Larry Andersen

“I have a personality that some people call a flake or crazy or insane,” Larry Andersen acknowledged.1 “But if I thought about nothing except what I’m going to be doing that night when I pitch, I’d be a basket case. Of course, I’ve been accused of being close to that anyway.”2

“How come fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?” and “What do they call a coffee break at the Lipton Tea Company?” were just two of the questions that Andersen wondered out loud.3 He wore costume masks on team flights and bus rides, and sometimes during batting practice. Andersen pitched professionally for 25 years, including parts of 17 major-league seasons (1975, 1977, 1979, 1981-1994) for six teams. The right-handed middle reliever enjoyed his greatest success with the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros after turning 30, appearing in two World Series and three NLCS. After Houston swapped him straight up for future Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell at the 1990 trading deadline, he also saw action the ALCS with the Boston Red Sox. Following his playing days, Andersen had a long broadcasting career with the Phillies.

Larry Eugene Andersen was born on May 6, 1953, in Portland, Oregon. He recalled, “I was either born deaf in my right ear or maybe it happened when I was real young and had the German measles. They said all of the parts were there. They’re just not connected, which is what a lot of people have said about my brain.”4 Larry’s family was of Swedish ancestry.5 His father, Dale Andersen, was a West Coast Airlines pilot from Oregon who’d married Gae Lea Hammacher of Nebraska in 1949. Their other child, Linda, was born two years later.

“I always wanted to play ball, probably because I watched it all the time on TV and because my dad loved to play. He was never able to because he had to work through high school, so whenever he was off, we’d play together,” Larry recalled. As he progressed through Pee Wee baseball, Little League, Babe Ruth and American Legion competition, his father bragged about him to his fellow pilots. “My idols at the time, other than my father, were Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, Mickey Mantle,” Andersen said.6

On March 10, 1967, Dale Andersen and three others died when their Fairchild F-27 propjet flew into Stukel Mountain near Klamath Falls, Oregon, during a heavy snowstorm. Larry was 13. He still had his mother, and grew closer to his sister, but said, “For about five, six, seven years after he was killed, I kept waiting for him to come through the door… I was in limbo. I had no direction.”7 Sports – especially baseball – soothed some of his lostness. Andersen attended Triple-A Pacific Coast League games with his aunt, a devoted Portland (Oregon) Beavers fan.8

After moving to Bellevue, Washington, Andersen attended Interlake High School, which opened as he was starting 10th grade.9 In three years, he helped the Saints win three football championships, two in basketball and one in baseball – earning MVP honors in the latter sport’s 1971 City vs. State All-Star Game.10 The University of Oregon offered him a dual baseball/football scholarship, and the Cleveland Indians drafted him in the seventh round that June. “I was too skinny to get knocked around a bunch – 6-foot-3 and 177 pounds,” he noted.11 “My true love was being on a dirt hill, 60 feet, six inches from a competitor holding a wooden stick and trying to make me look bad.”12 The Indians’ $10,000 bonus offer through scout Loyd Christopher convinced Andersen to turn professional.

The Single-A California League was where Andersen debuted with the 1971 Reno (Nevada) Silver Sox. He won his only decision, but his ERA was 6.75 in seven appearances. In late July, he was sent down to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League, where he went 0-3 (3.00 ERA) in four outings.

Andersen returned to Reno in 1972 and 1973. Prior to one game in Bakersfield, Andersen and a teammate began setting off in the bullpen $30 worth of fireworks that they’d purchased. When manager Lou Klimchock signaled that they would each be fined $25, the players gave the remainder of their stash to two boys who set them off during the contest – causing the home team’s center fielder to flee the field in fear.13 Reno finished 38 games below .500 in 1972, and Andersen was 4-14 with a 6.53 ERA in 27 games (19 starts). In 1973, the Silver Sox improved to break-even status. Andersen lowered his ERA to 3.95 in 29 starts and tied for second on the club in victories with a 10-8 record. Future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley led with 12.

Andersen advanced to the Double-A Texas League in 1974 and went 10-6 with a 3.83 ERA for the San Antonio Brewers. He won one of his 22 starts with a no-hitter against the Victoria Toros on June 1.14

In 1975, Andersen led a poor Oklahoma City 89ers club in the Triple-A American Association with a 10-11 record, 156 innings, and 10 complete games in his 23 starts. He was promoted to the majors at the conclusion of the season and fired one perfect inning in his debut on September 5, against the Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Stadium. “I faced Willie Horton, Bill Freehan and Aurelio Rodríguez: foul pop, fly to center and a K,” he recalled.15 Andersen relieved two more times and finished his first taste of the big leagues with a 4.76 ERA.

Andersen started 1976 with the Indians’ new Triple-A farm team, the Toledo (Ohio) Mud Hens of the International League. After going 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA in six outings, he was demoted to the Double-A Eastern League, where he regained his confidence with a 9-6 (2.71 ERA) mark for the Williamsport (Pennsylvania) Tomahawks. “I think they sent me down because my attitude was bad, and I really woke up when it happened,” he reflected a year later. “I realize now I had a ‘don’t give a damn’ attitude but I changed in a hurry… I knew it was then or never for me.”16

Still, the Indians left him off their 40-man roster that winter. Needing money, Andersen answered a newspaper ad from an organization called Vision Quest and spent part of his offseason living with juvenile offenders in a group home in Bisbee, Arizona. “The program helped me, too,” he said. “Because when you throw things like a positive attitude at the kids, it comes right back at you like you’re looking in a mirror.”17

Cleveland converted Andersen into a full-time relief pitcher when they sent him back to Toledo in 1977. “I don’t know why the Indians did that but I’m certainly glad they did,” he said later.18 Andersen continued to do the things that had earned him the “flake” label: warming up without a bullpen catcher or amazing teammates with his burping prowess, for example. “Once I did the song ‘Moon River’ in belches on a dare,” he said. “You have to quit worrying about the pressure. That’s where a lot of the flakiness comes from. I read once where Bill Lee said, ‘The whole world’s insane. So, if I’m insane, I’m normal.’ I guess that’s the way I feel, too.”19

Andersen’s pitching was better than ever in 1977. He was leading the IL with a 1.94 ERA, 45 appearances and nine saves when the Indians called him up again on August 1.20 “I have to credit a lot of my success this season to working with the kids,” he said. “When I go to the mound, there’s no question in my mind that I’ll do the job. I’m much more alert than I’ve ever been.”21 In 11 outings for Cleveland, Andersen was 0-1 with a 3.14 ERA. “Buddy Bell helped me a lot as did Pat Dobson,” he recalled.22

Before Andersen began his fourth straight season in Triple-A in 1978, the Indians changed their top farm team again – to the Portland Beavers franchise that he’d rooted for as a boy. In 57 appearances, he went 10-7 with 25 saves, then a PCL record.23 Next, after a strong winter campaign for the Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican League, he joined that circuit’s champion, the Criollos de Caguas, for the Caribbean Series.24 Andersen would pitch four winters in Puerto Rico, and two in Venezuela, before establishing himself in the majors.25

The Indians changed their Triple-A affiliate from Portland to the Tacoma (Washington) Tugs in 1979. Still in the PCL, Andersen started 12 of his 27 appearances, going 10-6. He also saw action in eight big-league contests, but he was hit hard, posting a 7.56 ERA. Perhaps the most lasting feature of his summer was inspired by Andersen’s visit with teammate Ron Pruitt to the home of Texas Rangers’ reliever Sparky Lyle, who owned a headpiece that made him resemble one of Saturday Night Live’s Coneheads. Soon, Pruitt was reprimanded for wearing a Conehead during the national anthem, while Andersen made one a signature prop for the rest of his career.26

On December 21, 1979, Andersen was traded to the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Larry Littleton and pitcher John Burden. Reflecting on his nine years in the Indians organization, he said in 1991, “Cleveland at that time was a dismal, negative, terrible place to play. I’m not talking about the city. The stadium was rundown. It was ugly. It was like a puke yellow. And the organization left a lot to be desired. Other than that, it was perfect.”27

In 1980, Andersen was assigned to the Portland Beavers – then the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate – for the second time. He enjoyed an outstanding season: 15 saves in 52 outings with a PCL-best 1.74 ERA. Over 93 innings, he struck out 65 batters and issued only 11 unintentional walks. He never appeared in the big leagues, however, and Pittsburgh sent him to the Seattle Mariners on October 29 to complete an earlier deal for pitcher Odell Jones.

In 1981, Andersen pitched exclusively in the majors for the first time. “When I got traded to Seattle, Richie Zisk taught me a lot about pitching as far as pitch selection,” he said.28 During the strike-shortened split season, Andersen’s 2.66 ERA was the best among Mariners’ regulars, and his 41 relief appearances ranked ninth in the American League.

“In Seattle, my best memory was the Mr. Jell-O caper,” Andersen recalled. On a September visit to Chicago, he bought 16 boxes of cherry Jello-O with teammates Zisk and Joe Simpson, obtained the keys to Mariners manager Rene Lachemann’s hotel suite, and mixed the gelatin dessert with ice in the toilets. “We also took every piece of furniture we could carry, including the mattress and box spring and crammed all we could into his bathroom. We took the mouthpiece out of his phone, unscrewed all the lights, unplugged his clock and toilet papered his room… The next day he threatened the team with FBI, fingerprints, lie detectors, etc.,” Andersen described. The culprits revealed themselves in a What’s My Line? type game at the team’s year end party.29

In 1982, AL hitters slugged .543 against Andersen, and he finished with a 5.99 ERA in 37 long relief outings. “When I started to struggle there was no one there to help me work things out,” he said. “All they said was I had to find my rhythm.”30 He spent the last three weeks of August with the Triple-A Salt Lake City Gulls rehabilitating a shoulder injury.31 In explaining to Andersen that he hadn’t made the team in spring training 1983, Lachemann told him, “You’re not good enough.”32

“I couldn’t be sure if I’d ever get back to the majors,” Andersen recalled. “When you’ve been bouncing around like I had, you never know when the end might be coming.”33 Seattle loaned him to the Phillies organization, where he was assigned to Philadelphia’s new Triple-A affiliate – the Portland Beavers. “My dream growing up was, I wanna pitch for the Portland Beavers. Well, it came true. And then it came true again. And then it came true again. And I’m like, OK, enough of that dream. Can I get back to dreaming about maybe getting into the big leagues now?”34

In his third stint with Portland, Andersen saved a league-leading 22 games while posting a 2.05 ERA over 52 appearances – all before July 29, when the Phillies purchased his contract and promoted him to the majors. “Playing with the Wheeze Kids was like being in baseball heaven. I mostly just walked around in awe of those guys,” said Andersen.35 (In contrast to Philadelphia’s youthful 1950 pennant-winning club – the “Whiz Kids” – the 1983 Phillies were nicknamed the “Wheeze Kids” because their veteran roster featured three aging stars from Cincinnati’s 1970s Big Red Machine: 39-year-old Joe Morgan, Tony Pérez (41) and Pete Rose (42).)

One of the masks in Andersen’s collection resembled Phillies manager Paul Owens, so his teammates encouraged him to don the skipper’s uniform and conduct a mock team meeting. “I was a little hesitant to do that because I was new here and didn’t want to upset anybody,” Andersen recalled. “But this is a really great bunch of guys, and I like to have fun out there.”36 In 17 appearances, Andersen went 1-0 (2.39) as Philadelphia rode a red-hot September to a division title and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. In two World Series outings against the Baltimore Orioles, he allowed one run in four innings, but the Phillies lost in five games. “I went from the cellar to the Series in less than a year,” Andersen reflected. “And a lot of it was because I wouldn’t let somebody convince me that I wasn’t good enough.”37

Philadelphia was a .500 team in 1984, but Andersen’s 2.38 ERA over 64 appearances included a string of 32 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings – a record for Phillies’ relievers.38 He was throwing more cut fastballs and curves to complement his slider, but Andersen attributed his success to increasing his pitching weight from 195 pounds to 210 through workouts with the club’s strength and flexibility instructor. Pitching coach Claude Osteen agreed, adding, “Another factor is that he’s not afraid to pitch inside. And the third thing is that he has been throwing a really good curveball… And the guy is just a great worker. He’ll always take the ball and he’s a super person to have on the club.”39

In 1985, the Phillies finished fifth with a 75-87 record, and Andersen’s ERA swelled to 4.32. Philadelphia acquired two right-handed relievers in offseason trades: future Cy Young Award winner Steve Bedrosian and veteran Tom Hume. Another righty bullpen arm, former All-Star Kent Tekulve, was already in the fold. Since Tekulve and Hume’s contracts guaranteed them a combined $1.7 million, when the Phillies started slowly in 1986, Andersen and his $260,000 salary were released after 10 appearances to make room for rookie Freddie Toliver on May 13.

Andersen had just turned 33. “I want to pitch in a ballpark that has high grass and is 400 feet down each foul line. Where the wind is always blowing hard in the batter’s face,” he joked. “Then, for starters, I’d want Ozzie Smith at shortstop and Keith Hernandez at first.”40 Instead, he joined the NL West-leading Houston Astros and posted a 2.78 ERA in 38 outings. After Houston won its division with a 96-66 record, Andersen hurled five scoreless innings in two NLCS contests against the New York Mets, but the Astros were eliminated in an epic, 16-inning Game Six, in which he worked the 11th, 12th, and 13th frames without allowing a hit.

The Astros had a losing season in 1987, but Andersen was 9-5 (3.45) in a team-high and personal-best 67 appearances. Prior to that season, he’d averaged 5.1 strikeouts per nine innings in the majors, but he improved his rate to 8.0 for the remainder of his career. “I learned the slider when I was in high school but never had the velocity to make it what it ended up to be,” he explained. “When Les Moss, the Astros pitching coach, got hold of me… he changed my mechanics, and it gave me about four or five miles-per-hour more. That’s when I became a much better pitcher.”41 Andersen kept his hand on top of the baseball to disguise the spin, giving the pitch a looping look before it broke late on the way to home plate.42

Andersen’s 53 appearances in 1988 led Houston’s right-handed relievers, and his ERA was 2.94.43 In 1989, he didn’t allow an earned run until his 16th outing – a span of 22 1/3 innings. Although he wasn’t invited to the All-Star Game, Andersen finished the first half with a 0.67 ERA, prompting teammate Jim Deshaies to say, “I think he is the best pitcher in baseball right now. The guy’s numbers are just unbelievable, but because he’s a set-up man and doesn’t have the wins or saves, he doesn’t get much recognition.”44

The 1989 Astros’ pitching staff was the oldest in major league history according to the Elias Sports Bureau.45 By season’s end, the 36-year-old Andersen had held opposing hitters to a .198 batting average and logged a 1.54 ERA over 60 outings. He continued to entertain with stunts like wearing buckteeth on team flights. “I was not grown up when I got into baseball at 18, and I don’t think I’ve matured at all since then,” he remarked that summer.46 His self-described motto was, “You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever.”47

Andersen was reminded of his impending baseball mortality by the Equitable Old-Timers Game before an Astros contest in San Diego in 1990. The participants included the first batter he’d faced in the majors (Willie Horton), ex-Cleveland teammate Bill Melton, and his former roommate from winter ball, Tim Stoddard. “I’d prefer that they call this the ‘Middle-Timers’ Game instead of the Old-Timers,” said Andersen. “Oh well, I’ve aged more gracefully than most of those guys.”48 Indeed, when Andersen struck out Andre Dawson to finish off Houston’s 1-0 victory over the Cubs on August 29, he was 5-2 with a 1.95 ERA in 50 appearances and six saves. The next day, the fifth-place Astros swapped him to the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox for a Double-A third baseman who wound up with a plaque in Cooperstown, Bagwell. “Not many people can say they got traded one-for-one with somebody as good as he is,” remarked Andersen in 2001. “Who knew he was gonna put on 30-40 pounds and become a tremendous run producer?”49

The Red Sox clinched their division on the final day of the regular season, with Andersen pitching in 15 of the last 30 games and posting a 1.23 ERA. When Boston was swept by the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS, however, his ERA was 6.00 in three outings, including a blown save and loss in the series opener. “I just got plain tired in Boston,” he said. “I’ll never make excuses. That’s just the plain fact of life.”50

Andersen became a free agent and signed a two-year, $4.35 million deal to join the San Diego Padres on December 21.51 “It’s definitely the best Christmas I’ve had in my life. I’m floating on clouds right now,” he said. “I’ve been through it all. I’ve struggled, and I’ve been persistent and the last few years I’ve been consistent. I feel like I’ve earned what I’ve got.”52

On Opening Day, Andersen finished off a victory over the Giants – the first of his major league career high 13 saves with a 2.30 ERA in 1991. Initially, the only thing bothering him seemed to the Padres’ ban on beer in the home clubhouse. “Having a beer after the game is just as much a part of it as wearing a hat out in the field,” he said. “It’s been that way for 110 years. And I do think it promotes camaraderie.”53 In the year that he turned 38, however, Andersen was limited to 38 appearances by a herniated disc at the base of his neck that rendered him chronically stiff, forced him to the disabled list twice, and had him contemplating surgery.54

Andersen made it to the mound even less frequently for the Padres in 1992 – a total of 35 innings over 34 appearances. He became a free agent again and agreed to an incentive-laden deal to return to the Phillies organization: $350,000 to sign, another $350,000 if he made the major league roster, and $375,000 if he appeared in at least 55 games.55 “Hopefully, I can have fun again,” he said. “Because I sure haven’t had any the last two years in San Diego.”56

As it happened, “by far the greatest thrill of my baseball career” was Andersen’s description of fitting in with the 1993 Phillies.57 “The whole team is insane, and there are some guys on this team who are more insane than I am. And that’s scary,” he told one reporter.58 Philadelphia seized the NL East lead for keeps during the first week of the season and won its first pennant in a decade as Andersen went 3-2 with a 2.92 ERA in 64 appearances as the club’s top right-handed reliever. “We loved to party but loved to play baseball even more,” Andersen recalled. “We were gruff, scrappy and played our ass off, both on and off the field. That is why this city loved us so much… I doubt there’ll ever be another team quite like that one.”59

In Philadelphia’s NLCS victory over the Braves, Andersen struck out Ron Gant and Jeff Blauser to save a 4-3, Game Five victory in Atlanta, but he was otherwise largely ineffective in the postseason as the Phillies fell to the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. Although GM Lee Thomas said, “Larry did the job we brought him here to do and we were pleased,” the team had no intention of offering the 40-year-old pitcher salary arbitration. Still, Andersen said, “What I’d like to do is come back to the Phillies and finish my career in Philadelphia.”60

Andersen returned to the Phillies in 1994 and went 1-2 with a 4.41 ERA in his final 29 major-league appearances. As he’d done for the last decade, he’d continued to pick a kid in the stands to play catch with during batting practice. “It was five minutes of my time, and I’m thinking the kid would rather play catch with Darren Daulton or Mitch Williams, or Lenny Dykstra, or John Kruk, but it wasn’t that they were having a catch with Larry Andersen, they were having a catch with a big-league player,” he said. “For the brief time I had my dad, it’s what he instilled in me. Treat people the way they want to be treated.”61 Andersen finished his 17-season career with 40-39 record, 3.15 ERA and 49 saves in 699 games, all but one out of the bullpen.

Andersen spent 1995 and 1996 as a coach for the Reading (Pennsylvania) Phillies in the Double-A Eastern League, and also relieved five times in the former season. After a promised interview for Philadelphia’s pitching coach position didn’t materialize, he considered an opportunity to broadcast Astros games, before ultimately agreeing to shepherd the pitchers with the Phillies’ Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons affiliate in 1997.62 After Richie Ashburn died suddenly that September, Andersen replaced the Hall of Famer as a Phillies color analyst the following year, teaming with Ford C. Frick Award winner Harry Kalas.

When Larry Bowa became the Phillies’ new manager following the 2000 season, he explored Andersen’s interest in becoming his pitching coach. They both laughed when Andersen replied, “Why would I leave the booth to come down on the field and just get fired with you in three years?”63 As it happened, Bowa lasted four while Andersen – after 24 seasons – is the Phillies longest-tenured announcer as of 2021. He called games on both television and radio initially, before moving exclusively to radio in 2007. Andersen is noted for his conversational style and keen wit, asking questions like, “Why do fans sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ when they’re already there?” and “What do you call a home run when the visiting team hits it?”64

In 2018, Andersen reduced his workload to call only Phillies’ home games. He underwent surgery for prostate cancer that December. As of 2021, he resides in Philadelphia with his wife Kristi, whom he married – attended by the Phillie Phanatic – in 2012. He is the father of three children – daughters Angela and Tania, and son Chase – from previous relationships.

“People put athletes on a pedestal. I always felt it was my job to step down and not allow anyone to make me better than anyone else,” Andersen said. “I’m just an average guy who was blessed with some talent that afforded me a chance to play this game that pays well and happens to give you a lot of recognition.”65

Last revised: January 20, 2022

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Keith Thursby and fact-checked by Kevin Larkin.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the notes, the author consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com and www.retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Don Patterson, “Providing Comedy, Relief,” Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1991: SDC1.

2 Neil Hohlfeld, “Andersen’s ERA No Joke,” The Sporting News, July 3, 1989: 15.

3 “Socrates, Plato and . . . Larry,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1988: 2.

4 Joseph Santoliquito, “For Phillies’ Larry Andersen, the Road to Radio Wasn’t Always Smooth,” Philly Voice, July 12, 2016, https://www.phillyvoice.com/phillies-larry-andersen-road-radio-wasnt-always-smooth/ (last accessed September 6, 2021).

5 Larry Andersen, Publicity Questionnaire for William J. Weiss, July 15, 1971.

6 Ray Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen,” November 28, 2001, https://www.astrosdaily.com/players/interviews/Andersen_Larry.html (last accessed September 6, 2021).

7 Santoliquito, “For Phillies’ Larry Andersen, the Road to Radio Wasn’t Always Smooth.”

8 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

9 Nancy Wilson of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Heart was one year behind Andersen at Interlake. Former MLB All-Star John Olerud graduated from the same school in 1986.

10 Andersen, Publicity Questionnaire for William J. Weiss.

11 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

12 Larry Shenk, “My Baseball Heaven,” July 29, 2020, https://philliesinsider.mlblogs.com/my-baseball-heaven-1ddd6633a092 (last accessed October 28, 2021).

13 John Bergener, “Flake Andersen Relieves Teammates and Juveniles,” The Sporting News, July 8, 1977: 35.

14 Larry Andersen, 1975 Oklahoma City 89ers baseball card.

15 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

16 Russell Schneider, “New Attitude Earned Indians Spurts for Andersen,” The Sporting News, August 20, 1977: 18.

17 Schneider, “New Attitude Earned Indians Spurts for Andersen.”

18 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

19 Bergener, “Flake Andersen Relieves Teammates and Juveniles,”

20 Schneider, “New Attitude Earned Indians Spurts for Andersen.”

21 Bergener, “Flake Andersen Relieves Teammates and Juveniles,”

22 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

23 “Pacific Coast League,” The Sporting News, May 5, 1979: 40.

24 Thomas E. Van Hyning, The Santurce Crabbers: Sixty Seasons of Puerto Rican Winter League Baseball, (McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina: 2015): 133.

25 Shenk, “My Baseball Heaven.”

26 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

27 Patterson, “Providing Comedy, Relief.”

28 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

29 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

30 Peter Pascarelli, “Phils Finally Find Caddie for Holland,” The Sporting News, August 6, 1984: 21.

31 Larry Andersen, 1983 Donruss baseball card.

32 Patterson, “Providing Comedy, Relief.”

33 Pascarelli, “Phils Finally Find Caddie for Holland.”

34 “Larry Andersen and Bo Wulf with Glen Macnow and Ray Didinger,” April 19, 2020, https://www.audacy.com/media/audio-channel/larry-andersen-and-bo-wulf-with-glen-macnow-and-ray-didinger-4-19-2020 (last accessed November 1, 2021).

35 “Larry Andersen and Bo Wulf with Glen Macnow and Ray Didinger.”

36 Pascarelli, “Phils Finally Find Caddie for Holland.”

37 Patterson, “Providing Comedy, Relief.”

38 “Phillies Broadcasters,” https://www.mlb.com/phillies/team/broadcasters (last accessed November 5, 2021).

39 Pascarelli, “Phils Finally Find Caddie for Holland.”

40 Bill Conlin, “Reliever Relieved: Phils Release Andersen,” Philadelphia Daily News, May 14, 1985: 83.

41 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

42 Patterson, “Providing Comedy, Relief.”

43 Lefty Juan Agosto pitched in 75 games for the 1988 Astros.

44 Neil Hohlfeld, “Astros Ride Pen to Peak,” The Sporting News, June 26, 1989: 16.

45 Stan Isle, “One for the Book,” The Sporting News, May 29, 1989: 7.

46 Hohlfeld, “Andersen’s ERA No Joke.”

47 Shenk, “My Baseball Heaven.”

48 Neil Hohlfeld, “Andersen ‘Ages Gracefully’,” The Sporting News, August 20, 1990: 11.

49 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

50 Patterson, “Providing Comedy, Relief.”

51 Barry Bloom, “Fly on the Wall,” The Sporting News, September 2, 1991: 19.

52 “Andersen Enjoys Best Christmas,” The Sporting News, January 7, 1991: 39.

53 Barry Bloom, “Fly on the Wall,” The Sporting News, May 6, 1991: 22.

54 Bloom, “Fly on the Wall,” (September 2, 1991).

55 Bill Brown, “Fly on the Wall,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1992: 38.

56 Bob Nightengale, “Fly on the Wall,” The Sporting News, January 4, 1993: 51.

57 Shenk, “My Baseball Heaven.”

58 Bill Glauber, “The Wild 1’s,” Baltimore Sun, June 3, 1993: 1D.

59 Shenk, “My Baseball Heaven.”

60 Bill Brown, “Bullpen Questions,” The Sporting News, November 1, 1993: 24.

61 Santoliquito, “For Phillies’ Larry Andersen, the Road to Radio Wasn’t Always Smooth.”

62 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

63 Kerby, “An Interview with Larry Andersen.”

64 Don Bostrom, “Phillies Name Larry Andersen as New Addition to Broadcasts,” Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), January 23, 1998, https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1998-01-23-3189464-story.html (last accessed November 6, 2021).

65 Bostrom, “Phillies Name Larry Andersen as New Addition to Broadcasts.”