Biography

Bob’s 20 year professional baseball career started in 1984, when he was drafted as a pitcher by the Philadelphia Phillies out of Harvard High School (now Harvard-Westlake) in North Hollywood, California.

Over the next 7 seasons he would hit every stop in the Phillies minor league system, before being traded at the start of the 1991 season to the Chicago Cubs. Just 2 weeks after opening the season with the Cubs AAA affiliate in Iowa, Bob was called up to the big league club, making his MLB debut May 7, 1991 and posting a victory as the starting pitcher against the Houston Astros. Scan would spend 3 years with the Cubs, leading the bullpen staff in ERA, saves, innings pitched and games finished in 1992, and setting a team record for holds in 1993 which would stand for 15 seasons.

Traded to the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the 1994 season, Scan spent 2 seasons with the Brew Crew working as both a starter and reliever. He then went on to pitch in 4 more major league campaigns posting time with the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, Brewers (for a second time), and Montreal Expos. Bob also pitched in the minor leagues for the Padres, Rockies, and Yankees organizations. Additionally, he experienced international competition, playing winter ball for 5 seasons in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Mexico, and one tour of duty with the Mexico City Diablo Rojos of the Mexican Summer League.

Bob was active behind the scenes of MLB as well, serving as a Players Association representative, and assistant representative while with the Cubs and Brewers. He was also a member of the Players Association Executive Board, working with both players and owners while serving on the Pension Committee.

Retiring after the 2003 season to pursue a broadcast career, he contributed to 9 major league seasons, appearing in 290 major league games, posting 20 wins, 17 saves, and a 4.63 ERA. He was also fortunate to witness as a player historical moments such as Paul Molitor’s 3,000th hit, Kerry Woods’ 20 strikeout performance, Scott Ericson’s no-hitter, Greg Maddux’s first Cy Young season, and countless others. All together, over his 20 year professional career he pitched in over 800 games logging over 2,000 innings of work, appeared in multiple All-Star games, won two AAA World Series Championships, was honored with team and league awards, and set various team and league records at all levels.

Since 2004 Bob has been a broadcaster on television and radio covering MLB, minor league, and college baseball. Scan shares his passion and respect for the game, while calling it as he sees it with pre and post game analysis, stats, player reports, interviews, organizational news, and MLB updates, all from a player’s perspective at the Padres Pre-Game Show and Padres Postgame Show sports desks on Channel 4 San Diego. Along with his pre game and post game duties for Channel 4, Scan has also served as a guest analyst for Padres game telecasts.

He can also be seen, heard, or read on:
• The World Baseball Network radio program with co-host John Kentrera – airs during the season on Saturday mornings on XX1090 AM, throughout Southern California.
• NBC Channel 7/39 – Sports-Wrap guest baseball analyst.
• UC Irvine Baseball – radio play-by-play announcer, and game analyst for early in season broadcasts home and road.
• UC San Diego Baseball – Fill in radio play-by-play announcer, and game analyst for videocasts.
• XM/Sirius Radio Channel 175 MLB Homeplate – guest analyst on various programs sharing baseball analysis and insights.
• The Inside Pitch baseball talk segment – MLB analyst airing weekly on XX1090 AM.
• Padres On Deck Show – color guest analyst for the Padres’ flag ship XX1090 AM Sports Radio.
• Writing Forums – continues to write independently for several sports periodicals and forums, including his own blog here on HeyScan.com.

Bob has also worked in the past with:
• Fox Sports Net – pre and post game analyst, and clubhouse correspondent.
• Lake Elsinore Storm – guest radio game analyst