Joseph David Magrane (born July 2, 1964) is an American former

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 (AL), ...

(MLB)

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, California Angels, and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

between 1987 and 1996, and is currently a

color commentary A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

broadcaster for the

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox C ...

Playing career

Amateur

In 1984, Magrane played collegiate summer baseball for the

Harwich Mariners The Harwich Mariners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Harwich, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Mariners play their home games at Whitehouse Fiel ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). He led the league in wins and threw six complete games. Magrane was the winning pitcher at the league's 1984 all-star game at Philadelphia's

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for foo ...

, where he pitched two shutout innings. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2009.

Professional

During his rookie season he helped the Cardinals win the 1987

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

pennant, starting Game 1 and Game 7 (the first pitcher to do so with no starts between those two games), taking the loss in Game 1. He also led the National League in hit batsmen, with 10. He led the National League in ERA (2.18) in 1988, despite winning only five games (losing nine). He holds the distinction of the fewest wins by an ERA leader, excluding strike seasons. He finished 4th in voting for the 1989 NL Cy Young with an 18-9 win–loss record, a 2.91 ERA and surrendered only 5 home runs in 234 innings. An injured elbow in 1990 cost him almost all of the next two seasons and most of his effectiveness, and he never regained his early form. He won 11 games between the St. Louis and California ball clubs in 1993, but could not muster more than 2 wins or 74 innings pitched in any other season until his retirement in 1996 at the relatively early age of 32.

Broadcasting career

Prior to joining the

, Magrane was teamed with

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

Dewayne Staats Dewayne Staats (born August 8, 1952) is a sports broadcaster who has been the television play-by-play commentator for the Tampa Bay Rays since their inception in 1998. He is currently teamed with color commentator Brian Anderson. Staats has ...

from 1998 to 2008 as part of the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

television team, and also served as an analyst for NBC Sports' coverage of baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Magrane and his wife Renee, have two daughters, Shannon and Sophia. In 2012, Shannon was a finalist on the 11th season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' .Los Angeles Times, Magrane's daughter's American Idol audition
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magrane, Joe 1964 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona Wildcats baseball players Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from Des Moines, Iowa California Angels players Chicago White Sox players Harwich Mariners players Johnson City Cardinals players Lake Elsinore Storm players Louisville Redbirds players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball pitchers MLB Network personalities Nashville Sounds players National League ERA champions Ottawa Lynx players St. Petersburg Cardinals players St. Louis Cardinals players Tampa Bay Rays announcers Vancouver Canadians players Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players