Ross Porter (American broadcaster)

Ross Porter (born November 29, 1938) is an American sportscaster.

Broadcasting career prior to the Los Angeles Dodgers

For 28 seasons, Porter broadcast for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. The Dodgers replaced him with former New York Yankees broadcaster Charley Steiner 2004 season, after denying him a contract extension.

Prior to joining the Dodgers in 1977, he spent 10 years as a sportscaster for KNBC-TV. Porter also called NFL football and NCAA basketball for NBC Sports from 1970-1976, and just over a decade later he replaced Chick Hearn as the voice of UNLV athletics. Porter began his sports broadcasting career at WKY-TV in Oklahoma City in the 1960s.

"DodgerTalk"

Porter was known for providing fans with in-depth statistical analyses on ballplayers when games were in session. He was also the host of a pregame and postgame show known as "DodgerTalk" before and after each ballgame, where he would answer people's phone calls about questions pertaining to the ballgame.

August 23, 1989 broadcast

On August 23, 1989, Porter set a record for broadcasting 22 straight innings without any replacementsFact|date=May 2007, in a ballgame against the Montreal Expos. He is the only broadcaster to have been the voice of a World Series champion (with the 1981 and 1988 Dodger tems) and a college basketball champion (with UNLV), albeit not in the same season.On the June 4, 2008 broadcast of the Kansas City Royals versus Chicago White Sox game, Royals' television announcer Ryan Lefebvre, son of long-time Dodger player Jim Lefebvre, claims the 22 inning radio broadcast by Ross Porter occurred on June 3, 1989 in the Houston Astrodome versus the Astros.

Notable broadcasting partners

Throughout his tenure as a Dodgers broadcaster he worked alongside Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Don Drysdale, and Rick Monday.

Porter broadcast the 1977 and 1978 World Series for the CBS Radio Network and did Game of the Week broadcasts in the 1980s and 90s. His most famous national call is from the sixth and final game of the 1977 Series, during which Reggie Jackson smacked three home runs on three consecutive pitches. The capper:

:"Jackson with four runs batted in - sends a fly ball to center field and deep! That's going to be way back and THAT'S going to be gone! Reggie Jackson has hit his third home run of the game!"

Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter

Ross Porter began a new venture called [http://www.RealSportsHeroes.com Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter] in April 2007. Real Sports Heroes highlights the positive side of athletics and the great things that some athletes are doing and have done to give something back to the community. Porter airs 90 second Real Sports Heroes vignettes on KLAC and KABC radio in Los Angeles. The vignettes and Porter's web site are currently sponsored by American Airlines.

References