David Van Horne (born August 25, 1939) is a retired

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

announcer. Van Horne had been the lead

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for the

Miami Marlins Radio Network The Miami Marlins Radio Network is a network of 8 radio stations in Florida that broadcast Major League Baseball games of the Miami Marlins for the 2022 Major League Baseball season, 2022 season. 7 stations broadcast games in English, while another ...

since 2001; prior to that, he spent 32 years of his broadcasting career with the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in ...

, 14 of those years partnered with

Duke Snider Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider (September 19, 1926 – February 27, 2011), nicknamed "the Silver Fox" and "the Duke of Flatbush", was an American professional baseball player. Primarily a center fielder, he spent most of his Major League Baseball (M ...

Early career

Van Horne attended and graduated from

Wilson Area High School Wilson Area High School is a four-year public high school located in Easton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Wilson Area School District. The high school supports the residen ...

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...

in 1957. Van Horne entered the drama department at the

Richmond Professional Institute The Richmond Professional Institute (RPI) was an educational institution established in 1917 which merged with the Medical College of Virginia to form Virginia Commonwealth University. RPI was located on what is now known as the Monroe Park Campus ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. While at the school he began hosting a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

program at a local radio station, which led to his dropping out of school and starting a full-time broadcasting career in Roanoke, where he began calling high school football and basketball. This led in turn to Van Horne calling baseball for the

Richmond Braves The Richmond Braves were an American minor league baseball club based in Richmond, Virginia, the Triple-A International League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves from 1966 to 2008. Owned by the parent Atlanta club and colloquially referred to as the ...

, the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

affiliate of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in ...

, beginning in 1966. He was hired by the

for their inaugural season in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

Montreal Expos (1969–2000)

Van Horne is well known for his "El Presidente, El Perfecto!" call, made when

pitcher

Dennis Martínez José Dennis Martínez Ortiz (born May 14, 1955), nicknamed "El Presidente" (The President), is a Nicaraguan professional baseball pitcher. Martínez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos, Cleveland India ...

completed his perfect game against the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

on July 28, 1991. With the Expos, his sign-in phrase "Thanks Duke and hi again, everybody. Glad to have you aboard for today's game...", and home run call "up, up and away" projected his enthusiasm and excitement. In 2000, as the Expos had not secured an English radio or television contract, Van Horne broadcast the season over the Internet. With the Expos broadcast situation still unsettled for the 2001 season, Van Horne left at the end of 2000 to broadcast for the Marlins.

Florida/Miami Marlins (2001–2021)

Beginning in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, Van Horne broadcast games for the Marlins. During his time in Florida, he called the

2003 World Series The 2003 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 season. The 99th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Florida Marlins and the American Lea ...

championship. Van Horne broadcast the last Expos home game in Montreal from the Marlins' broadcast booth on September 29, 2004—a 9–1 win for Florida. After the game was over, Van Horne joined the Expos television crew for a special post-game show. In January 2022, Van Horne officially announced his retirement from broadcasting.

Awards and honors

Van Horne was named the 1996 recipient of the Jack Graney Award by the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (french: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada. H ...

for "A lifetime of media achievement". He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on June 21, 2014, along with former Montreal Expos general manager

Murray Cook Murray James Cook, AM (born 30 June 1960) is an Australian musician, actor, and Disc jockey. Cook was one of the founding members of the children's band the Wiggles from 1991 to 2012. Cook provided guitar, vocals, and songwriting in the group ...

and third baseman

Tim Wallach Timothy Charles Wallach (born September 14, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played seventeen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman, most notably for the Montreal Expos from to . A five- ...

. Van Horne is the 2011 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award from the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

. He received the award on July 23, 2011 in

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the ...

References

External links

Dave Van Horne
Ford C. Frick Award biography at the National Baseball Hall of Fame

on the final Expos home series {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Horne, Dave 1939 births Living people American expatriate baseball people in Canada American radio sports announcers Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Ford C. Frick Award recipients Major League Baseball broadcasters Miami Marlins announcers Minor League Baseball broadcasters Montreal Expos announcers People from Easton, Pennsylvania Virginia Commonwealth University alumni Wilson Area High School alumni