Prospectus Q&A

Dave Van Horne, Part I

by Jonah Keri

Dave Van Horne broadcasted baseball games for the Montreal Expos for 32 years, from the club's inception in 1969 through to the Jeffrey Loria era. Since then he's moved on to become play-by-play man for the Florida Marlins, where a new generation of fans have heard him use his trademark "Up, Up, and Away" home run call. In Part I of BP's chat with Van Horne, we discussed breaking into baseball, calling the game, and a few pages of Expos history.

Baseball Prospectus: How did you get your start in broadcasting?

Dave Van Horne: I graduated from high school in Easton, Pa. in 1957. At that point I had no idea what I wanted to do. At the last possible moment I decided to go to the Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University). My sophomore year of college there was an opening to host a billboard-type radio show, to be a disc jockey. I dropped out and took the job. Not long after that the general manager of the radio station (in Roanoke, Va.) was looking for someone to do football games. I jumped at the chance to do that, and football eventually led to baseball.

BP: What made baseball stand out for you over other sports, as a broadcaster?

DVH: Breaking in doing football and basketball, you needed to call those games at a rapid pace. Baseball opened the door to a world of creativity. A lot of what goes into calling a baseball game is about what you do between pitches., and I enjoyed that.

BP: How did you land your first major league job, with the Expos?

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