Lanny Frattare

Veteran broadcaster Lanny Frattare was the “Voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates” for two generations of fans. He belongs to a special roster of long-serving Pirates on-air talent that includes Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince, and the team’s current play-by-play man, Greg Brown.1

Frattare served the Bucs from 1976 to 2008. He never called a World Series game, but his time at the mic included playoff series in 1979 and 1990-92, plus two no-hitters. It spanned eight managers and nine general managers while featuring five Bucco batting champions. His 33-year tenure in the position – with more than 5,000 games called (2,499–2,714)2 – are team records that remain unbroken. His enviable career was the result of a deeply rooted love of broadcasting as a vocation.

Lanny Lawrence Frattare was born on March 23, 1948, in Rochester, New York. Baseball had a central place in his life growing up as the middle child in a family that included his father, Albert (owner of an eight-alley bowling center); mother, Irene (née Bollinger); and two siblings, Ronald and Laurene.

As he grew up in Charlotte, the section of Rochester where he lived with his family, Frattare quickly became a dedicated fan of broadcasting itself, but not necessarily a deep fan of baseball.3 He did, however, learn from his father how to keep score accurately. During his brother’s baseball games he would do mock play-by-plays, integrating names of professional Yankees players to heighten the drama of his personal broadcast. Like most boys, he looked up to his father as a role model, even as he would joke about being maligned as the middle child with his older brother the King and his younger sister the Queen, at least in his parents’ eyes.4

Frattare’s interests in broadcasting and the sport of baseball would prove inextricably tied together  as he sat in the family home listening to Tom Decker, the voice of the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings from 1954 to 1961.5 He appreciated the cadence of play-by-play as well as Decker’s crisp delivery and melodic vocal range.6 Frattare’s early years also were shaped by the radio broadcasts of Yankees games he was able to pick up from Rochester.7 These early influences shaped Frattare’s ear for broadcasting and would serve him well as he embarked on a career with the longevity and impact that few of his peers in broadcasting would match.

At the age of 13, young Lanny first considered broadcasting as something he might want to do for the rest of his life. An eighth-grade school project to create a vocational booklet inspired in Frattare a deep commitment to pursuing the art of sports broadcasting and ultimately set him on a path to his own storied destiny.8

At the time Lanny was considering what college to enter in 1966, Syracuse University was known for having one of the best broadcast journalism programs in higher education. However, Frattare found himself drawn to the smaller, private, Ithaca College and its small-town quaintness.9 During his college career at Ithaca, Frattare got his first official paying gig as an announcer at a local topless go-go joint called the Pussycat Lounge, where he worked during the summer of 1967 after being hired by Don Friedman. By contemporary college student standards, the pay was good. Frattare provided robust commentary for three shows a night and received $35 for those efforts.

Emceeing at the Pussycat Lounge proved a wise career move; it put Frattare in contact with a number of local disc jockeys, which led to his first job in radio. By the time Frattare graduated from Ithaca in 1970, he had more than two years of professional broadcasting experience on his resume.10

After college, while working at WBBF radio, Frattare served for some time as the public address announcer for the Red Wings, his hometown team, during the 1972 and 1973 seasons. Oddly enough, he did not ever provide play-by-play commentary for the Red Wings. His first chance to work as a play-by-play broadcaster would come in short order, when the Wings’ general manager, Carl Steinfeldt, took a job with the Charleston (West Virginia) Charlies, then the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Steinfeldt brought Frattare along as a broadcaster for the team, a position he enjoyed during the 1974 and 1975 seasons.11

In the fall of 1974, Frattare was invited by Bill Guilfoile, the Pirates’ public relations director, to visit him in Pittsburgh and be introduced to the big club’s broadcasting team of Bob “The Gunner” Prince and Nellie King.12 It was then, during a visit to the Pirates’ broadcasting booth, that Frattare was invited to put down his scorecard and provide play-by-play for the third inning. This was a significant breakthrough for the 26-year-old – it was the first time his voice was heard over the airwaves by Pittsburgh fans. Frattare was invited back to participate with the broadcasting crew the following autumn.

At the time, Frattare enjoyed the opportunity for more experience on the third balcony at Three Rivers Stadium. He was unaware that both Prince and King would soon be fired at the end of that season. The removal of Prince and King from their positions opened the possibility of Frattare working for the Pirates as a full-time broadcaster.13 Hedging his bets, Frattare sent demo tapes of his broadcasts to other teams as well at the conclusion of the 1975 baseball season. His tapes and experience were clearly impressive – he was chosen as a finalist for a broadcasting position with the Atlanta Braves. Mike Lange, a longtime broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Penguins, was also a finalist for the Pirates broadcasting job.14 But as fate would have it, KDKA radio and the Pirates selected Frattare and Milo Hamilton in 1975 to be their on-air talent, filling the big shoes left behind by Prince and King.15 

Thus, in the spring of 1976 Frattare joined the Bucs’ broadcast team on KDKA as a sportscaster with top billing. The station was home to the Bucs’ radio sportscast since the days of Rosey Rowswell in the 1930s.16 The Pirates’ organization welcomed Frattare onboard, but he struggled initially to get the same warm welcome from Pirates fans. As he would admit, “99% of the fans know more about the Pirates’ history than I do.” Still, Frattare would settle in over time to become one of the longest-tenured broadcasters in baseball history and the longest ever to serve the Pirates.17

A part of Frattare’s transformation to a Pirates mainstay was his development of signature catch-phrases, the touchstone of every bona fide broadcaster. Bob Prince had his with “We had them all the way,” which he pronounced with conviction at the end of every Pirates victory.18 Frattare would develop the victory call, “There was noooo doubt about it!” It was intended to be Frattare’s own distinct call-sign, but it also paid quiet homage to his predecessor. In addition, Frattare adopted the phrase, “Go ball, get outta here!” sometimes when a Bucco went deep with a home run.19

Early in his career, Frattare benefited from the gracious support of Prince. Prince encouraged Frattare to get out in the community and meet Pirates fans face-to-face. Frattare took this advice and spent most of his offseasons visiting fans across the greater Pittsburgh area.20

In addition to visiting fans and helping them put a face to a name, Frattare spent the baseball offseason broadcasting other sports, and for other radio and television stations. One notable incident came on February 23, 1985, when Frattare was on the Big 10 Network with Bill Hosket calling a basketball game between intrastate rivals, the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers. Indiana coach – and nightmare of anger management therapists everywhere – Bobby Knight infamously threw a chair across the Branch McCracken Court after being called for a technical foul. It became an indelible cultural moment in NCAA basketball history.21

During Frattare’s 33-year career, the Pirates made it to the World Series only once, in 1979. Frattare called the National League Championship series, but Major League Baseball rules determined the broadcasters for the World Series independent of hometown talent. As a result, Frattare would not get to call a single game during the “We Are Family” world championship. Later changes in the World Series broadcasting rules meant that Frattare was only one out away from being one of the voices of the fall classic in 1992, when the Braves bested them to win the pennant.

At the time of the 1992 NLCS, the Pirates were led by manager Jim Leyland, who had held the position since 1986.22 Leyland would prove to be a very successful manager, an eventual Hall of Fame inductee, and an enduring friend to Frattare. The two got to know each other well on and off the road. They took time to golf during road trips and engaged in postgame chats in the skipper’s hotel room.

After games, Leyland’s routine involved calling all the coaches to discuss the game, performance of the players, and even possible transactions. That Leyland included Frattare in many of these conversations put the broadcaster in a somewhat delicate situation. He had a deeper understanding of most of Leyland’s strategies and methodologies. As both a friend and colleague, Frattare was careful not to divulge facts from their private conversations in the public sphere without previously receiving permission. Their friendship was premised on a deep mutual respect, so much so that Frattare was asked to be the godfather to Leyland’s son.23

As Frattare matured in his role as a play-by-play commentator, he would develop his strategies and methodologies related to his work. In this pre-internet era, Frattare kept a journal for each team. These journals were a trove of useful information about the teams and their players that Frattare could deploy easily during a broadcast. Also, at the start of every series, Frattare would try to visit the other team’s booth to chat with their broadcasters, share notes, discuss updates, exchange tips on difficult name pronunciations, and acquire any other useful facts. Much of Frattare’s time between games was devoted to the careful study of team and player notes. He found preparing for games on the road much easier to do than when he was at home, where he had the greater challenge of balancing work and family demands. On the road, he could immerse himself in facts and statistics; Frattare largely credits this firm foundation of knowledge for his success as a play-by-play broadcaster.24

Frattare developed his own method for cataloguing scores and other in-game actions taken by players, managers, and coaches. He was inspired by watching Vin Scully conduct the play-by-play for the Dodgers during a game in Pittsburgh. During a mid-game break, Scully asked an assistant to bring him pre-prepared notes that he could reference during the broadcast. Frattare began to gather his own collection of facts and arrange them on index cards according to subject: players, coaches, events, occurrences, grand slams, special home runs, no-hitters, etc. He even noted in his cards when a skunk crossed the field during play. As Frattare stated, “Baseball people like to fudge facts.” His careful methodology was designed to make sure he would not be criticized similarly; “this is the way I could make sure that I had the correct information in hand.”25

Frattare’s index card library would become such a significant part of his broadcasting repertoire that he even had a special suitcase designed to hold his preferred 4×6-inch cards. As he remembered, “I [would] set it up in the booth during the series and then pack it up and would take it to the equipment manager to have it shipped with the team gear to the next city.” Frattare’s traveling library also included media guides and his journals. With all this information at hand, Frattare was able to pepper his commentary with notable facts and figures. Of course, in the modern world of broadcasting, careful preparation cannot be replaced – yet index cards or journals now can be assisted with information easily available online at the click of a mouse.

Even within such a long and storied career, Frattare recalled some deeply memorable moments. Greatest call ever? Always a perfectionist, Frattare worked through his calls with clarity and concision. This attentiveness is clear in what he considered his premier call. As he explained in an interview with Waynesburg’s WCTV, he was particularly proud of how he ended the July 12, 1997, 10-inning no-hitter by Francisco Córdova and Ricardo Rincón. The Pirates eventually won the game on a Mark Smith homer, with Frattare exclaiming, “No-hitter, home run, you got it all!”26 (Previously, in his first season, he’d called John Candelaria’s no-no on August 9, 1976 – the club’s first at home in almost seven decades. Of note, the Pirates were not victims of a no-hitter between Bob Gibson’s on August 14, 1971, and Homer Bailey’s on September 28, 2012.)

The Pirates moved into PNC Park in 2001, but Frattare preferred Three Rivers Stadium as a broadcaster because the booth was ideally located to call the action. The broadcast booth at PNC Park was too high, making it difficult to judge fly balls. His favorite ballpark, at least while on the road, was Dodger Stadium. Before a game with the Dodgers, he developed a habit of arriving early just to enjoy the scenery. He also found it a particularly easy place to work: “Dodger Stadium was enjoyable to work in thanks to the staff at the ballpark. Everyone was always supportive and helpful. Access to the clubhouse was easy, and the placement of the press box was in a great location to work.”27

Lanny Frattare announced his retirement from the Pirates on October 1, 2008. He originally stated that the decision came to him during the final road trip of his last season with the Pirates. Years later Frattare revealed that he was, in fact, asked to retire by the President of the Pirates, Frank Coonelly. Frattare expressed regret at agreeing to a press release from the Pirates organization that stated he was choosing to retire on his own, instead of being pushed out by team management.28

Agreeing to a press release that glossed over the truth is one regret among a few that Frattare has in a career of such storied longevity. He has admitted publicly to being an alcoholic, although he was never intoxicated on the air and never drank in the broadcasting booth. Still, Frattare regrets that alcohol affected his ability to be “the person he wanted to be.” Ultimately, he feels that it may be his alcoholism that has prevented him from winning the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award, the preeminent lifetime achievement recognition for sports broadcasters.29

Frattare might underestimate the esteem in which he remains held by his broadcasting peers. In 2008, he was nominated as a finalist for the Frick Award, although that year the award was given to Dave Niehaus, broadcaster of over 4,800 games for the Seattle Mariners.30 Still, Frattare hopes one day to receive this honor.As he expressed in an interview to John Perrotto: “My dream was always to be elected to the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.”

Nonetheless, even without achieving this recognition – at least yet – Frattare remains a much-loved part of Pirates broadcasting history. Like those before him, such as Rowswell and Prince, Bucco broadcasters are few and far between because of their lengthy, generation-spanning careers.31

Frattare continues to be recognized for his work with the Pirates. In November 2018, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Pittsburgh Rotary Club. The award was presented to the broadcaster during the Chuck Tanner Awards Banquet at the River Club in One Oxford Centre, in downtown Pittsburgh.32 Subsequently, on July 20, 2019, as the Pirates celebrated the 40th anniversary of their last World Series championship, Frattare joined in the celebration on the field and in the broadcasting booth.33

Frattare is now largely a happy homebody – since leaving the Pirates he has traveled by plane only a handful of times – spending time with his family. He has been married twice and has two children (David and Megan) and three grandchildren (Spencer, Carly, and Gus) from his first marriage.34

Yet Frattare’s love for broadcasting and his announcing career continue. Since 2009, he has been an Assistant Professor of Communication at Waynesburg University, where he teaches a new generation the ins and outs of sports announcing and professional broadcast communication.35 Frattare was an inspiration on the microphone to Pittsburgh baseball fans and, as a professor, he encourages his students also to be the best they can be. His main message to Waynesburg students is that they “do something impactful, do something that is going to make a difference,” in their careers and in their lives.36

Growing up and breaking into broadcasting, Frattare was amazed by how many people working in the business were willing to talk to him about their careers, often the result of his cold-calling radio and television stations asking to speak with their on-air talent. He was equally surprised by the number of broadcasters who encouraged him not to get into the business.37 Frattare himself strikes a balance with his own students. His love of broadcasting leads him to support his students’ own dreams of a future in the profession, but he does not shy away from explaining the challenges of the job and the need for a strong work ethic. As a professor teaching college students, he is most proud of helping each student learn and grow within the profession.38

An avid golf enthusiast, Frattare has served as the honorary chairman of an annual charitable event named in his honor – the Familylinks Lanny Frattare Golf Tournament – that takes place at the Chartiers Country Club.39 Since its inception, the tourney has raised over $4 million for his favorite charity, Familylinks, an organization aimed at helping southwestern Pennsylvanians bring vital support services to the most vulnerable members of the community through integrated community, behavioral, and social programs.40 For hobby enthusiasts, handwritten scorecards from over 5,000 games that Frattare voiced as a big-league broadcaster from 1976 through 2008 are available for sale on lannycards.com. A portion of the proceeds is donated to Familylinks. 41

Aged 76 as of 2024, Frattare has yet to give up the mic. He has kept his skills sharp by announcing games for West Virginia University on ESPN+, the Pony League World Series, and various high school sports teams across western Pennsylvania.

Frattare once commented on his passion for broadcasting: “There is no better position in sports than announcing. I cannot truly enjoy a sporting event unless I am announcing the game.”42

Last revised: April 29, 2025

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Lanny Frattare for his input.

Thanks also to Omar Siddiqi for his preliminary edit.

This biography was reviewed for SABR by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and fact-checked by Don Zminda.

Photo credit: Lanny Frattare, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Notes

1 Rob Biertempfel, “No doubt about it: Lanny Frattare retires,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 2, 2008.

2 Curt Smith, “Frattare, A Pirate Treasure, Retires,” https://curtsmith.mlblogs.com/frattare-a-pirates-treasure-retires-68af904a36bf, October 18, 2008, accessed February 25, 2024.

3 Coincidentally, Pete Van Wieren, longtime broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves, also was from Charlotte, New York. His tenure at the Braves almost exactly matches Frattare’s at the Pirates for its longevity, at 33 years.

4 Personal interview between Gary Packan and Lanny Frattare, November 12, 2023 (hereafter Packan-Frattare interview).

5 Rochester Red Wings Hall of Fame website, https://www.milb.com/rochester/team/rochester-red-wings-hall-of-fame. Bill Koenig, “Lanny Sold Himself to Bucs,” Rochester Times-Union, February 5, 1976.

6 Bill Pucko, “The Life of Lanny,” Daily Messenger, October 20, 2008. “Pete Van Wieren, Atlanta Braves Broadcaster, Dies at 69, New York Times, August 7, 2014.

7 Packan-Frattare interview.

8 Pucko, “The Life of Lanny.”

9 DingoTalk 104, Lanny Frattare Waynesburg University Professor Former Voice of Pittsburgh Pirates, February 24, 2022,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_AAE4V_Qiw

10 Allen Levine. “The Talking Machine Show,” Bethel Park TV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gesKuiizvDY

11 DingoTalk 104.

12 DingoTalk 104.

13 Levine, “The Talking Machine Show.”

14 Packan-Frattare interview.

15 Koenig, “Lanny Sold Himself to Bucs,”

16 https://www.audacy.com/937thefan/sports/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-first-full-time-announcer-nominated-for-frick-award

17 DingoTalk 104.

18 Pucko, “The Life of Lanny.”

19 Biertempfel, “No doubt about it: Lanny Frattare retires.”

20 Chuck Greenwood, “Voice of Pirates is living his dream, Around the Horn,” Sports Collectors Digest, July 9, 1999: 50-51.

21 David Jones, “Bob Knight tossed chair and got tossed from Indiana-Purdue game 30 years ago tonight,” Penn Live – Patriot News, February 24, 2025

22 Pittsburgh was Leyland’s first managerial position, after he left his position coaching the Chicago White Sox. See David Bilmes, “Jim Leyland,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jim-leyland/, accessed February 23, 2024.

23 Personal Interview between Gary Packan and Lanny Frattare, November 12, 2023.

24 Packan-Frattare interview.

25 Packan-Frattare interview.

26 Lanny Frattare Interview, Mitch Montani, WCTV Waynesburg University, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw4EtPozljo, accessed February 25, 2024.

27 Packan-Frattare interview.

28 DingoTalk 104.

29 DingoTalk 104.

30 “2008 Ford C. Frick Award Winner Dave Niehaus,” https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/awards/frick/dave-niehaus, accessed February 25, 2024.

31 John Perrotto, “Frattare too busy to miss Pirates’ booth,” DK Pittsburgh Sports, November 13, 2018, https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2018/11/13/lanny-frattare-pirates-booth, accessed February 25, 2024.

32 Perrotto, “Frattare too busy to miss Pirates’ booth.”

33 “Lanny Frattare tells tales of the 1979 Season,” Pittsburgh Post Gazette, July 20, 2019 – https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/07/20/Pirates-broadcaster-Lanny-Frattare-tales-of-79-season/stories/201907200071, accessed February 25, 2024.

34 Packan-Frattare interview.

35 Lanny Frattare, Faculty Staff and Directory, Waynesburg University, https://www.waynesburg.edu/our-story/faculty-staff-directory/lanny-frattare, accessed February 25, 2024.

36 Jeremiah Miller, “Ed DiOrio produces and premieres Lanny Frattare documentary, ‘No Doubt,’” The Yellow Jacket, November 26, 2020, http://theyellowjacket.org/ed-diorio-produces-and-premieres-lanny-frattare-documentary-no-doubt/, accessed February 25, 2024.

37 Noah Miller, “Memory  Lane: A talk with Lanny Frattare,” DK Sports Radio, November 6, 2020, https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2020/10/23/pirates-memory-lane-lanny-frattare-bob-prince-1979-steve-blass-world-series-waynesburg-university-bob-knight-mlb-dkps-nah, accessed February 25, 2024.

38 Miller, “Memory  Lane: A talk with Lanny Frattare.”

39 Levine, “ The Talking Machine Show

40 “Upcoming Events,” https://www.familylinks.org/get-involved/events, accessed February 25, 2024.

41 Lanny Frattare Scorecards, lannycards.com, accessed February 25, 2024.

42 Packan-Frattare interview.