Barber, Red

Red Barber, byname of Walter Lanier Barber, (born Feb. 17, 1908, Columbus, Miss., U.S.—died Oct. 22, 1992, Tallahassee, Fla.), American baseball broadcaster, who was the homespun radio and television announcer for the Cincinnati Reds (1934–39), Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–53), and New York Yankees (1954–66) professional baseball teams.

Known for his integrity, Barber left the Dodgers after he was urged to make his commentary more supportive of the team, and he was fired by the Yankees after he reported that the last-place team had attracted a mere 413 fans for a September game. He combined technical expertise with intriguing between-play asides, and he delighted listeners with his folksy expressions and his signature exclamation, “Oh-ho Doctor!” He received the inaugural Ford C. Frick Award in 1978, which resulted in his enshrinement in the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Barber became a mainstay on National Public Radio with his Friday morning commentary from 1981. Barber wrote The Rhubarb Patch: The Story of the Modern Brooklyn Dodgers (1954), 1947, When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball (1982), and an autobiography, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat (1968).