Hearing voices
Enjoying an afternoon of baseball on the radio
This should come as no surprise considering I’ve spent the majority of the last 3 decades doing baseball play-by-play on the radio, but it’s my opinion that—if you can’t be at the ballpark—there’s no better way to enjoy a ballgame than by listening to a hometown radio voice.
Each brings his (or her!) own distinct style, a unique voice, cadence and rhythm.
In most markets, long-time radio voices become members of the family because baseball, like life, comes at you every day. They’re with you in the car, at the beach and on dog walks. Sometimes, they may even be the last voice you hear before you fall asleep at night.
Thursday afternoon, I found myself in the car for several hours, and thanks to the MLB app and a busy get-away day slate of afternoon games, I was able to bounce from game to game and—better yet—from voice to voice.
The Pirates’ 6-2 victory over the Dodgers provided a stark contrast in tone.
On the Bucs broadcast, you could hear a smile and even a hint of incredulity in the voice of Greg Brown as the National League’s biggest April surprise closed out a series win over the powerful Dodgers, improving to an improbable 18-8 to begin the season.
The Pirates have their best 26-game record since 1992, Barry Bonds’ final season in the Steel City and the last time the club won its division.
As Brown (who joined the Pirates broadcast 2 years later) and partner Bob Walk (who won 10 games for that ‘92 club) discussed after the final out, many around the baseball world expected the Pirates to fall back to earth with the Dodgers’ arrival at PNC Park this week. And when Pittsburgh blew a 5-run lead in a series-opening 8-7 loss Tuesday night, which snapped a 7-game winning streak, some seats opened up on the bandwagon.
But the Pirates bounced back with 8-1 and 6-2 wins to take the series and close out a 6-1 homestand. No one knows how long it will last, but it was apparent in Brown’s voice that he’s enjoying the ride.
You could feel the energy from the fans roaring for the final out in the background. My guess is it’s been a while since Brown’s customary, “Raise the Jolly Roger!” victory call felt so good.
Down the hall in the visiting radio booth high atop PNC Park, Tim Neverett quizzed partner Rick Monday about what the Dodgers need to do to escape their early-season doldrums. The Dodgers have won the NL West 9 of the last 10 seasons and are coming off a franchise-record 111 victories in 2022. The toll of a win-one, lose-one 13-13 start was apparent in both of their voices.
It was a vibe you haven’t gotten often on Dodgers radio in recent years.
The best news for LA is that the NL West rival Padres are also treading water through the season’s first month. And at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon, Padres voices Jesse Agler and Tony Gwynn Jr. sounded a lot like Neverett and Monday. There was resignation in the usually-upbeat Agler’s voice as Jake Cronenworth’s fly ball to left dropped into the glove of Ian Happ, sealing a 5-2 Cubs win and a series victory for the North Siders.
In the Cubs booth, Pat Hughes, who will be honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence in July, was silky smooth when the team’s big free agent signing of the winter, Dansby Swanson, sent one toward Waveland Avenue in the 7th inning.
“Swanson drives one in the air, left field…Back goes Soto…Back near the wall…
It’s got a chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance…
That ball is GONE!…HOME RUN!…Dansby Swanson, his first in a Cubs uniform.”
I can’t help but listen to Pat, now in his 28th season at Wrigley Field, and think about the place he’s earned in the hearts of Cubs fans and in the remarkable legacy of voices in Cubs history, including 6 previous Frick Award winners.
Bob Elson, Russ Hodges, Jimmy Dudley, Jack Brickhouse, Milo Hamilton and Harry Caray all spent part of their careers calling Cubs games on their way to Cooperstown. And a young broadcaster named Ronald Reagan recreated Cubs games off of wire accounts for WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa from 1933-36 on his way to the White House.
In Atlanta, Ben Ingram and Braves Hall of Famer Joe Simpson were calm and classy as they dealt with the indignity of waiting through a 3-hour rain delay then seeing their club cough up a 4-0 lead in the 9th as the Marlins avoided a 4-game series sweep.
Ingram is a Mississippi native with a distinct Southern sound that fits Atlanta like a tall glass of sweet iced tea. Although he’s only in his early 40s, he has a much older sound, a great classic baseball play-by-play voice. It’s not at all difficult to imagine Ingram sliding seamlessly into the booth at old Fulton County Stadium alongside Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren and Ernie Johnson Sr., the iconic trio who, individually and together, traversed all or part of 5 decades on Braves broadcasts.
While the Braves have been the class of the National League for the last 30-plus years, there were some very lean seasons when Caray, Van Wieren and Johnson were in the booth together. They may not have seemed so funny at the time, but today Braves fans can laugh about classic Caray-isms such as, "Like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field."
Once, during what was expected to be a brief rain delay, he tossed to alternate programming by saying, "This shouldn't take long, so we'll show you a Three Stooges comedy. I hope you'll be able to tell the difference."
Despite George Kirby’s brilliance on the mound, the Mariners lost a 1-0 pitchers duel in Philadelphia.
Rick Rizzs’ silky baritone has provided the soundtrack of summer in Seattle for the last 38 seasons, and it was on display throughout the 2:04 sprint.
Caught up in Rick’s edge-of-your-seat energy Thursday, I couldn’t help but consider how great it would be for the Mariners to reach their first World Series in the not-too-distant future so their terrific voice would finally have the chance to shine on Baseball’s biggest stage.
One April afternoon, 4 ballgames. Boy was it fun to enjoy the view from my front-row seat on the radio.
I listen to wayyy more baseball than I watch. When I can get them to sync up, I like to listen to the radio broadcast and watch the game with the sound off...best of both worlds!
Growing up in Pa.I used to listen to all the Pirates games on KDKA with Bob Prince. His voice just made the games seem more exciting. We didn’t have much tv coverage in the 50’s so radio was very important to those of us that were big baseball fans.