Scoring an interview with Bob Ibach

Sun City resident Bob Ibach recalls the event that sparked his fascination with sports.

“The first game was historic, as Don Larsen of the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers and threw the only perfect game in baseball history,” he said, recounting the 1956 game.

This was only the beginning.

“I have personally seen more than 4000 baseball games. I have personally visited 68 major league baseball parks in my lifetime and will add four new ones to that total this year in August,” he said.

Ibach’s began his career in the early 1970s working for the Washington Post and Baltimore Evening Sun as a sportswriter.

“I covered the Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Colts, Baltimore Bullets, Washington Redskins and local college team,” he said.

Ibach’s newspaper career continued as he advanced in 1980 to become a sports editor at the Philadelphia Journal.

“During my career, I’ve authored more than 4,000 newspaper stories and written more than 250 magazine articles,” he said.

In 1981 life brought him to work with Chicago Cubs.

“I served as the ball club’s PR director and the Director of Publications,” said Ibach.

Ibach was a key player in bringing lights to Wrigley. The park had been the only major league baseball park where night games could not be played. Ibach took responsibility for promoting this memorable date in history with the game program.

“I oversaw the production of the ‘The First Night Game at Wrigley Field’ in August 1988. I also named and oversaw the award-winning Cub newspaper entitle ‘Vine Line,’” he said.

This publication was awarded the #1 major league baseball publication for five consecutive years. Working in the Cub organization, Ibach’s job description included “other duties as assigned”. Ibach’s other duties, he reveals, included trying “to keep Cubs legendary announcer Harry Caray on time for ballgames.”

Ibach’s lifework has led him to work and play with notable sports figures. Some glimpses of the many stories Ibach has in his arsenal include that he “Once played golf with Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio in 1979 and had dinner with O.J. Simpson in the middle 1970s when he played for the Buffalo Bills and dined with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in Arizona in the early 1980s during spring training.”

“Some of the famous celebrities I have met over my sports career include Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.”

Ibach also had a broadcasting career, giving him opportunities to meet top named guests.

“I did radio work for CBS guests including boxers Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, baseball starts Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin, football star Johnny Unitas, golfers Arnold Palmer and Nancy Lopez.”

The list goes on.

Ibach has also worked with a number of charities, raising funds for the American Heart Association, Make A Wish Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs, Children’s Miracle Network and right here in Sun City working with the Sun City Cancer Kickers for our Relay for Life raising $100,000.

To this day, Ibach keeps very busy. He is currently the owner and president of Ibach & Associates, “which specializes in media relations, marketing, publications and radio work. Now in its 23rd year. I continue to appear on radio shows throughout the country.”

Ibach also participates in commentary and talk shows on sports-related events right from his home office studio in Sun City.

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