Bob Brown, 79, Mets Radio Host, TV Lottery Presenter
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Bob Brown, a longtime radio host who did pre- and post-game shows for the New York Mets during the late 1960s and early ’70s, died at his home of lung cancer on Wednesday. He was 79.
Brown also was the host of a weekly New York State Lottery drawing on Channel 5 in New York City, said his daughter, Joanne Mayer.
“He was the one who came up with the phrase ‘You have to be in it to win it,'” Ms. Mayer said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. A New York lottery spokeswoman in Albany, N.Y., could not confirm that claim.
After serving with the U.S. Marines in World War II, Brown started his radio career in Atlantic City at WFPG and eventually moved to the northern part of the state to work for WJRZ.
When the WHN dropped the Mets in 1967 to become the flagship Yankees station, the Mets shifted to a regional setup with WJRZ covering the city. Brown became the pre- and post-game show host for WJRZ.
He gave away copies of manager Gil Hodges’s book, “The Game of Baseball,” during a portion of the show known as “Met Manager for a Play.” A listener would be given details from a game the year before and asked what Hodges did.
WJRZ changed its call letters to WWDJ in 1971. The Mets moved back to WHN.
Ms. Mayer said her father, who hosted an early television show called “The Musical Jackpot,” retired around 1990.
