They, like most teams, "re-created" away games in the studio using telegraphed messages from the ballpark rather than sending their broadcasting crew out on the road, to save money.

Nationally, Elson called numerous World Series and All-Star Games in the 1930s and 1940s, most often teaming with Red Barber on Mutual radio.

An article in the December 1940 issue of Radio and Television Mirror identified Elson as the top football announcer for the network.

[2] In 1942, Elson enlisted in the United States Navy and served for four years in World War II, a stint that earned him the nickname "The Ol' Commander."

When Major League Baseball began making annual films of the Fall Classic in 1943, Elson was chosen to narrate them, a role he filled through the 1948 campaign.

He called Oakland Athletics games in 1971[3] before returning to Chicago, where he teamed with Lloyd Pettit on Black Hawks radio broadcasts from 1972 to 1975.

NBC Sports president Tom Gallery, who had grown up with Elson in Chicago, was not enamored of his style and selected Sox television announcer Jack Brickhouse instead.

"[1] For five years, he also did Bob Elson on Board the Century, which (in contrast to the title) he broadcast from LaSalle Street Station in Chicago.