On The Radio Ep. 7

Philadelphia...the city of brotherly love and a really good Phillies team. In fact, as we start the second half of the 2018 baseball season, the Phillies are in 1st place in the NL East! They surely will be a tough opponent for our San Diego Padres this weekend.

In the broadcast booth they have some seasoned professionals that remain very popular with the Phillies fans.

Scott Franzke, the radio voice of the Phillies, learned his first lesson about the fervor of the Philadelphia sports fan not from die-hard baseball junkies, but from the Eagles’ faithful. Back in 2004, the Dallas native was covering the Cowboys’ visit to the Linc for his hometown radio station, and as his bus pulled into the stadium, the crowd gathered outside made their feelings clear to Franzke and his fellow out-of-towners. “They gave us their best one-finger salutes,” the 39-year-old recalls with a laugh. “You realize right away that people here love sports. You know how much they care.”

From MLB: Scott made his Phillies debut in 2006, when he was named the pre- and post-game host for Phillies radio broadcasts and did radio play-by-play in the middle innings. In 2007, he took over as the main play-by-play commentator for Phillies radio broadcasts, working with Larry Andersen. The duo was honored at the Philadelphia A.I.R. (Achievement in Radio) Awards, winning for Best Live Sports Event Coverage in 2007 and 2008. In addition, this year they received the Bill Campbell Award for excellence in local broadcasting from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. In addition, Scott was the winner of the 2010 and 2015 Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the Year Award, given by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

A graduate of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in 1994 with a degree in broadcast journalism, Scott began his radio career as a talk show host with Prime Sports Radio, a national all-sports radio network based in Dallas. He worked for two seasons as the part-time pre- and post-game host for his hometown Texas Rangers (1997-98) before becoming the voice of the Kane County Cougars, a single-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins (1999-2001). In 2000, Scott covered the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia for Sporting News Radio. He spent four years (2002-05) in his second stint with the Rangers as the full-time studio host of the pre- and post-game shows and fill-in play-by-play announcer, winning the 2003 Katie Award for Best Radio Play-by-Play Sportscast from the Press Club of Dallas.

The 2018 season is Larry Andersen's 21st season in the booth serving as a color analyst for the Phillies' radio broadcasts.

Larry began his broadcast career with the Phillies in 1998. He had been offered a position on the Houston Astros' broadcast team in 1997 when Larry Dierker moved from the booth to become manager, but opted instead to become pitching coach for the Phillies' triple-A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In 2008 he and his partner Scott Franzke won for Best Live Sports Event Coverage at the Philadelphia A.I.R. (Achievement in Radio) Awards, the second straight year they won that category. This year the duo was honored with the Bill Campbell Award for excellence in local broadcasting by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.

A former relief pitcher who played 25 years of professional baseball, including 17 seasons in the major leagues with the Indians (1975-79), Mariners (1981-82), Phillies (1983-86; 93-94), Astros (1986-90), Red Sox (1990) and Padres (1991-92), Larry was 40-39 with 49 saves and a 3.15 ERA in 699 career games (1 start). In 1987, he pitched 101.2 innings, all in relief, and in 1989-90, he posted ERAs below 2.00 - 1.54 ERA in 1989 and 1.79 ERA in 1990.

Larry is famously known as being traded from the Astros to the Red Sox for Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell in August of 1990. He pitched in two World Series with the Phillies in 1983 and 1993 and in two League Championship Series, with Houston in 1986 and Boston in 1990. Larry holds the Phillies' club record for longest consecutive scoreless streak by a reliever (32.2 IP), set in 1984. It is also the third-longest among all Phillies pitchers, trailing Grover Alexander's 41.0 scoreless innings in 1911 and Cliff Lee's 34.0-inning streak in 2011.

After graduating from Interlake High School in Seattle, Wash., in 1971, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 7th round and made his major league debut with them in 1975. Following his playing career, Larry spent three seasons as a minor league pitching coach, first with double-A Reading (1995-96) and then Scranton (1997).

He has served as a guest instructor at Phillies spring training the past four years.