New York Yankees: Who Remembers Mel Allen?

Who Remembers Mel Allen “The Voice” Of The New York Yankees?

Mel Allen, who was born in 1913 as Melvin Israel, had a career in broadcasting that spanned a remarkable seven decades. In many respects, he was to the New York Yankees what Vin Scully is now to the Los Angeles Dodgers. As the “Voice” of the Yankees, he presided over 21 pennants and 16 World Championships. He was responsible for tagging Joe DiMaggio “Joltin Joe” and Phil Rizzutto with the nickname “Scooter”. “How about that,“ his signature became synonymous with a Yankee broadcast.

With that easy Alabama drawl, he cultivated a voice that resonated with baseball. More vibrant and loud than someone like Scully, I suppose he fit the personality of the Big Apple in much the same way that Scully blends in with laid-back Los Angeles. Nevertheless, when you tuned into one of his broadcasts, you were in store for your own laid-back version of a Sunday afternoon and baseball.

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His career culminated with an induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame when he was given the honor of the just established Ford Frick Award for writers and sportscasters in 1978. Fittingly, he was inducted along with his one-time associate in the booth, Red Barber.

Having grown up in Upstate New York and well within the reach of WPIX-TV, the station that aired Yankee games at the time, this was pretty much all I knew about Allen at the time. But, in doing research for this piece I discovered a host of complexities about this man that not only humanized him but made him even more compelling.

Let’s begin here.

Unlike today, in those days broadcasters were often also pitchmen for the sponsors. Between innings, there was seldom a cut to commercial. Instead, the broadcaster would actually deliver the commercial. Allen carved a niche for himself as a supreme pitchman for two brands popular at the time – Ballantine Beer and White Owl Cigars. It even became part of his “schtick” if you will. In fact, in those days you could actually drink beer live during a commercial spot. Allen often did and by the sixth inning, you can guess the rest.

As successful as he was as the front man for these sponsors (especially Ballantine), havoc would be wreaked upon his career in both a business and personal manner that ultimately led to a turning point in his life.

Because in 1964, according to the Washington Times, Dan Topping then-President of the Yankees, called Allen into his office for, what he thought, was to be his annual contract renewal. Instead, Topping informed him that it was time for that proverbial necessary change in the corporate way of doing things. Needless to say, Allen was stunned.

It was a different media then and investigative journalism was relegated mainly to a few. There was a loud cry that wondered why nobody asked the hard questions. Was it about money because he was getting “up there” and had been for some time as broadcasters go, or was it something else?

Even his colleagues and close friends attested to the fact that something was off about him during his telecasts in the final year or so. On occasion, he appeared to be out of it as though on some type of medication that caused lulls and out-of-sequence stories. The speculation continued.

Writing for MLBblogs, Curt Smith suggested that it was the rumor mill that did Allen in. The media didn’t know so they speculated instead of digging for facts. He was a drunk. He was gay, a brazen claim. Although given the time frame, it might have been expected since Allen was never married despite several public pleas from his mother to find a nice Jewish girl.

It never happened and Allen suffered the brunt of the criticism. More than likely, he was simply a “Momma’s Boy,” who simply just never happened to get married. More than likely, the reason for the firing was tied to the fact that Ballantine Beer was a dying brand that was unable to meet the ever-expanding level of competition.

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As all pitchmen come to realize, you are only as good as the product you are hawking. Fred Ballantine never came up with an answer to meet the rising tide of the Budweiser’s and the Coor’s of the beer world.

It hurt Allen a lot. Again, it was as if the Dodgers were to dump Vin Scully today. The natural question would have to be, “Huh?” Allen did manage to turn a brief spin with the Cleveland Indians as a broadcaster of their games and then resurrected his career as the “Voice” of This Week In Baseball that emerged as a successful syndicated show that he provided the voiceover for back then. Nothing could replace what had come before the latest opportunity.

Never to be lost is the voice that perfectly resonated as the “Voice Of The New York Yankees.”