R.I.P. Geoff Sindelar

[Yinzer Hater]

Geoff Sindelar, known as "The Professor" to thousands of sports talk radio listeners around America, died today of a sudden heart attack at age 62. Sindelar got into radio as a guest on the old Pete Franklin show in the 1980s as an expert on sports memorabilia. He got his own show on WKNR and also hosted a sports show on Cleveland TV for years. He loved all sports, but particularly baseball.

[waborat]

Wow, I actually didn't know he was that young?

Dude was always loving his Wendy's at the card shows whaen I was younger...

Loved listening to him when KNR first started...

RIP Geoff...."Nice Item"

[swerb]

No way.

I grew up listening to Sindelar. A lot of people didn't like him ... I always loved the guy. Dude was an encyclopedia. A throw back. Not like these idiots like Kenny Roda that don't know anything about Cleveland sports before Jacobs Field was built.

In the pre-internet age, you had questions about Cleveland sports, he could answer them. Now it's "look that up for us Scooter". Sindelar praised when warranted, was ruthlessly honest and tough on the teams when he had to be. I still call guys "meatballs" to this day cause of Sindelar.

Never understood how some of these guys at KNR got/kept jobs over the last 10-12 years over Sindelar. Unless he just didn't want it.

Also, I'm a memorabilia nerd, so I liked Sindelar from that respect as well.

Really enjoyed listening to the guy talk about Cleveland sports. Now, with no real talented people on the radio in the Cleveland sports scene, everything I absorb is written. I listen to only podcasts on my iPod and sattelite radio. I miss guys like Sindelar. I miss listening to local AM sports talk radio. Seems crazy that there's nobody out there that I'd rather listen to than Bill Simmons and other national guys.

RIP Geoff.

[DrPoove]

Loved listening to the guy as well. I am also shocked that he was that young as well. Wow. RIP GS.

[waborat]

Never understood how some of these guys at KNR got/kept jobs over the last 10-12 years over Sindelar. Unless he just didn't want it.

Also, I'm a memorabilia nerd, so I liked Sindelar from that respect as well.

Couldn't agree more Rich...

He was one of the best at the card conventions and would actually talk & teach the kids what to look for unlike a lot of the curmudgeons...

Early 90s was great on KNR with The Professor & Bill Needle...figures it would be Brinda who lasted

[Cease]

I'm under the impression that he left radio, not the other way around.

[swerb]

I'm under the impression that he left radio, not the other way around.

Think you're right Cease. Remember hearing something about that.

[Squints]

Sad news. The two bid local sports talkers of my youth were Drennan and Sindelar. My friends an I would listen to him on the radio, imitate their voices as we hosted our own call in shows. RIP Geoff, you will be missed.

[davemanddd]

while listening to brinda wax poetic about sindelar on the drive home tonite, he said that it was merely a part-time gig for "the professor" at wknr. the rest of the guys there all needed to work there as a career. for sindelar it was merely a hobby. his memorabilia biz was his main source of income. r.i.p.

[Jumbo]

Losing Geoff Sindelar saddens me, like losing a piece of my childhood and my connection back home.

It is fitting that the most active topic on the Cleveland Indians forum this week is a discussion regarding whether pitchers throwing first pitch strikes is really important, or merely important. The Professor held a clear understanding of what baseball was about: throwing strikes. It was both maddening and entertaining to listen to him rant about the last night's pitcher who walked three guys in an inning, demanding to know why the Tribe has to settle that meatball. Although statistics have since refined our understanding of the game, reducing all of its magic to numbers would only dim the passion of Sindelar.

I have called sports talk radio only twice in my life. When I was nine or ten years old, I called Sindelar on consecutive nights. The first night, I was kept on hold past my bedtime and hung up the phone. The second night, when I told the call screener my name and location, he asked if I had hung up the night before. I told him that I was, but that I would stay on the line that night. Even though I was on hold for an hour past when I hung up the night before, I stayed on long enough to ask Sindelar my three questions about sports, of which I remember two: how to calculate slugging percentage, and what were the first sports franchises of each sport in Cleveland. After hanging up the phone, I rushed downstairs to listen to the end of my call due to the radio delay. When my call had ended, Sindelar did not criticize me for filling the airwaves for such banality. Instead, he thanked the "youngster" for his interest in learning more about sports. It is a credit to Sindelar that, unlike more modern sports yakkers who only want to throw bricks at callers and cohosts, he only wanted to throw a brick into his television after the Indians' closer blew the game in the ninth. (Of course, the Professor could zing callers who deserved it.)

To my knowledge, the last consistent sports media position that he held was a spot on the fledgling sportstalkcleveland.com eight or nine years ago. That was not a happy time for Cleveland sports: the Cavs were pre-Lebron, the Indians were crumbling after their half-decade of dominance, and the joy of the having football back in town was wearing off. Nevertheless, it was great to hear the Professor again, particularly over the Internet since I could hear him in Boston. A humorous anecdote: the same commercials would run over and over in between segments of the program. One commercial was Sindelar interviewing Darko Milicic's agent. Sindelar asked the agent to compare him to a current player, and the agent replied, "Kevin Garnett."

To learn that Sindelar was only 62 is a further disappointment. I always thought that he had the joy of experiencing a World Series title.

RIP Professor, you will be missed.

[Cease]

Great tribute, Jumbo.

It's kind of cool to hear the sports personalities around town line up in praise of Sindelar. Brinda's show was insightful and personal.

[jack_tors]

Losing Geoff Sindelar saddens me, like losing a piece of my childhood and my connection back home.

It is fitting that the most active topic on the Cleveland Indians forum this week is a discussion regarding whether pitchers throwing first pitch strikes is really important, or merely important. The Professor held a clear understanding of what baseball was about: throwing strikes. It was both maddening and entertaining to listen to him rant about the last night's pitcher who walked three guys in an inning, demanding to know why the Tribe has to settle that meatball. Although statistics have since refined our understanding of the game, reducing all of its magic to numbers would only dim the passion of Sindelar.

I have called sports talk radio only twice in my life. When I was nine or ten years old, I called Sindelar on consecutive nights. The first night, I was kept on hold past my bedtime and hung up the phone. The second night, when I told the call screener my name and location, he asked if I had hung up the night before. I told him that I was, but that I would stay on the line that night. Even though I was on hold for an hour past when I hung up the night before, I stayed on long enough to ask Sindelar my three questions about sports, of which I remember two: how to calculate slugging percentage, and what were the first sports franchises of each sport in Cleveland. After hanging up the phone, I rushed downstairs to listen to the end of my call due to the radio delay. When my call had ended, Sindelar did not criticize me for filling the airwaves for such banality. Instead, he thanked the "youngster" for his interest in learning more about sports. It is a credit to Sindelar that, unlike more modern sports yakkers who only want to throw bricks at callers and cohosts, he only wanted to throw a brick into his television after the Indians' closer blew the game in the ninth. (Of course, the Professor could zing callers who deserved it.)

To my knowledge, the last consistent sports media position that he held was a spot on the fledgling sportstalkcleveland.com eight or nine years ago. That was not a happy time for Cleveland sports: the Cavs were pre-Lebron, the Indians were crumbling after their half-decade of dominance, and the joy of the having football back in town was wearing off. Nevertheless, it was great to hear the Professor again, particularly over the Internet since I could hear him in Boston. A humorous anecdote: the same commercials would run over and over in between segments of the program. One commercial was Sindelar interviewing Darko Milicic's agent. Sindelar asked the agent to compare him to a current player, and the agent replied, "Kevin Garnett."

To learn that Sindelar was only 62 is a further disappointment. I always thought that he had the joy of experiencing a World Series title.

RIP Professor, you will be missed.

Great post, Jumbo. Thanks for sharing. I remember listening to Geoff while hanging out with my uncle back in the day. Learned a lot from both them. RIP