The retired broadcaster chronicles his journey from a blue-collar Baltimore childhood to his quarter-century as ‘Voice of the Orioles.’
I don’t know how many games Fred Manfra worked during his 25 years as one of the Orioles’ radio voices, but it’s a big number, well into the thousands — so big that Manfra became as integral to the Baltimore baseball scene as the players themselves.
Actually, you could argue he was more integral because players came and went but Manfra stayed from the early 1990s to the late 2010s, his presence — and more importantly, his voice — becoming the connective tissue between months and seasons and decades of Oriole baseball in a time of unceasing change in pretty much all other matters related to the club.
No matter if you listened to a game while cooking dinner, running errands, sitting on your porch or driving to the beach, Manfra took the journey with you. If you had reason to call the Orioles’ offices, Manfra’s (recorded) voice greeted you.
He was always there, almost like family.
And though he was broadcasting to a mass audience, he never forgot that he was effectively communicating on a one-to-one basis with real people. Because he recalled being on the other side of that communication as a young listener in East Baltimore relying on radio voices to guide him through his beloved team’s ups and downs.
When we spoke recently, Manfra, now retired and living in Florida at age 80, needed no prompting as he sped through a list of Oriole radio broadcasters he grew up hearing as the young son of a structural ironworker. Chuck Thompson. Ernie Harwell. Herb Carneal. Bob Murphy. Frank Messer.
“When I look back over the years, people don’t remember some of these names, but I do, because I was fan of radio,” Manfra said. “Baltimore has been so blessed with great announcers.”
The latest episode of the Bird Tapes Podcast contains my recent conversation with Manfra, which I’m making available to all subscribers, both free and paid, because he chronicles a classic Baltimore story that deserves the widest possible audience — his story, which begins in blue-collar Baltimore in the 1950s and ends with him living out his childhood dream and broadcasting Oriole games with, among others, Thompson, his childhood idol.
Unlike the broadcasters he grew up hearing, he brought to the job an innate connection to the city and the team because it was his team and his city. Manfra idolized Gus Triandos, the Orioles’ first slugger. Big and strong, he was good enough as a high school catcher to play in an all-star game at Memorial Stadium.
But he took an exit ramp out of town when one beckoned, heading west to play college baseball. When that petered out, there was a Navy tour, and finally, a job in California on the lowest rung of the sports radio business. From there, he climbed the ladder, doing play-by-play, pregame and postgame shows and everything else from California to Iowa to Wisconsin to Michigan to New York to Washington D.C. (Got that?) It was a journey through an old-school media landscape that barely exists now, but Manfra made the most of it. Working all sports at all levels, from high school to the pros, he honed his craft while meeting and working with a who’s who of legendary athletes and broadcasters from decades past.
Dick Vitale? Howard Cosell? Dick Butkus? Earl “The Pearl” Monroe? Dick Enberg? Manfra has stories.
He came back to Baltimore a finished product, a veteran broadcaster of Olympic Games, Triple Crown horse racing, college and pro football and basketball.
It was time for baseball.
Oriole baseball.
Back where it all started with him slipping a transistor radio under his pillow to listen to night games.
Naturally, he has all sorts of stories about the Oriole players and managers and memorable events he covered. For 25 years, more than a third of the Orioles’ existence, if it happened, Manfra was there.
I’m delighted to add his voice to the Bird Tapes archive.
(Note from John Eisenberg: My conversation with Manfra is the latest new interview of 2026 that I’ve added to the Bird Tapes Podcast stream, following Roy Firestone, Buck Showalter, Dr. Charles Steinberg, Mike Bordick, Andy MacPhail, Ed Wheatley, Rick Dempsey, Chris Hoiles, Rick Vaughn and Billy Ripken. You need a paid subscription to hear most of the interviews in the archive. I’ll continue to post new interviews with major figures from Oriole history throughout 2026. A paid subscription gives you 24/7 access to the entire archive of interviews. Click on the “subscribe now” button to survey your subscription options.)
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