When the Tampa Bay Rays begin next season, they will be without a few of the players who helped make the memorable run to the World Series. It’s inevitable. Retirements, free-agency scenarios, salary considerations, trades. But the core group will be back, and pre-season expectations will certainly be at an all-time high.
One missing element, however, will be impossible to replace: stylish broadcaster Joe Magrane. The 44-year-old former major leaguer had been the analyst-partner of play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats for all 11 Rays’ seasons. They had become the best in the business: always informative and often more entertaining than the games they were chronicling. Magrane will be joining the new MLB Network, which goes on the air Jan. 1.
Magrane is a unique talent. He was an All-American pitcher at the University of Arizona, the “Harvard of the West,” as he often terms it. He was a first-round draft choice of the St. Louis Cardinals and finished third in balloting for the National League’s “Rookie of the Year” award in 1987. The next year he led the NL in Earned Run Average (2.18). In 1988 he won 18 games and finished fourth in the NL’s MVP voting. A series of arm ailments and elbow surgeries ended his career prematurely.
As a broadcaster, he’s not just a jock who’s not microphone-challenged.
His insider’s knowledge translated well into insight that was invaluable to the viewer. He wasn’t just funny – but downright witty. He could “carry a game,” as they say about elite broadcasters. In Magrane’s case, that could range from groan-inducing puns to colorful, back-in-the-day tales to a dead-on impersonation of the late, iconic broadcaster Harry Caray.
And although he worked for the Rays, he was no “homer.” He didn’t shy away from criticism when it was called for. Through those first 10 seasons, it was often called for – and he delivered. But it never got personal – although he was tested by Delmon Young and B.J. Upton.
Off camera, he is as anecdote-rich and dry-witted as he is in the booth.
He had, for example, no time for players who had disgraced themselves and defiled the game he loves through performance-enhancement drugs. Typically he used humor to underscore his point. “Steroids in baseball,” quipped Magrane. “That’s like putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.”
I still remember a classic he dropped into an interview. We were on the subject of celebrity pretensions.
“I was having dinner the other night with Bono,” deadpanned Magrane, “and he said, ‘Joe, nobody likes a name-dropper.’”
He’ll be missed.