BEAVER TOWNSHIP — Equipped with his signature ‘Raise the Jolly Roger’ call after a Pittsburgh Pirates victory, and his ‘Clear the deck, cannonball coming’ exclamation when Bucs players homer, Pirates play-by-play broadcaster Greg Brown gave the Curbstone Coaches insight as to what they can expect this season out of Team No. 142.

“What I expect this year is improvement, not to win the division but a marked improvement over last couple years,” Brown told the group assembled Monday at Avion Banquet Center. “Expect to see the talent that has been acquired by general manager Ben Cherington start to make its way to the big leagues as we saw last year.

“There were a handful of players that came up and performed and I expect that there will be even more. In many publications, almost everyone has the Pirates in the top five in terms of farm talent so I just think that they have acquired so much talent that it’s starting to bubble at the top. These young players are going to continue to come up and get better with more experience.”

Bringing in veterans like Carlos Santana, Austin Hedges, and Rich Hill among others, and the return of fan-favorite Andrew McCutchen should benefit their younger players.

“They also spent over $31 million which no one talks about,” Brown added. “It is comical to me because our owner, Bob Nutting, gets a lot of grief and I always defend him because I think he’s doing it the right way in a small market. He has been criticized for not spending more and while it sounds good to just spend more, that doesn’t always work as the Cleveland Indians can attest.”

In 1988, Brown served as the weekend anchor at Channel 21, WFMJ-TV, a well-respected and locally owned NBC affiliate that has been a breeding ground for Major League Baseball play-by-play broadcasters and even one highly successful manager with a local tie.

New Castle’s Chuck Tanner, who won 1,352 games in 19 seasons as a manager, was a sports reporter at the station from 1968-70. Noted Boston Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione worked at the station in 1972 while current Colorado Rockies broadcaster, Jack Corrigan, spent time in their Downtown Youngstown location in the late 70’s, also serving as the play-by-play voice of YSU football.

“On my drive in today, I was thinking how unusual and unique it is that WFMJ has been a breeding ground for Major League broadcasters and one Major League manager in Chuck Tanner,” Brown stated. “I see Jack when we play the Colorado Rockies and without fail, every time I see Joe, whether it is in spring training or during the season now because of interleague games, he always makes it a point to stop in the booth and we chat about our time at WFMJ.”

Brown was the public address announcer for the Pirates in 1987, having worked in their front office for 10 seasons in multiple roles when he landed in Youngstown.

“I was working full-time in the Pirates’ front office and asked permission to apply at WFMJ as long as it didn’t affect my work,” Brown noted. “Bob Pompeani [KDKA-TV] and I went to school at then-Point Park College and he alerted me of the position opening. He knew that I wanted to get into television broadcasting so I drove up to Scranton, Pa. where I had a friend who was doing weather for a TV station there. I got there at 2 a.m., they had a couple cameramen waiting for me along with a teleprompter. I made a dummy tape and sent it in to former sports director Steve Mechling and he hired me.

“That winter was a crossroads for me because a job opened up to do Minor League Baseball play-by-play in Buffalo. Just as Steve was backing off, they came to me and asked if I wanted to be the sports director and do it full-time. It was one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make. I decided I really loved the idea of trying to figure out how to be a play-by-play guy so without a safety net, I went to Minor League Baseball.

“I ended up parlaying that into doing play-by-play for other sports, including the University of Buffalo basketball and Buffalo Bills football for three years, doing four Super Bowls because I was the pre and post-game host but was in the booth for the last three. Now it has been 30 years ago.”

Next Monday, YSU head softball coach Brian Campbell will serve as guest speaker.