Dan Baker (born September 22, 1946) is an American

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

announcer best known for many years as the voice of

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for footb ...

Lincoln Financial Field Lincoln Financial Field is an American football stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It serves as the home stadium of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL) and the Temple Owls football team of Temple University. ...

, and

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home playing field of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The stad ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Early life

Born in

, Pennsylvania, Baker grew up in

Mount Ephraim, New Jersey Mount Ephraim is a borough in Camden County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 4,676,

, and graduated from

Audubon High School ''For the high school in Iowa with the same name, see Audubon Community School District'' Audubon High School is a comprehensive six-year community public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Audubon, in Camd ...

. He earned his undergraduate degree at Glassboro State College (since renamed as

Rowan University Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents. ...

) and went on to earn a master's degree at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Career

Baker has been the public address announcer for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

since 1972 and was the public address announcer for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

from 1985 to 2014. He has served as a PA voice for six

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 ...

(, , , , and ), two

Major League Baseball All Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

s (

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

), and three

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

s (2002, 2003, and 2004). Though the Phillies and Eagles left Veterans Stadium for new venues (the Eagles to

in 2003 and the Phillies to

in 2004), Baker remained the PA announcer for both teams. He also serves as PA announcer for the

Army–Navy Game The Army–Navy Game is an American college football rivalry game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapo ...

when it is played in Philadelphia as well as Drexel University Dragons men's basketball. After the 2009 retirement of the New York Yankees'

Bob Sheppard Robert Leo Sheppard (October 20, 1910 – July 11, 2010) was the long-time public address announcer for numerous New York area college and professional sports teams, in particular the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (1951–2007), a ...

, Baker became the longest-tenured PA announcer in Major League Baseball. Between Baker and former

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

' public address announcer

Pat Pieper Frank "Pat" Pieper (February 17, 1886 – October 22, 1974) served as the Chicago Cubs field (public address) announcer from 1916 to 1974, a span of 59 years. Vendor at West Side Park Pieper (pronounced "Piper") was born February 17, 1886 in H ...

, the

2020 MLB season The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with only 60 games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was planned to begin on March 26, but the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (ML ...

will mark 104 consecutive seasons that one of them has been announcing games. Pieper from 1916 to 1974 and Baker from 1972–present. The last game that was played without Pieper or Baker announcing games was the

1915 World Series The 1915 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1915 season. The 12th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Boston Red Sox against the National League champion Philadelphia Philli ...

on October 13, 1915. Baker was the radio announcer for Drexel University Dragons men's basketball on WNTP 990 AM from 1997 to 2012, after which he retired and became the team's public address announcer. Before that, he broadcast Philadelphia BIG 5 Basketball games for 21 years while additionally serving as its executive director from 1981 to 1996. Baker was named to the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1997 and was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Baker co-hosts a radio show on WBCB (AM) 1490 called "Bull Session" with former

slugger

Greg Luzinski Gregory Michael "The Bull" Luzinski (born November 22, 1950) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder from to , most prominently as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies where he wa ...

, for whom the show is named. The show airs at 6:00 pm on Monday nights, and each week they bring in a special guest, usually a current or retired player. Baker reprises his role as the Philadelphia Phillies PA announcer for select Phillies away games at multiple venues that comprise a chain of Philadelphia area sports bars. The events are billed as "Summer Nights with Dan Baker". At these appearances, Baker announces the game over the sports bar's PA system in exactly the same fashion as he would if he was announcing an actual Phillies home game. On May 7, 2014, the Eagles announced that Baker would no longer serve as their public address announcer, citing that they decided to make a change in the role. Baker continued as the public address announcer for the Phillies. On September 16, 2015,

XFINITY Live! Xfinity Live! Philadelphia (known as Philly Live! during planning and construction) is a dining and entertainment complex located at the corner of 11th and Pattison Avenue in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex on the former site of the Spectr ...

announced that Baker would be the in-house public address announcer for Philadelphia Eagles games. Baker's duties are similar to those he had as the public address announcer for the Eagles, which include energizing the crowd with his signature calls. Baker did not announce during the 2020 season after being diagnosed with

sinus cancer Paranasal sinuses are a group of four paired air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity. The maxillary sinuses are located under the eyes; the frontal sinuses are above the eyes; the ethmoidal sinuses are between the eyes and the sphenoid ...

. However, after treatment, including radiation therapy and surgery, he returned the following year.

References

External links

* * YouTube video of the final 7th-inning stretch at

, where

Take Me Out to the Ballgame "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of North American baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song ...

, played by organist Paul Richardson is introduced by Baker. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Dan 1946 births Living people Audubon High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Camden County, New Jersey People from Philadelphia People from West Deptford Township, New Jersey Philadelphia Phillies personnel Philadelphia Eagles personnel Major League Baseball public address announcers National Football League public address announcers Rowan University alumni Temple University alumni