Gene Kirby

Eugene Kirby (died April 27, 2011, at St. Petersburg, Florida)[1] was an American Major League Baseball announcer and front office executive. Kirby was one of the key play-by-play announcers for the Mutual Broadcasting System's Major League "Game of the Day" broadcasts during the late 1940s and 1950s, along with Dizzy Dean, Al Helfer, Art Gleeson and others.[2] According to his obituary in Baseball America, Kirby worked with Dean for almost 20 years at Mutual, ABC and CBS.[3]

Kirby also spent part of his career in baseball administration, serving as traveling secretary of the Montréal Expos beginning with their founding in 1969, vice president, administration, of the Boston Red Sox (1975–1977), 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.[3]

In retirement, he lived in Treasure Island, Florida, where he was a longtime friend of veteran baseball man Don Zimmer.[4] Kirby died aged 95 on April 27, 2011.[4] Before he died, he authored a Dizzy Dean biopic entitled “Dizzy: Dean of Baseball & my Podnah” with Mark S. McDonald and Bo Carter.[5]

  1. ^ Obituary, St. Petersburg Times, May 8, 2011
  2. ^ "Al Helfer and the Game of the Day", Society for American Baseball Research
  3. ^ a b Baseball America, June 13–26, 2011, page 40
  4. ^ a b Topkin, Marc (May 1, 2011). "Rays Tales: Greener pastures?". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011.
  5. ^ Kirby, Gene; Carter, Bo; McDonald, Mark S. (2016). Dizzy: Dean of Baseball & My Podnah. Dust Devil Books. ISBN 978-0990971139.