Al Helfer

Al Helfer
Helfer broadcasting the Mutual "Game of the Day" in the 1950s
Born	September 26, 1911 Elrama, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	May 16, 1975 (aged 63) Sacramento, California, United States
Known for	Sports broadcaster

George Alvin "Al" Helfer (September 26, 1911 – May 16, 1975) was an American radio sportscaster.

Nicknamed "Mr. Radio Baseball", Helfer worked seven World Series, ten All-Star Games, and regular season broadcasts for several teams (among them the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and Oakland Athletics) and the Mutual network. He also did the broadcast of the Army–Navy Game during the 1940s and 1950s, and several Rose Bowl games.

Helfer was born in Elrama, Pennsylvania. He played football and basketball at Washington & Jefferson College, and took his first job as a sports reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after graduation, also working the football games of the Pittsburgh Panthers team for radio station WWSW. He started working on broadcasting recreations of baseball games in 1933 for Pittsburgh Pirates games.

He joined Red Barber as the regular broadcast team of the Cincinnati Reds in 1935. He left Cincinnati to join CBS in 1937, working a few baseball games and a lot of football games. Helfer was reunited with Barber (who often addressed him on-air as "Brother Al") on the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcasts in 1939. They worked together until 1941, when Helfer joined the U.S. Navy during World War II.