PA Announcer
Rex Barney was the PA announcer for the Baltimore Orioles from 1974 until his death in 1997. He was famous for often using the phrase "Give that fan a contract!" when a fan snared a foul ball on the fly. However, if the fan misplayed the ball, Barney would intone, "Give that fan... an error!" This was an expansion on the old radio and TV announcers' comment, "Sign him up!" He would also announce after every game, "Thank youuuuu."
Barney's famous "Thank youuuuu" were the last words to come over the PA system at Memorial Stadium after the Orioles' last game there on October 6, 1991. Barney was in the hospital at the time, and the message was recorded from there and played over the PA system to end the Orioles' tenancy. Barney also served as the Baltimore Colts PA announcer from 1969 until 1983 when they moved to Indianapolis.
Barney co-authored (with Norman L. Macht) two books about his life in baseball, "Rex Barney's Thank Youuuu for 50 Years of Baseball" and "Orioles Memories: 1969-1994." He had become famous as an announcer, but to the end of his life, Barney always regretted his failure to last as a major league pitcher:
Believe me, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about what I could and should have been. It still hurts.
- Barney in 1992
Rex Barney died on August 12, 1997. In tribute to him, the Orioles game that day was held without a public address announcer.
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