I was reacting to the jacket, not saying he passed. He died in '92, and would be 112 if he were still around.
Ah, gotcha... That's what I thought, but maybe you're thinking of Lindsey Nelson, who used to do the Mets' games? He used to always wear loud jackets, that looked over-the-top even on a black & white TV. Ironically enough, as a broadcaster, he was pretty understated.
I think you must be right-- at some point about the time he retired he told a story about it, on Carson maybe?--that he was down to his last eight bucks and got hired to a radio job which was provisional on his showing up at the field before the bus left with a couple of suits for the trip; and he went to an army-navy store and struck a deal for the two suits which had been on the rack longest for 8.00, then had to walk to the bus with them-- and of course they were the two loudest, ugliest suits ever seen. But I think Barber early in his career also had a period of dubious haberdashery and that's how I came to confuse the two. And for a while there in the 90's and 00's Andrea Kramer was being the female Lindsey Nelson...
Harry Caray went in '93. Who can forget his renditions of "Take me out to the ballgame" and when there was a long fly ball..."It might be ... it could be ... it IS!
Did they even have colors in Barber's day? All the photos I've ever seen are in black & white, so he must have worn different shades of grey. The book "Bums" is a great read on the Brooklyn Dodgers,and there are a couple of chapters about Barber. Much of the book is from the fans' perspective, and of course there were arguments over who was better, Barber or Mel Allen. Barber won hands-down.
The suit I'm thinking of on Barber appeared to be grey--for all I know it was lime green-- but it was trimmed in this sort of black piping along every seam and cuff, like a vinyl car seat or 1950's kitchen chair. It appeared most regrettable, even in black and white...
Never missed "Hockey Night in Canada" early 60's when living in Burlington VT. Neighbor had a huge 25" b/w tv w/antenna. Watching Henri, Boom Boom, Jacques Plante, Capt Jean Beliveau etc. was a treat. R.I.P.
Ha....mentioned before. Was at Giant's Stadium in Jersey for '94 WC match. At halftime, during a wave, the crowd broke out into a huge "Lets Go Rangers" chant. A good time was had by all.
To whatever degree I follow hockey, I generally check to see where this team is. I still consider them to be the Yankees of their sport.
If I'm not mistaken, the Yankees won something sometime. The Rangers have one Stanley Cup since 1940. One. The Knicks and the Rangers might be the two worst run teams in all of sport. They each have a massive fanbase, buckets of money, play in leagues where the season is meaningless and virtually everybody gets into the playoffs, and they still haven't won shit in decades.