Theodore Leitner (born July 9, 1947) is an American former sportscaster. Best known for his role as a play-by-play announcer for

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

baseball from 1980 to 2020, Leitner has also called

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The university fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's) in National Collegiate Athle ...

men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

since 1979. He is a well known figure around the city of San Diego. He is also a former sportscaster for

KFMB-TV KFMB-TV (channel 8) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW, and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., it has studios on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, and its transmitter i ...

and host on KFMB radio in San Diego. Due to a hectic schedule, he left KFMB just three days shy of his 25th anniversary at that station. He kept his play-by-play job with the San Diego Padres (who left that station around the same time for cross-town rival KOGO radio) and later XX Sports Radio (he also for a short time tried an afternoon show on XX Sports Radio as well). His association with the Padres dates back to 1980.MLB biog of Leitner
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Background

Leitner was born in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough of

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, and at age 8 moved with his family to the adjacent city of

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

, in Westchester County. He played football for Roosevelt High School in Yonkers. After high school he attended and graduated from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and then completed a master's degree at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

. Before starting his long tenure in San Diego in 1980, Leitner worked as a television sportscaster at WFSB in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, and at

WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He also was a broadcaster for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

, the San Diego Clippers and the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

, and with university sports in Oklahoma, Hartford, and San Diego. He has six sons and one daughter. He has been divorced four times.

Sports commentary

When calling

games, Leitner was known for his outspoken style, and for referring to the team as "My Padres" when they were winning and/or playing well and as "Your Padres" when they were losing or in a bad stretch. For years, Leitner did television on the Padres' cable TV network, as well as doing the 5 and 11 pm sportscasts for KFMB-TV. His home run call was "ball going, ball gone!" Leitner has a history of mocking those who like

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

hockey, and those who complain to the station that he does not show highlights. To "appease" hockey fans, Ted would occasionally show a highlight clip of an NHL game, typically two enforcers squared off in a fight. If only one NHL game was being played on a given night, Leitner would claim that he was about to show every goal scored. The 3 or 4 goals would then be shown in rapidly edited fashion. In 2015 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jews, American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distingui ...

. On May 29, 2018, he announced via Twitter that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would be leaving the Padres broadcasts indefinitely. On June 15 he announced via Twitter that his cancer scare was a benign tumor, and on June 29 he announced that he would return to Padres broadcasting. On January 15, 2021, Leitner announced that he was leaving the Padres' radio booth to transition to a role as a community-relations ambassador for the team. In 2022, he was named to the Padres Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leitner, Ted Living people American radio sports announcers American talk radio hosts American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Major League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers Oklahoma State University alumni Philadelphia Eagles announcers Television anchors from San Diego San Diego Chargers announcers San Diego Clippers announcers San Diego Padres announcers San Diego State Aztecs football announcers University of Oklahoma alumni 1947 births