George Grande
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George Grande (pronounced like the English word "grand") is an American sportscaster who hosted the first broadcast of SportsCenter on ESPN in 1979. In the early years of the network, he served as host of the baseball magazine program that evolved into the current Baseball Tonight program on ESPN.
Grande has been the TV play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds since 1993 for Fox Sports Net, teaming with former player Chris Welsh to form the longest-running TV broadcasting partnership in team history. For reasons never explained, Grande reads daily promos for FSN's "Best...]Sports Show Period," omitting the "Damn" in the show's title.
Grande has often served as master of ceremonies for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's annual inductions.
He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1969, where he won the 1968 College World Series while playing for USC's prestigious baseball program. While at USC, he played with 14 future Major Leaguers, including Hall of Famer Tom Seaver and slugger Dave Kingman.
Grande is on the board of directors for USA Baseball.