For five decades, his excited vocal cadence was synonymous with San Francisco Giants baseball. A legend among Northern California sports fans, Lon Simmons came to the freshly transplanted Giants in 1958 when he joined Russ Hodges in the broadcast booth during the team’s first season away from New York. Simmons was the only Giants broadcaster to call opening day games at all three San Francisco diamonds—Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park and AT&T Park.

“Best known for his booming baritone voice, encyclopedic sports knowledge, flair for the dramatic and

self-deprecating sense of humor, Lon Simmons was the link between generations of Bay Area sports fans and their hometown teams,” the Giants organization said in a team statement announcing the National Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster’s death, April 5, at 91.

“Like many fans, my earliest Giants memories were listening to Lon and Russ on my transistor radio,” said Giants President and CEO Larry Baer. “Hearing his broadcasts ignited my and thousands of others’ passion for Giants baseball.”

Simmons gave his trademark call of “tell it goodbye!” to hundreds of home runs throughout his career and once said that his biggest over-the-wall thrill was calling No. 600 for Willie Mays in 1969. Broadcasting the pennant-winning 1962 Giants team topped his list of most exciting baseball seasons.

Simmons had dreams of becoming a big league pitcher during his childhood in Burbank. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies after discharge from the Coast Guard but was fated to play just one minor league game. The novice right-hander injured his back and that was the end of his adventure on the mound.

Simmons first worked in radio in 1952, announcing news updates and spinning records for a station in Elko, Nev. He’d later work as a DJ for small California stations in Marysville and Yuba City, where he also volunteered to announce high school play-by-play for local teams. He moved on to KMJ in Fresno—his first full-time sports job before joining San Francisco’s KSFO as sports director in 1957. When the Giants arrived in 1958, he teamed with established New York Giants announcer Russ Hodges in the booth.

Simmons and Hodges clicked together for 13 years—and the broadcast booth at AT&T Park is named in honor of the two Hall of Famers. Simmons worked the Giants games in three patches—1958-73, 1976-78 and part time 1996-2002.

“Russ and I had a very special relationship,” Simmons said in “The Original San Francisco Giants,” an oral history by Steve Bitker. “(Hodges) was so thoughtful and giving that he had no jealousies or fears. He wasn’t worried about what anybody else might do to take his job so, consequently … he didn’t hold back a thing.”

Simmons retired temporarily in 1973 and then returned to the Giants in 1976 for three more years. He then moved to Oakland, where he teamed with Bill King and Ray Fosse to broadcast A’s games from 1981-95. He returned to the Giants booth again in 1996, working part time, until he retired in 2002. Simmons was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 as the Ford C. Frick award winner as a broadcaster to make “major contributions to baseball.”

He later became a personal appearance community ambassador for the Giants, visiting AT&T Park during selected home stands and Scottsdale for spring training.

Simmons was also the voice of the San Francisco 49ers for 26 seasons: 1957-80 and 1987-88. He was at the mic for Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall’s infamous wrong-way blooper in 1964. Here’s his call, never missing a beat:

“Kilmer driving for the first down, loses the football … It is picked up by Jim Marshall who is running the wrong way! Marshall is running the wrong way! And he’s running it into the end zone the wrong way, thinks he has scored a touchdown! He has scored a safety! His teammates were running along the far side of the field, trying to tell him go back!”

Though most familiar broadcasting the Giants, Simmons spent 15 seasons in the A’s booth from 1981-95. An A’s team statement said: “His humility and humor made him one of the most beloved figures in franchise history. Lon was an incredible broadcaster, but his personality and wit set him apart.”

When Simmons retired from broadcasting in 2002, he deadpanned:

“To the people who have voiced the opinion that they enjoyed my work, I can only say, ‘Thank you.’ It’s always pleasant to hear that they grew up enjoying listening to me,” Simmons said. “To those that hated me—and believe me, there are a lot of them—I want to apologize for sticking around so long.”

— by the Northern California Media Museum staff