Former ESPN personality, longtime MLB broadcaster in cancer battle: report
The voice of Charley Steiner will greet fans entering Dodger Stadium for the World Series on Friday and Saturday. A prerecorded announcement about the stadium's rules and regulations has played over the stadium's public-address system for years now. It's a familiar voice among fans who have been listening to Steiner's play-by-play on the Dodgers' flagship radio station since 2005.
Even longtime Yankee fans will remember Steiner as John Sterling's play-by-play partner from 2002-04 on WABC. Still older fans might remember Steiner from ESPN's SportsCenter, which he anchored from 1988-2002.
Steiner has been a less audible presence on the airwaves this season. In March, he revealed he would miss Opening Day because of three compound fractures in his back.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 27, 2024
This week, Steiner revealed to Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke that in January he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the blood.
Writes Plaschke: "He endured constant debilitating lower back pain. He lost 50 pounds. He was confined to a wheelchair. He initially moved his bed from the second floor of his Westside home down to the family room because he couldn’t climb the stairs. He enlisted the full-time help of nurses. It wasn’t pretty."
Steiner, 75, told Plaschke that the cancer is now in remission. The Dodgers are planning on having Steiner return to work next season alongside analyst Rick Monday in the AM-570 radio booth.
Steiner has visited Dodger Stadium at times this season and plans to do so again Friday, when the World Series begins, per Plaschke.
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