Herb Score has died.
by Ryan on Nov 11, 2008 10:38 AM EST
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PrintFormer Cleveland Indians pitcher and broadcaster Herb Score's died this morning at age 75 in his room at home in Rocky River, the Indians confirmed today.
He was a brilliant Indians pitcher whose baseball career was virtually ended at age 23 when he was hit in the right eye by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald of the New York Yankees on May 7, 1957.
Then he became a Cleveland sportscasting institution, calling Indians games on radio and television for 34 years, longer than anybody else in the city's baseball history.
I obviously knew Score only as a broadcaster, or as many other people saw him, a long-distance friend. I've missed him since he signed off for the final time in 1997, and to this day I regret that the man who was the enthusiastic voice for so many awful teams couldn't end his career calling a World Series winner.
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And in the interest of not overlapping I’m going to delete my Fanshot. But I still wanted to preserve the comments, so:
Godspeed, Herb.
by mrich on Nov 11, 2008 10:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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Herb Score was the voice of the Indians when I was growing up. I will forever associate listening to baseball on the radio with that voice.
by APV on Nov 11, 2008 10:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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I didn’t grow up in Cleveland, but I knew i had moved to a city with a real baseball tradition when I heard Herb Score talking about the Indians. He wasn’t a slick talker with a big voice; just a guy who knew a lot about and really liked baseball.
by peter m on Nov 11, 2008 10:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Steel Nick
I also grew up to Score on the radio broadcasts of those horrid, putrid 70s teams.
No matter how bad we were, Score was always upbeat about the team (not an ounce of Harry Doyle in him). I don’t recall him being all rosy either, but I do miss listening to his broadcasts on my little radio in my room.
Best wishes to his family and the rest of Tribe fans everywhere.
Godspeed, Herb.
One of my favorite Herb Score moments — or Indians moments period — was after the ‘95 Tribe clinched the AL Central in early September in 1995. Score and Hargrove found each other in the locker room during the celebration, after the team had raised a their Division Banner in centerfield. They were both crying and hugging, and you could hear Hargrove saying in Score’s ear, “Hey Herbie, guess what? We’re going to the playoffs!” Two guys who dealt with a lot of bad baseball in Cleveland and never let it get in the way of being good guys and doing a good job.
Il faut d'abord durer.
Nothing beats those fall days in the mid-90’s listening to playoff baseball, Herb was a great part of those memories. Thanks again!
Funny, I don’t associate him with the 1995 Indians at all. I think of him more as one of the only good things about the Indians in the 80’s.
I don’t remember the 80’s in a baseball sense too much. My strongest 80’s Indians memory was the trading of Joe Carter, I was extremely disappointed and angry, but had no idea why. After that was when I began watching baseball more intently, and since Herb was the announcer that’s what got locked in my memory. I guess my association is in relation to when I really started watching and trying to understand baseball.
Or the 1970s. One of my abiding memories of childhood is driving around in my dad’s Ford Custom 500 listening to Herb Score on WAKR. Dad was one of those guys who didn’t listen to the radio much in the car – he didn’t even have FM until he had no other choice, and usually left it off to be able to hear the engine and the tires – but Tribe games were an exception.
It’s telling that so many of us, of different generations, grew up listening to Herb Score. His voice will be embedded in my memory forever.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Nov 11, 2008 6:53 PM EST reply actions
Have lurked for a couple of years but had to post. My Dad showed me how to be an Indians fan about 30 years ago when I was about seven. It started with Herb Score on the radio. “Nobody like him” Dad said. My Dad passed away one week ago and to see that Herb Score passed away today – I don’t know what to make of it. It’s like my Dad needed that announcer where he was going. To all fathers, sons, and great announcers like Herb Score. Cheers.
by tribefever on Nov 11, 2008 8:28 PM EST reply actions 4 recs
tribefever, got this from a Joe Posnanski blog,
There’s one more thing I want to say about Herb Score: He has not lived a sad life. He was the Indians announcer for 35 years, and he retired as one of the most beloved men in Cleveland, and when he got into a car accident in 1998 people were praying for him all over. He said something once that I think about all the time, something that I think is much bigger than baseball. Terry Pluto asked him why he would never say something like, "Well, this is a pretty obvious bunting situation" or "He will probably try to steal second here."
And Herb said this: "No, that’s a Dad’s job."
by dalen on Nov 11, 2008 11:33 PM EST up reply actions 6 recs
rec
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Nov 12, 2008 10:58 AM EST up reply actions
I have a somewhat similar experience to share from growing up alongside my dad. For him, the voice of the Indians was Jimmy Dudley. While I grew up listening to Herb with my dad and all of Herb’s great imagery from those lousy teams in the 70s and 80s, he would occasionally tell me about the good teams of the 40s and 50s and listening to Jimmy. Today, my dad and I have the pleasure of telling my eight-year-old son stories of the announcers we grew up with while he goes to bed listening to Tom Hamilton’s call. To me, there’s nothing like the power of listening to baseball on the radio and its ability to bring families — particularly grandfathers, fathers and sons — together.
by Tribe Fan Matt on Nov 12, 2008 9:42 AM EST up reply actions
Thanks for sharing this story, tribefever, and welcome. My condolences. I lost my dad recently, too, on the last day of this year’s baseball season as a matter of fact. So I really appreciated your post and it resonates strongly with my childhood (as it obviously does with a lot of us). We had a portable transistor radio that we lugged around everywhere in the house, and outside when we were doing work in the yard. One of the first things I thought of after my dad died was how we must have listened to literally a few hundred Indians game radio broadcasts together.
"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter
by Denver Tribe Fan on Nov 13, 2008 12:46 AM EST up reply actions
My father introduced me to Indians’ baseball in the mid sixties. He told me about Mr Score; that he was to be better than Koufax. We live out of the area and so, I never had the privilege to hear him call a game. Still, I can appreciate when a man becomes an institution within a community. My condolences to the Score family and to the community of Cleveland for their loss.
To the extent that I listened to the radio as a kid (car rides, etc.), Herb Score was the first announcer I ever heard. I loved listening to him.
So sad to think about what could have been for him (note the raves from Ted Williams and comparisons to Koufax in the PD article). The one time I visited the Hall of Fame, McDougald was there. My dad and grandpa didn’t shake his hand, but I did (I was about 8 or 10 at the time). I’ve regretted it ever since, but it sounds like Herb wouldn’t want me to.
RIP, Herb. We’ll miss you.
by JulioBernazard on Nov 12, 2008 11:41 AM EST reply actions
Herb belonged to St. Christopher’s, my original Parish. I always thought that was really cool that we both belonged. My primary method of following the Indians from ‘89 – ’97 was through the radio, so like many folks here I’ve spent countless hours with Herb. It’s a real pity.
Joe Posnanski wrote a blog entry a couple months ago (which was referenced above) about Herb Score’s career which is definately worth a read. I had always heard the story about the line drive to his face which ruined his career but I never realized how dominating he was before reading that. And Joe tells the story as only he can.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
More Posnanski. This was posted today, and he reflects on growing up listening to Herb Score on the radio. I’m sure that many of us can relate to his thoughts.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
Since the PD stole Pluto and Windhorst away from the ABJ it’s actually become worth reading. If they would get Poz then they’d actually have a good sports section (especially if they got rid of Livingston and Shaw). I doubt that would happen, though; I don’t know how long he’s been in Kansas City but he seems happy there.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Nov 13, 2008 10:34 AM EST up reply actions
One of my favorite Herb Score game calls:
The Tribe winning the ’97 Division Series vs. NYY
http://home.earthlink.net/~losgilsons/1520Down20Go20The20Yankees20-20199720AL20Div.mp3
-Ohiokie-
There’s several great clips at http://home.earthlink.net/~losgilsons/ including the missed suicide squeeze game winner and a Vizquel walk-off GS.
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