchise was located ...
. Steiner handled television play-by-play on all other games (with analyst
Steve Lyons), primarily road contests east of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
. For the 2009 season, the Dodgers had Steiner and Monday as their radio team for all 162 games, though the Scully simulcast of the first three innings would remain. Starting in 2014, Steiner was paired with
Orel Hershiser
Orel Leonard Hershiser IV (born September 16, 1958) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1983 to 2000. He later became a pitching coach for the Texas Rangers from 2002 to 2005 and a bro ...
on the television broadcast for all games Scully did not call, and broadcast on the radio with Monday the other games.
Steiner also used to host ''Baseball Beat'' on
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its se ...
's
MLB Home Plate
MLB Network Radio (formerly MLB Home Plate) is an American sports talk radio station on Sirius XM Radio that features Major League Baseball related talk shows, as well as archives and live reports about MLB and such.
MLB Home Plate launched in ...
channel, where he talked exclusively to writers, authors, columnists, broadcasters, or celebrities on their thoughts and analysis of the current state of baseball. Steiner's last episode of ''Baseball Beat'' aired on January 16, 2009.
Following Vin Scully's retirement from the Dodgers after the 2016 season, the team split its radio-TV duties between Steiner and
Joe Davis
Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is ...
, with Steiner remaining on the radio side but switching to television on those occasions Davis has a
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
assignment.
Awards and accomplishments
Steiner, an Emmy Award recipient, was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame on November 9, 2013, becoming the 17th sportscaster admitted into the Hall. In December 2010 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from his alma mater
Bradley University
Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...
, where he gave the commencement address. Steiner received the
United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...
award for "Best Sportscaster for New York,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
" in 1981, 1983, and 1985. His football play-by-play work earned him the New York State Broadcasters Association Award for "Best Radio Play-by-Play" in 1983, 1984, and 1987. During his fourteen years at ESPN, Steiner won a
CableACE award for a documentary on
Muhammad Ali and a
Clarion award
Clarion may refer to:
Music
* Clarion (instrument), a type of trumpet used in the Middle Ages
* The register of a clarinet that ranges from B4 to C6
* A trumpet organ stop that usually plays an octave above unison pitch
* "Clarion" (song), a 2 ...
for his coverage of the
Mike Tyson rape trial.
Bradley
Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English.
Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular.
It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
named its school of sports communication for Steiner at a ceremony in March, 2015.
References
External links
Los Angeles Dodgers biography*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiner, Charley
Living people
People from Malverne, New York
American radio sports announcers
American television sports announcers
Bradley University alumni
College football announcers
Los Angeles Dodgers announcers
Major League Baseball broadcasters
National Football League announcers
New York Jets announcers
New York Yankees announcers
Radio personalities from Cleveland
Radio personalities from Illinois
Radio personalities from New York City
Television anchors from Cleveland
United States Football League announcers
Jewish American sportspeople
Cleveland Barons broadcasters
21st-century American Jews
Year of birth missing (living people)