Joseph David Magrane (born July 2, 1964) is an American former
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), ...
(MLB)
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 the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
who played for the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...
,
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
, and
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...
between 1987 and 1996, and is currently a
color commentary
A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...
broadcaster for the
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
.
Playing career
Amateur
In 1984, Magrane played
collegiate summer baseball
Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...
for the
Harwich Mariners
The Harwich Mariners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Harwich, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Mariners play their home games at Whitehouse Fiel ...
of the
Cape Cod Baseball League
The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...
(CCBL). He led the league in wins and threw six complete games. Magrane was the winning pitcher at the league's 1984 all-star game at Philadelphia's
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 ...
, where he pitched two shutout innings. He was inducted into the
CCBL Hall of Fame in 2009.
Professional
During his rookie season he helped the Cardinals win the 1987
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
pennant, starting Game 1 and Game 7 (the first pitcher to do so with no starts between those two games), taking the loss in Game 1. He also led the National League in hit batsmen, with 10.
He led the National League in ERA (2.18) in 1988, despite winning only five games (losing nine). He holds the distinction of the fewest wins by an ERA leader, excluding strike seasons. He finished 4th in voting for the 1989 NL Cy Young with an 18-9 win–loss record, a 2.91 ERA and surrendered only 5 home runs in 234 innings.
An injured elbow in 1990 cost him almost all of the next two seasons and most of his effectiveness, and he never regained his early form. He won 11 games between the St. Louis and California ball clubs in 1993, but could not muster more than 2 wins or 74 innings pitched in any other season until his retirement in 1996 at the relatively early age of 32.
Broadcasting career
Prior to joining the
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...
, Magrane was teamed with
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
Dewayne Staats
Dewayne Staats (born August 8, 1952) is a sports broadcaster who has been the television play-by-play commentator for the Tampa Bay Rays since their inception in 1998. He is currently teamed with color commentator Brian Anderson.
Staats has be ...
from 1998 to 2008 as part of the
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...
television team, and also served as an analyst for
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
' coverage of
baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from August 13 to August 23. All games were played at Wukesong Baseball Field, a temporary venue constructed at the Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. For the third time in Olympic ...
.
Personal life
Magrane and his wife Renee, have two daughters,
Shannon and Sophia. In 2012, Shannon was a finalist on the
11th season of ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' .
Los Angeles Times, Magrane's daughter's American Idol audition
/ref>
See also
*List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders
In baseball, earned run average (ERA) is a statistic used to evaluate pitchers, calculated as the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a baserunner who reach ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magrane, Joe
1964 births
Living people
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Arizona Wildcats baseball players
Arkansas Travelers players
Baseball players from Des Moines, Iowa
California Angels players
Chicago White Sox players
Harwich Mariners players
Johnson City Cardinals players
Lake Elsinore Storm players
Louisville Redbirds players
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball pitchers
MLB Network personalities
Nashville Sounds players
National League ERA champions
Ottawa Lynx players
St. Petersburg Cardinals players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Tampa Bay Rays announcers
Vancouver Canadians players
Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players