Major League Baseball

Ex-Pirates pitcher King, 82, passes away

Published Aug. 11, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Nellie King, a former Pirates pitcher who later became a popular announcer for the club, died Wednesday after several years of health problems. He was 82.

King's death was confirmed by Duquesne University, where he worked from 1975-92 as the sports information director. He also served as golf coach, publicity director for the Eastern Eight Conference - the forerunner of the Atlantic 10 - and announced men's basketball games.

The school said that King died of health problems that included colon cancer and pneumonia.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander grew up in Hershey, Pa., and had modest success as a pitcher for the Pirates. He went 7-5 while appearing in 95 games from 1954-57, all but four as a reliever.

After his playing career ended, King became a broadcaster in suburban Pittsburgh at the urging of former Pirates publicist Jack Berger. In 1967, he was hired to work alongside Bob Prince and Jim Woods as a club's announcer.

After Woods left to replace Harry Caray in St. Louis in 1970, King and Prince worked as partners until Prince's ouster in 1975 led the Pirates to also fire King.

The duo was a contrast in styles - Prince was loud and colorful, King was soft-spoken and an expert interviewer - but they worked well together on broadcasts that beamed to much of the East Coast on 50,000-watt KDKA radio. Their firings angered numerous Pirates fans, and about 15,000 turned out for a downtown parade urging the team to rehire Prince and King.

The team later acknowledged the firings were a major mistake that alienated countless longtime fans, and although Prince came back briefly in 1985 before dying that year, King never returned to the Pirates' broadcast booth on a full-time basis.

He did spend 24 seasons working with announcer Ray Goss on Duquesne basketball games, and last year wrote the book ''Happiness Is Like a Cur Dog,'' which mostly recounted his baseball memories. The title came from an expression used by former general manager Branch Rickey.

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