Charley Steiner

Charles Harris Steiner (born July 17, 1949) is an American sportscaster and broadcast journalist. He is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, paired with Rick Monday.

Steiner was born in 1949 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City. He grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in a Jewish family in Malverne, New York, already idolizing Vin Scully at the age of seven. He attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, graduating in 1971.

Steiner began his career as a newscaster for WIRL radio in Peoria, in 1969, while still a student at Bradley. In 1971, after graduation from college, he began hosting his first sports show on KSTT radio in Davenport, Iowa. A year later, Steiner moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and worked for WAVZ radio as its news director, before moving north to Hartford and WPOP radio in a similar capacity.

In 1977, Steiner relocated to WERE (1300 AM) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as a sportscaster and later news director. While in Cleveland, he received his first television exposure when WKYC-TV hired him as a sports commentator.

Steiner entered the New York market in 1978 at WXLO-FM where he did newscasts for, among others, then-morning host and future actor Jay Thomas. He later moved over to sister station WOR for several years as its morning drive sportscaster, while working simultaneously as the sports director for the RKO Radio Network. He was also the play-by-play voice for the USFL's New Jersey Generals entire existence from 1983 to 1985, and for the NFL's New York Jets in 1986 and 1987.

It was during his time with RKO Radio that he was involved in a fracas at the conclusion of a press conference after John McEnroe had won his semifinals match at Wimbledon in 1981. Throughout the tournament, McEnroe had consistently requested not to discuss the status of his relationship with then-girlfriend Stacy Margolin. When Daily Star gossip columnist James Whittaker persisted in broaching the subject, McEnroe cursed at him and the British media and prematurely ended the press conference by storming out of the room. Steiner confronted Whittaker to say, "C'mon, man, you are just messing it up for everybody else. We want to get our quotes." Right at that point, Nigel Clarke, another British reporter who then worked for the Daily Mirror, stuck his index finger in Steiner's face. Clarke then got up on a chair and attempted to rain punches down on Steiner who successfully wrestled his adversary to the floor. Surprisingly, Steiner later was personally thanked by the head of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club who also had a disdain for the British tabloids.

Steiner joined ESPN in 1988, primarily as an anchor on SportsCenter. In addition to those duties, he served as the network's lead boxing analyst.

Steiner was involved in many comical situations during his tenure on SportsCenter, including one broadcast in 1993 when Carl Lewis sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to a New Jersey Nets game. Amused by hearing Lewis' terrible rendition of the song, Steiner began chortling during the SportsCenter show that night, unable to stop until the show ended. His famous comment on the event was that the song had apparently been written by "Francis Scott Off-Key", a pun on the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner", Francis Scott Key.