Sid Loberfeld

Sidney Loberfeld

• Born 1910
• Died 2002

Sid Loberfeld was one of the first persons to broadcast games of the Brooklyn Dodgers. At the age of 20 in 1932, he was an early radio personality in New York, NY, hosting both a music program and a sports talk program on WPCH. The next year, he was hosting a baseball-themed show on another local radio station, WMCA. Starting on Opening Day in 1932, he broadcast Dodgers games on WOR. He worked alone with an engineer, from the back of the dugout; persons nearby would slip him notes about what was happening on the field, as he couldn't see the action from his vantage point. He continued working in radio until 1934, but that year, the three New York teams decided to prohibit radio broadcasts of their games for a five-year period, as they feared that the broadcasts hurt attendance. When the Dodgers resumed broadcasts in 1938, Loberfeld was no longer working in radio, and Red Barber got the prestigious assignment.

Loberfeld's connections with baseball did not end then however. He became a lawyer, and had among his clients Gil Hodges. There were no player agents at the time, but he would have had the perfect profile to become one if they had been around. He also worked with various Little Leagues around Brooklyn and New York, organizing trips to major league games for players into the 1980s. He also started a campaign to get his friend Hodges inducted into the Hall of Fame after his premature death in 1972.

Further Reading

• Rob Edelman: "Sid Loberfeld: Brooklyn's Early Radio Baseball Broadcaster", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 40, Number 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 110-112.