Frank Messer

Wallace Frank Messer
Born	August 8, 1925 Asheville, North Carolina
Died	November 13, 2001 Deerfield Beach, Florida
Nationality	American
Occupation	Sportscaster

Wallace Frank Messer (August 8, 1925 – November 13, 2001) was an American sportscaster that was best known for his 18 seasons announcing New York Yankees baseball games, and as the recognizable emcee voice of various Yankee Stadium festivities during a three decade span.

An Asheville, North Carolina native, Messer was a member of the Marines during World War II in the South Pacific. After the war, he worked as a broadcaster in minor league baseball including the Richmond Virginians of the International League from 1954 to 1963. He got his major-league break when he joined the Baltimore Orioles and worked alongside their noted longtime voice, Chuck Thompson. In 1966, the year Bill O'Donnell also joined the broadcast crew, the O’s won their first world championship. Messer also called Baltimore Colts football during the 1960s including the 1964 NFL Championship Game with John Steadman.

Messer’s next major-league break came after the 1967 season, when Joe Garagiola left the Yankees broadcast crew to concentrate on the network jobs he also had at NBC Sports and NBC News. Messer took Garagiola’s place for 1968, working with ex-Yankees Jerry Coleman and Phil Rizzuto. The Yankees’ longtime public-relations director Bob Fishel had urged team management to approve a traditional play-by-play sportscaster, which the Yanks had not had since the firing of Red Barber after the 1966 season.

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