Eugene Kirby (died April 27, 2011, at

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

) was an American

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), ...

announcer and front office executive. Kirby was one of the key play-by-play announcers for the

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 ...

's Major League "Game of the Day" broadcasts during the late 1940s and 1950s, along with

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

, Al Helfer, Art Gleeson and others. According to his obituary in '' Baseball America'', Kirby worked with Dean for almost 20 years at Mutual,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and

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 ...

.'' Baseball America'', June 13–26, 2011, page 40 Kirby also spent part of his career in baseball administration, serving as traveling secretary of the Montréal Expos beginning with their founding in , vice president, administration, of 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 ...

(–), and director of broadcasting of the Expos and Philadelphia Phillies. While known largely for his work in baseball, Kirby also broadcast American college football and professional and college

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. In retirement, he lived in

Treasure Island, Florida Treasure Island is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is situated on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,584. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a ...

, where he was a longtime friend of veteran baseball man

Don Zimmer Donald William Zimmer (January 17, 1931 – June 4, 2014) was an American infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). Zimmer was involved in professional baseball from 1949 until his death, a span of 65 years, across 8 de ...

. Kirby died at the age of 95 on April 27, 2011. Before he died, he authored a Dizzy Dean biopic entitled “Dizzy: Dean of Baseball & my Podnah” with Mark S. McDonald and Bo Carter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Gene 2011 deaths Year of birth missing Boston Red Sox executives American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Montreal Expos executives Philadelphia Phillies executives People from Treasure Island, Florida