He has been one of the biggest voices of Buffalo baseball for more than 30 years, in both the public address booth and the broadcast booth. He's a legend in the local amateur ranks, too. But outside those circles, you might not know much about Duke McGuire.
McGuire, 57, will gain perhaps the biggest recognition of his career Sunday when he and former Bisons slugger Richie Sexson will be inducted into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame. And even though three decades of fans have become comfortable with the voice, McGuire is a little uncomfortable with the attention. He joked that his acceptance speech will be short.
"It's unbelievable, really," McGuire said. "There's a lot of guys that I've covered and known for a long time like [Orchard Park native] Dave Hollins and [former broadcaster] Pete Weber who are in. It's amazing. When you start something like this like I did with the team way back in 1979, you don't think this is going to happen.
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"Little kids read baseball books and joke, 'I want to be in the Hall of Fame someday.' I'm not exactly in that one but this is pretty good for a guy like me."
"That's awesome," Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly said while visiting the ballpark last week. "Duke is one of my best friends [they met because their wives have been longtime friends]. I don't know if he has an enemy. Everybody I've ever talked to about Duke McGuire has said nothing but great things. I could talk for 20 minutes about how great he's been, not only to myself but to my family, and just what he means to this community."
Those who know him well can tell Duke stories for hours, of old games, old road trips, old times behind the microphone. For starters, here's a little game of McGuire did-you-know:
* His real name is Michael, same as his father's. The senior McGuire dubbed his son "Duke" when he was just a few years old so there would be no confusion. The name stuck.
* He played three years of professional baseball in the Detroit Tigers chain in the early 1970s. In 1973 at Class A Clinton (Iowa) in the Midwest League, his manager was a then-unknown lunatic who chain-smoked in the dugout tunnel. The skipper's name? Jim Leyland.
* He was a player-manager and the MVP for the unaffiliated 1978 Niagara Falls Pirates.
* He played alongside ex-big leaguers Joe Charboneau and Joe Hesketh on the Voyageurs, the legendary Muny AAA team that barnstormed the country in the '70s and '80s. McGuire was inducted into the Western New York Amateur Baseball Hall in 1998.
* He gave the first tour of War Memorial Stadium to a bunch of moviemakers looking to film a baseball movie. "The Natural" was filmed here in 1983 and McGuire was the first player they signed up to be a New York Knight alongside Robert Redford.
* He's been married to his wife, Mary, for 29 years. They have two daughters, Shannon (21) and Casey (18).
* He was a legendary three-sport star in the 1960s at Amherst High School and has worked there for 25 years, currently as an attendance officer. He's also coached high school sports, predominantly at Amherst and Williamsville South.
"I have the same wife, same jobs, same house," McGuire cracked. "That's how I am. I don't change very much."
> On the field
A first baseman who played at Cornell University, McGuire was drafted three times and finally turned pro with the Tigers in 1972. His pro career was stifled by injuries but he played with several future big leaguers.
He played from 1972 to '74 at Bristol (Va.), Clinton and Lakeland (Fla.). Teammates included Buffalo native Phil Mankowski, current Mets manager Jerry Manuel, Ron LeFlore, Dan Meyer, Mark Wagner and future Mets General Manager Joe McIlvaine.
Leyland is often the focus of questions and stories when McGuire is asked about his days in the pros.
"I just laugh when I think about him," McGuire said. "He was a young, funny guy back then. He was a heavy smoker just like in the big leagues, puffing between innings. We thought that was hilarious. We're like, 'What is this guy doing?'
"He was a great motivator. I was a young player. I didn't have that many guys to judge but he was fun. It was pretty cool to see where he went."
McGuire is inseparable from Williamsville South Athletic Director and Bisons official scorer Kevin Lester, a friendship that dates to the late 1960s when a 15-year-old McGuire was playing for Simon Pures in the Muny AAA circuit against players twice his age. They became teammates after his pro days in the mid-'70s, first on the Eldredge Club and then with the powerful Voyageurs, where they roomed on road trips.
Lester was the short, stocky catcher and McGuire the strapping power hitter. They had a Mutt and Jeff routine going that lasts to this day as they will often playfully argue about scoring decisions between innings of Bisons games.
"Any time there was a pop-up between first and home plate, I would call for him [to catch the ball] right away: 'Duke, Duke, Duke,' " Lester recalled. "And he would get so mad at me. It could be 10 feet from home and I would be calling for him to take it. He would get so ticked. I loved it."
McGuire's pro days ended in Niagara Falls in 1978 but that started his relationship with local legend Don Colpoys. The next year, Colpoys hired him in a do-everything role for the Double-A Bisons. It was sales, public relations, concessions.
"Let's just say it was a skeleton crew," McGuire said. "It was crazy but fun."
> To the mic
Sabres voice Milt Ellis was handling the PA back then but the team decided to inject a different voice. They tried McGuire. Thirty years later, he hasn't stopped talking for the team.
"I just did what came natural," McGuire said. "Milt had that great voice. I wasn't as professional as Milt. He was the ultimate. I livened it up, especially by talking about 'Butcher Balls' (foul balls corraled off the screen by the longtime Bisons batboy)."
McGuire helped as an analyst on International Cable and on the Empire Sports Network with Weber but he stayed as the PA voice through 1995, taking the team through its rebirth in Triple-A, the close of the Rockpile, the opening of then Pilot Field and its halcyon days of six straight years of drawing 1 million fans.
His calls of "Joooooe DEEEEE-sa," "Benny Deeeeee-steFAAAANNNNNOOOO," and "It's another sellout" became nightly rituals, as did his chidings of The Butcher.
"The new ballpark was pristine and it was a great time," he said. "But it was almost like they wanted an air of professionalism. There were no more Butcher balls. It was just different, more businesslike. They wanted everything done big-league."
McGuire started doing heavy radio work in 1996. When Weber left for Nashville and was replaced by Jim Rosenhaus, the Bisons had an idea to have a guest analyst every night. It was a bust. The nights McGuire worked created a professional broadcast.
"It was tough for him," McGuire said of Rosenhaus. "He's a young guy trying to make his mark getting stuck with people like that and everyone figured out this wouldn't play. So I moved over there."
McGuire worked with Rosenhaus until the latter left for Cleveland in 2007 and has done TV and radio next to Ben Wagner since.
He's folksy but detailed. Friends who pop in are announced as "celebrity guest appearances." But don't get too far from the game. And don't walk the leadoff man or McGuire will rant.
"They're all such professional guys. I never had any training," McGuire said of his broadcast partners. "I did it because I liked it and felt I could contribute. Not only did I play but I managed in Niagara Falls, worked in a front office. I can see a thing from three different perspectives."
> 'Movie Star Duke'
That's what Kelly called him last week when asked to comment on McGuire's induction. But it fits. Watch any baseball scene in "The Natural" and McGuire -- as well as sidekick Lester -- are there, often sitting right next to Redford. McGuire had one line: "Nice game, guys."
"It was an amazing learning experience how that was done," he said. "I just wanted to make sure I was in one scene. When I saw it, I couldn't believe it."
When the Bisons got a phone call from the film company, they assigned McGuire to give them a tour of the Rockpile. The filmmakers were floored.
"I'm with these big shots and they go, 'This is great, exactly what we need, awesome.' "
They asked McGuire to hit some balls so they could take some footage at home plate. He was left-handed, just like Redford.
"I'm launching balls on the roof and the guy on the spot says, 'You want to be in the movie?' I told him I'd do it and they said, 'Get me players.' So you call Lester and he's on the job."
One problem. McGuire never mentioned to his buddy it was a Hollywood blockbuster.
"I was scouting for Pittsburgh and I didn't have time," Lester said. "I'm thinking, 'Who's gonna film a Mickey Mouse baseball movie at War Memorial Stadium?' But I made calls for him and once he finally told me it was Redford, my wife told me I had to do it.
"That's how Duke is," Lester said. "He doesn't always give you all the details. He always forgets to tell you. When he got elected to this Hall of Fame, I had to tell Mary. I knew he'd never tell her. That's just him. He's classic."
> A kid himself
His contributions as the voice of the ballpark can't be overstated but a whole segment of Western New Yorkers know McGuire and Lester as the men responsible for years of Bisons youth clinics and Pitch, Hit and Run contests.
"He deserves this as much as any player because he's been the voice of the Bisons for more than 30 years," Lester said. "He's been a face of the Bisons with all the youth programs. You see him walking out of the ballpark and kids and people who are grown up now walk up to him because they know him from those days.
"He loves kids. He's great with them. He has the softest heart with handicapped kids. And I've often said he'd rather be with kids rather than adults because he's still a kid himself."
e-mail: mharrington@buffnews.com
