Jim Britt (April 11, 1910 – December 31, 1980) was an American sportscaster who broadcast Major League Baseball games in Boston, Massachusetts, and

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, during the 1940s and 1950s. On June 15, 1948, Britt was at the microphone on WBZ-TV for the first live telecast of a Major League game in New England, as the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

defeated the

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 ...

, 6–3, at

Braves Field Braves Field was a baseball park located in Boston, Massachusetts. Today the site is home to Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University. The stadium was home of the Boston Braves of the National League from 1915 to 1952, prior to the B ...

. A native of San Francisco, California, Britt graduated from the University of Detroit and began his broadcasting career in Michigan before taking on play-by-play announcing for the University of Notre Dame's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and basketball teams, then the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball club. He joined the air staff of Boston's WNAC radio in 1939.

Boston Braves and Red Sox

From 1940 through 1950, with time out for United States Navy service in World War II, Britt was the voice of both the National League

(officially the "Bees" from 1936–1940) and the American League Boston Red Sox, succeeding

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

second baseman and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Frankie Frisch as play-by-play broadcaster when Frisch returned to uniform as pilot of the

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

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 ...

.Fitzgerald, Ray, ''Commentary: A voice from Hub's past is stilled'', The Boston Globe, January 6, 1981; retrieved from archives Britt also hosted an evening sports show on WNAC. At the time, the Braves and Red Sox each broadcast only their home games and shared announcing teams and flagship stations. Because the MLB schedules were then arranged so that the two Boston clubs were never home at the same time, there were no schedule conflicts. As such, Britt was the voice of two pennant-winning clubs, the 1946 Red Sox and the 1948 Braves. At the close of the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

season, that co-operative arrangement ended and each team decided to air a full schedule of 154 games, home and away. Britt chose to stay with the Braves, and the Red Sox were left to look for their own lead announcer. As fate would have it, the Sox would hire the "second banana" for the New York Yankees — a Mel Allen protégé named Curt Gowdy — who would be the voice of the Red Sox for 15 years before moving on to NBC's ''Game of the Week'' and a place in the

as a

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 ...

winner. Meanwhile, the Braves' attendance fell disastrously in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, and the club moved to Milwaukee in March 1953, in the middle of

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

Cleveland Indians and national work

Britt did not accompany the Braves to Wisconsin. Instead, he joined the TV announcing crew of the Cleveland Indians in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, working through

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

with Ken Coleman, a native of the Boston area (and Gowdy's eventual successor, in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, as voice of the Red Sox). The highlight of Britt's Cleveland tenure was the Indians' 1954 American League pennant with their league-record 111–43 season (one game better than the 110–44 1927 Yankees). But the Indians were upset in four straight games by the

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

in the ensuing

1954 World Series The 1954 World Series matched the National League champion New York Giants against the American League champion Cleveland Indians. The Giants swept the Series in four games to win their first championship since , defeating the heavily favored Ind ...

. Nationally, Britt participated in the Mutual network radio coverage of the World Series in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

and

, and worked on NBC's television coverage of the Series in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

and

. He also announced several baseball All-Star Games in the late 1940s and early '50s, as well as NFL games on the DuMont network and college football coverage (including the

1953 Sugar Bowl The 1953 Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on January 1, 1953, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game the featured the second-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and the seventh-ranked Ole Miss Rebels. G ...

game) on

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 ...

Return to Boston

Britt returned to Boston in the late 1950s as a newscaster and sportscaster for the city's ABC affiliate, then WHDH-TV, Channel 5, which also telecast Red Sox games; but he never regained his former role announcing for the team. Instead, he initiated a popular candlepin bowling show he would host until 1966, and also hosted ''Dateline: Boston'' (a nonsports predecessor to many of the modern-day magazine-style television programs) and an ABC-TV network series of hourlong 18-hole matches between two golfers called ''All-Star Golf'' featuring the best of their time including Ben Hogan, Sammy Snead, Lloyd Mangrum and Billy Casper. In retirement he eventually returned to his native California, where he died, aged 70, in Monterey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Britt, Jim 1910 births 1980 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Boston sportscasters Boston Braves announcers Boston Red Sox announcers Bowling broadcasters Cleveland Indians announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football announcers New York Giants announcers People from San Francisco University of Detroit Mercy alumni University of Southern California alumni