The staccato rasp is back, for a night. Tonight, if the weather cooperates, thousands of "Gunners" will be in PNC Park. Bob Prince gets his own bobblehead doll when the Pirates take on the Chicago Cubs -- "the little Cubbies," in Prince-speak -- at 7:05 p.m. It's appropriate that the Pirates' first talking bobblehead honors "Rapid Robert," as much a Pirates immortal as Roberto, Willie or Maz. The game is approaching a sellout, with about 35,000 tickets sold. PNC Park's capacity is 37,898. "I guess you could say it's going to be Princeburgh for a day," said former Pirates pitcher and broadcaster Jim Rooker, who added that he didn't fully realize the depth of Prince's effect on fans and the game until years after the Gunner was gone. "I remember the night (May 3, 1985) when Bob came into the booth to do three innings and the Pirates just started hammering the Dodgers," said Rooker, 60, who runs a tavern and restaurant in Ambridge, Beaver County. "It was as if the players responded to having him up there, and we scored about nine runs. Finally, (Dodgers manager) Tommy Lasorda came out of the dugout and looked up at the booth as if to say, 'Why me?' Then the fans turned toward us and started cheering. It blew me away. It really gave me goosebumps to see how much of an effect he had on things." Not long after that game, on June 10, 1985, Prince died of cancer. He was 68. The following year, Prince was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. The Prince dolls that will be given away tonight contain battery-powered chips that play audio of three of Prince's most famous calls: Roberto Clemente's 3,000th and final base hit late in the 1972 season: "There's a drive into left center field. There it is, a double. Paper's flying. Everybody's standing. A double for Roberto." After a Willie Stargell home run: "Get your chicken on the Hill, Will." A third combines two of Prince's signature calls: "Kiss it goodbye" for a homer and "We had 'em all the way" after a Pirates win -- especially one that came after a late or extra-inning rally. Prince was the voice of the Pirates from 1948 to '75, when he was fired. He returned a decade later -- after stints calling Houston Astros baseball, Penguins hockey and the short-lived "ABC Monday Night Baseball" -- shortly before his death. Joe Billetdeaux, the Pirates' director of purchasing, said he immediately thought of Prince when he learned that other teams were giving away talking bobbleheads. "The Gunner had so many great sayings," Billetdeaux said. "He was a natural choice for our first (talking) bobblehead." Demand for the doll is high. Vin Scully, the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for more than a half-century, has asked for one of the dolls honoring his late friend. Pirates who played when Prince was broadcasting like the idea of finding ways to honor his memory. "When I came to the Pirates, some of the players mentioned that Prince was a unique sort of fellow -- you know, a little crazy," said former pitcher Nellie Briles, who was traded from St. Louis to Pittsburgh in 1971. "Of course, I was used to unique announcers because we had a pretty good one in Harry Caray," Briles said from his Greensburg home. "But the guys here said, 'If you think Caray is nuts, this guy Prince is really out there.' They were telling this story about how he once jumped out of a second-story hotel window into a swimming pool. Of course, my big question to them was, 'Was there any water in the pool?'" Over the years, Briles got to know another side of Prince. "He was not only a good on-air broadcaster, he was truly a representative of the Pirates," said Briles, 60. "When you thought of Bob, you thought of the Pirates. And when you thought of the Pirates, you thought of Bob Prince." Dick Groat, a shortstop for the Pirates from 1952 to '62 and the National League's Most Valuable Player in the Pirates' magical 1960 season, said Prince often took the credit for Groat's three daughters. "I was warming up before a game at the Polo Grounds (in New York) in 1955, and I noticed this beautiful young woman in the stands with this older man," said Groat, 72, who runs the Champion Lakes golf course near Bolivar, Westmoreland County. "So I went over to Prince at the batting cage and asked if he knew anything about her. He said she was one of the top models in New York. Then he said, 'Don't worry. That guy is her father.' He got her number for me, and she ended up being my wife." Prince was a tireless advocate for causes that benefited children, Groat said. "He was a first-class guy. He would do anything to help young children." Bob Friend, who pitched for the Pirates from 1951 to '65, said Prince left a lasting impression on him. "We were training in San Bernardino, Calif., and in walks Prince with this big cowboy hat on, telling us he just got in from 'the Springs,' meaning Palm Springs," Friend said from his home in O'Hara. "He really liked to lay it on. I got to know him pretty well during the 15 years I was with the club. He was very professional and a great guy to have around." Nellie King, Prince's broadcast partner who was fired with him in 1975, said one incident that sticks in his memory is a game in which Prince announced that a player named "Rab Mungee" was coming into the game to pinch-hit. "He heard this name over the public address system and started calling the play-by-play of the at-bat, using that name," said King, 75, who is compiling a book on Prince. "We couldn't find a player by that name on the roster, but figured that kind of thing happens late in the season when they bring up lots of people from the minor leagues. "After the guy grounded out, we heard the PA announcer say: 'Rab Mungee of Charleroi please come to the ticket office.' So Bob just announced that Rab Mungee's career in the majors began and ended at 0 for 1." As for that question kicking around in your head, King said he never saw Prince knock back a few Iron City beers during a game. Former Pirates General Manager Joe L. Brown, who dismissed Prince in 1975, said that despite the decision, he had great respect for Prince. "He was a warm, fun person to be around," Brown said from his home in Southern California. "You could not be in his company and not enjoy yourself." Brown, 84, said he met Prince when he came to Pittsburgh in 1948 to promote the "Babe Ruth Story" for the Allied Artists film company. "People loved to listen to him, and he was one of the best salesmen for the game. A true professional." Dave Giusti, who pitched for the Pirates from 1970 to '76, said Prince demonstrated his professionalism when infielder Freddie Patek dumped a bucket of icewater on the announcer as he conducted a live interview with another player. "It was amazing. He didn't lose his cool. Didn't utter one swear word. I was impressed," Giusti said from his Upper St. Clair home. Sally O'Leary, a Cranberry resident who was hired by Prince in 1964 to handle the several hundred pieces of fan mail he received each week during the season, said he always put the fans first. "He answered every letter he received," said O'Leary, 69, who runs the Pirates' alumni association. "And when it came to shut-ins or children who were in the hospital, or people's birthdays, he always made it a point to mention them on the air and wish them well because he knew it meant something special to them." Doug Skowron, 48, of Sewickley, who grew up listening to Prince, believes the key to Prince's popularity was that he seemed to be enjoying himself. "The stats and the play-by-play were only part of the game," Skowron said. "Between the sayings, the nicknames, his great laugh and the rapport he had going, you couldn't help but enjoy yourself."

Gunnerisms

Following are some of the sayings and nicknames used by famed Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince. The collection has been compiled on a Web site run by Pirates fan Glenn Gearhard, a native of Murrysville living in Arlington, Va. Sayings An "alabaster blast" -- A Baltimore chop base hit that would go higher than normal because of the extraordinarily hard infield at Forbes Field. "Arriba!" -- Prince's cry to Roberto Clemente to hit one over the wall. "Aspirin tablets" -- A pitcher would be throwing a ball so hard it looked as tiny and as hard to hit as an aspirin tablet. As in, Bob "Veale's firin' aspirin tablets out there tonight." "At 'em balls" -- Line drives right to an infielder; it was right at 'em. Vernon "Law has his at 'em ball workin' tonight." The "green weenie" -- A good luck charm the Gunner popularized and used to jinx and perhaps spook opposing players. The green weenie, generally credited to Pirates trainer Danny Whelan, was in the shape of a hot dog. When pointed at the opponents and shaken, it rattled and supposedly put a jinx on them. "Babushka power" -- Prince developed babushkas that the women in the stands could wear to bring the Pirates luck. It was, in a sense, a later version of the Green Weenie. A "little bingle" -- A little hit, a small single, perhaps a bunt single. A "bug on the rug" -- A hit that gathered speed on the artificial turf at Three Rivers Stadium. "Tweener" -- A ball that got between the outfielders. "A dying quail" -- A bloop, a tweener, or a bingle; a hit that falls in like a shot quail would. The bases are "FOB" (full of Bucs) -- What was needed was a bingle, a dying quail, perhaps a bug on the rug. A "bloop and a blast" -- A quick way to get two runs through a single (the bloop) and a home run (the blast), as in, "The Buccos are down by one run going to the bottom of the ninth. What we need here is a bloop and a blast." "By a gnat's eyelash" -- A very small margin, as in, "That ball just missed. It was foul by a gnat's eyelash." "Close as a fuzz on a tick's ear" -- A little closer than a gnat's eyelash. "Chicken on the Hill" -- A Willie Stargell home run. Stargell once owned a chicken restaurant in Pittsburgh's Hill District, and whenever he homered, the person at the counter would get free chicken. Thus, Prince would say, "We need a homer here. Come on, Willie, spread some chicken on the Hill." In one particular game, Prince said that if Stargell hit a home run, everybody in the restaurant would get free chicken. Stargell hit the home run, everyone got free chicken, and Stargell sent the bill to Prince. "Don't boo Stu. He's overdue" -- A cheer to get first baseman Dick Stuart out of a slump. "Don't knock the Rock" -- Rocky Nelson, the first baseman who alternated with Stuart in 1960. He couldn't hit that with a bed slat" -- What the Gunner would say when a batter chased a pitch way outside. Take one of the slats out from under a full-size bed and notice how much longer it is than a bat, and you get an idea that the batter was definitely chasing. "He lit up the lights on Broadway" -- In response to a called third strike. "Hidden vigorish" -- Similar to the law of averages, it was the force that dictated that a player who was in a slump was due for a big hit, as in, "Stargell is oh for his last eight, so with hidden vigorish he should get a big hit here." "Hoover" -- A double play. When someone complained that Prince was giving free advertising to a particular brand of vacuum cleaner, he tried to invent a story about President Herbert Hoover cleaning up corruption in Washington. "How sweet it is" -- After suffering through some terrible teams in the early 1950s, Prince got to enjoy the taste of victory in 1960 and throughout the early 1970s. The taste of a championship, a midseason victory or a home run that would put the Bucs ahead would draw out "How sweet it is." "Kiss it goodbye" -- The most famous of Prince's sayings; this was his home run call. "Mary Edgerley" -- No one knew exactly who she was (or whether she was related to Jimmy Durante's Mrs. Calabash), but Prince would end some broadcasts by saying, "Good night, Mary Edgerley, wherever you are." "A No. 8 Can of Golden Bantam" -- Refers to an easy fly ball. Immortalized in 1970 when Matty Alou dropped a "can of corn" against the Cubs, and the Bucs had to wait another day to clinch their first pennant in 10 years. "Radio ball" -- Sandy "Koufax just threw Stuart his radio ball. He could hear it, but he couldn't see it." "Low-hummin' riser" -- Similar to a radio ball. "Rug-cuttin' time" -- "It's rug-cuttin' time." More commonly known as "crunch time." "For all the money, marbles, and chalk." Deciding moment. Crunch time. "Runnin' through the rain drops" -- When a pitcher gave up a lot of hits but didn't give up a lot of runs. "Snake-bit" -- Can't get a break. "The Bucs are snake-bit tonight." "Soup coolers" -- A high pitch up around a slugger's mouth, or lips. Prince often said Stargell was looking for a pitch up around his "soup coolers." "We had 'em all the way" -- Said after a close win. It is perhaps the father of Lanny Frattare's "No doubt about it." Nicknames Bob "Beetles" Bailey Nellie Briles -- "The Rainmaker" Smokey Burgess -- "Shake, rattle, and roll." Donn "Clink" Clendenon Gene "Little Angry" Clines Elroy Face -- "Baron" of the Bullpen Dick Groat (No. 24) -- "Double-Dozen" Harvey Haddix -- "Kitten" Don Hoak -- "The Tiger" Ralph Kiner -- From Alhambra, Calif., he was the "Alhambra Kid" or the "Alhambra Hammer." Ed "Spanky" Kirkpatrick Vernon Law -- "The Deacon" Gene Michael -- "The Stick" Manny Sanguillen -- "Road Runner" Dick "Ducky" Schofield Willie Stargell -- Willie "La Starge" or Wilver Dornell (his given name) Bob Skinner -- "Doggie" Bill Virdon -- "The Quail" Jim "Possum" Woods (one of Prince's broadcast partners)

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