At one time Bob Wolff was the youngest broadcaster on television, and now, at age 85, he is the longest running broadcaster in the business. In the 67 years in between, he made a name for himself as the hardest working journalist in the business as well.

Wolff, who was inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Hall of Fame in 1995 when he was the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, was the guest of the museum on Saturday afternoon in the third of a six-part interview series with legendary broadcasters.

Wolff was both a pioneer and innovator of broadcast journalism. His career began on CBS Radio while attending Duke University in 1939, and still continues today.

Wolff broadcast Washington Nationals games for 14 seasons, but also branched out and covered everything from dog shows to gymnastics to horse racing, eventually covering as many as 250 events a year.

"I don't think there's a sport I haven't covered," Wolff said. "I never said no to an assignment, and after I accepted one I would work my tail off in preparation. After five years or so you become an expert."

During Wolff's time with the Nationals (1947-60) he not only did the play-by-play of the Senators, he also did both the pre and post-game 15 minute TV shows, simultaneously hosted their recorded pre and post-game radio shows, broadcast a nightly TV and radio sports show, syndicated his TV baseball interview shows to other big league cities, wrote a syndicated baseball column and headed the Knothole Gang, a singing group consisting of Wolff and Nationals' players.

Through his pre and post game shows, Wolff tried to reveal things about players that the audience wouldn't otherwise know and was as much a storyteller as announcer.

"I have a genuine interest in people and their stories," Wolff said. "Everyone has a story to tell, and finding that hidden information was my golden nugget."

Unlike today's often adversarial relationship between the media and players, Wolff was more like a friend to the players, as evidenced by his musical group. Wolff played the ukulele, and the players harmonized. They eventually got so good they were featured on NBC.

"That was just a kinder and gentler time," Wolff said. "Can you imagine approaching Barry Bonds today and asking him to sing "Down by the River?"

In 1956, Wolff broadcast his first World Series, and announced the final four and a half innings of Don Larsen's perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

"To me, Bob's call of the final out ranks right up there with Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard Round the World" as the most famous in baseball," said renowned baseball broadcast author Curt Smith, who interviewed Wolff Saturday.

Although Wolff spent much of his time on the road, he said nothing is more important to him than his family. Wolff choked up slightly when recalling how his young daughter used to refer to airplanes as "Bye, Bye Daddy's" but added his Hall election in 1995 was the perfect family day.

"That was one of the great thrills of all time," Wolff said. "All my children were there, and my grandchildren, I couldn't have asked for anything more."

Wolff recently signed a two-year contract extension with a television station in Long Island, and said he plans to continue working as long as possible.

"I'm still learning the business and if I stick around long enough I'll eventually know what I'm doing," Wolff joked. "I enjoy the work and the people, and I'm going to keep doing it."