Bill Brown (sportscaster)

Bill Brown
Brown (right) in April 2014
Born (1947-09-20) September 20, 1947
Sedalia, Missouri, United States
Residence Houston, Texas, United States
Nationality American
Other names Brownie
Occupation Former sportscaster for Houston Astros
Spouse(s) Dianne
Children 1

Bill Brown (born September 20, 1947) is a retired American baseball announcer. After spending several years working Cincinnati Reds broadcasts, Brown worked for the Houston Astros from 1987 to 2016.

Biography

Brown did play-by-play for the Cincinnati Stingers Television Network for the 1975-76 season and the Cincinnati Reds Television Network from 1976-1982. He worked four years with Ken Coleman and another four years with Ray Lane. Brown also called Xavier Musketeers and Cincinnati Bearcats basketball and Cincinnati Swords hockey early in his career, and was a senior producer and anchor of the Financial News Network's SCORE programing and sports director of the Sports Time Cable Network. he was sports director of Home Sports Entertainment in Pittsburgh.

With the Astros, Brown was often called "Brownie" by his play-by-play partner Alan Ashby. He has developed a reputation as a broadcaster who often played the straight man to former partner Jim Deshaies' humorous asides. Brown retired on September 28, 2016, after the final Astros home game of the 2016 season and was succeeded by Todd Kalas,[1][2] but returned to call games for the Astros from May 1–4, 2017 due to the death of Kalas's mother.[3] He lives in Houston with his wife, Dianne. They have a daughter and three grandchildren. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at the University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri).

Brown was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on November 12. 2004.[4] In 2011 Brown was inducted into the Media Wall of Honor at Minute Maid Park. The Texas Italian-American Sports Foundation presented him with a community service award. The Houston baseball media presented him with the Fred Hartman Award for Long and Meritorious service in 2012. In 2013 Brown was voted Texas Sportscaster of the Year by the Texas voters in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (now the National Sports Media Association) in Salisbury, N.C. He made a famous call on May 2, 2017 in a game against the Texas Rangers when Marwin González hit a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning at Minute Maid Park.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Brian T. (September 28, 2016). "Bill Brown's final Astros game a trip down memory lane". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  2. ↑ Barron, David (December 22, 2016). "Astros hire Todd Kalas as new play-by-play announcer". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  3. ↑ Kaplan, Jake (May 2, 2017). "Astros' Carlos Correa gets much-needed hit with RISP". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  4. ↑ Footer, Alyson (13 November 2004). "Bagwell, Biggio earn state Hall nods". MLB.com. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
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