Bob Casey the "voice of the Minnesota Twins" died today

[dflprincess]

Players can come and go, but it will be strange to be at the Dome and not hear Bob Casey.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/509/5315433.html

Bob Casey, the only stadium voice the Twins have known in their 44 years and whose signature style and verbal stumblings endeared him to baseball fans throughout the Upper Midwest, died early today from complications from liver cancer. He was 79.

Casey died at around 12:30 a.m. at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center with sons, Tom, Joe and Mike, by his side. He had been hospitalized for just more than two weeks with pneumonia, which he caught while in Fort Myers, Fla., to watch spring training.

But for all of the moments Casey had a voice in, he is perhaps best known for declaring before every Twins home game, "There is "n-o-o-o-o-o smoking in the Metrodome," for his occasional shredding of various players' names as they came to the plate, and for years stretching out "Kirbeeeeeeee Puckett!"

Bob Casey had hoped to announce this season, even if it meant part-time. He envisioned announcing his retirement during the season, preferably when the New York Yankees came to the Dome in June.

"Nobody will ever be compared to Bob Casey," said John Gordon, who dedicated his radio broadcast of Sunday's Twins-Orioles games to Casey. "If they are, they will only finish second. ... He'll live in the memory of many, many Twins fans from the start until now."

[KitchenWitch]

1. That news saddened me so much

Bob Casey was a certified Twins institution. His humor and his distinctive voice will be missed!

I have tickets to opening day, and I know, there is no one that can adequately replace Bob Casey.