A bad week for baseball just got a little worse.

The best set of pipes in a broadcast booth passed away, as Harry Kalas died today. The legendary announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies was found passed out in the broadcast booth in Washington at 12:30 local time, and was pronounced dead less than an hour later at the hospital. He was 73.

Kalas had missed most of spring training after undergoing an undisclosed surgery, but the team had called that procedure minor. The cause of death is currently unknown.

Having been the voice of the Phillies since 1971, Kalas was in his 43rd year of broadcasting Major League Baseball. He’ll forever be known for his trademark voice, as well as his trademark “Outta’ here!” home run call.

Kalas’ death comes just days after the tragic death of Angels 22-year old pitcher Nick Adenhart.

The Hall of Fame announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies also lent his trademark voice to NFL Films and Campbell’s Chunky soup, among many other things.

I’ve had the honor to meet Mr. Kalas on two occasions, once as a kid and he couldn’t have been nicer, and once as a professional colleague, and he again couldn’t have been nicer. Baseball lost a great man and one of the best voices in the world today.

Usually, nothing about the Philadelphia Phillies winning makes me happy, but right now, nothing makes me happier than knowing that Kalas’ final season as a Phillies broadcaster was the year the Phillies won the World Series.

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