Greg Brown is a journeyman American sportscaster, born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, who has worked as a

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

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

on AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh and

KDKA-FM KDKA-FM (93.7 MHz, "93.7 The Fan") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. through licensee Audacy License, LLC and broadcasts a sports radio format Format may refer t ...

since 1994. He works with

Bob Walk Robert Vernon Walk (born November 26, 1956), nicknamed "The Whirly Bird", is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (), Atlanta Braves (–), and Pittsburgh Pira ...

, and

John Wehner John Paul Wehner (pronounced "Way-ner") (born June 29, 1967) is an American former utility player in Major League Baseball (MLB) and a current broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His nickname is "Rock". Career A Pittsburgh native and graduate ...

. Originally, Brown called games with

Lanny Frattare Lanny Lawrence Frattare (born March 23, 1948) is an American former sportscaster. For 33 years he was a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, the longest such tenure in the team's history. In 2008, he was nomina ...

until Frattare retired after the 2008 season. Brown grew up in

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mechanicsburg is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The borough is eight miles (13 km) west of Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 8,981. ...

. He became a Pirates fan through the broadcasts on KDKA radio and would visit

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

each summer with his parents to see baseball games at

Three Rivers Stadium Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Built ...

. Brown enrolled at

Point Park College Point Park University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered. History Beginnings The university bega ...

and landed an internship with the Pirates' promotion department in 1979, where his duties included serving as the inaugural backup

Pirate Parrot The Pirate Parrot is a costumed mascot of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. He was introduced in 1979 in response to the popularity of the Phillie Phanatic introduced one year earlier, as the Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies ha ...

. (The Pirates would go on to win 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 ...

that year.) He then worked in the Pirates' front office for 10 years in a variety of roles for the sales, broadcasting and public relations departments. He was the public address announcer in 1987 and did weekend sports anchoring at WFMJ-TV in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

in 1988. Brown spent five seasons (1989–93) doing play-by-play for the Pirates' Class AAA affiliate in Buffalo, NY. He also hosted a sports talk show on

WGR WGR (550 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Buffalo, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios and offices are located on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, and the transmitter site—utilized by WGR and co-owned WWKB—is in Ham ...

radio. For three seasons (1991–93), Brown was the color analyst on

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

radio broadcasts and also hosted pre-game and post-game shows for the Bills games. (The Bills would advance to the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

in each of Brown's three seasons as a broadcaster.) He also called basketball games for the Buffalo Bulls. Brown is known as a franchise apologist and for his call of "Raise the Jolly Roger" after rare Pirates victories. This is keeping in line with Pirate broadcasters, such as Lanny Frattare and

Bob Prince Robert Ferris Prince (July 1, 1916 – June 10, 1985) was an American radio and television sportscaster and commentator, best known for his 28-year stint as the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball club, with whom he earned the ...

, who also ended each Pirate win with a distinctive statement ("We had 'em all the way!" for Prince and "There was no doubt about it!" for Frattare). He is also known to exclaim "Clear the deck, cannonball coming!" on home runs hit by the Pirates, as well as "It's a trip-trip-triple!" when Pirates players hit triples. A report by Minnesota based Bring Me The News declared Brown the losingest active play by play announcer in MLB. At the time of the article, Brown had called 2,133 losses and held a .454 winning percentage. Brown and his wife Kim have one son, Ryan.

References

Root Sports Pittsburgh broadcaster bios (Greg Brown)Greg Brown's Pirates PhotoblogRanking MLB TV announcers by winning percentage of games they've calledDingoTalk Interview with Carlo Guadagnino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Greg Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Buffalo Bills announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Major League Baseball public address announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers People from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Radio personalities from Washington, D.C. Pittsburgh Pirates announcers Point Park University alumni

See also

References