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Opening Day 1934 was a momentous affair for Red Barber. It was the first big league game he ever attended. He also called the play-by-play as announcer for the Cincinnati Reds.

Hired by Reds president and Hall of Fame executive Larry MacPhail, the redhead stayed with the Reds for five seasons. When MacPhail left Cincinnati for Brooklyn he hired Barber a few months later. The announcer remained with the Dodgers for the next 15 seasons.

In his initial year with the Dodgers in 1939 Barber called baseball’s first televised game. During his stay in Brooklyn he described the action as Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and was the #1 man in the booth for five pennant-winning clubs. Barber also served as mentor to Vin Scully for the first four years of Scully’s Dodger career.

In 1953 Gillette sponsored the World Series and chose Barber to call the game along with Yankees announcer Mel Allen. Barber and Gillette squabbled over the contract details. When Dodger owner Walter O’Malley refused to step in on Barber’s behalf the announcer bowed out and was replaced by Scully.

Upset by O’Malley’s treatment, Barber left the Dodgers at season’s end.

The crosstown Yankees quickly hired Barber. He remained with in the Bronx booth until the end of the 1966 season. All totaled he spent 5 years with the Reds, 15 with the Dodgers, and 13 with the Yankees.

In 1973 Barber was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame. Five years later he and former booth mate Mel Allen became the first broadcasters to receive the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award. In 1995 he was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

In the collection is this letter handwritten and signed by the legendary announcer. Notice his personal letterhead and Barber’s trademark red ink.

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After Red Barber left the Brooklyn Dodgers at the end of 1953, the Yankees scooped him up. In New York he teamed with Mel Allen in the broadcast booth.

Allen dictated the on-air schedule but accepted Barber as his equal. Barber was refined and eloquent; Allen was gregarious and boisterous.

The two titan announcers remained together until the Yankees fired Allen in 1964. In 1978 the New York pair together received the Ford C. Frick Award – the first announcers to be so honored.

In the collection is this correspondence dated January 30, 1962 on Yankee letterhead signed by Allen.