The art of storytelling is what sets good baseball broadcasts apart

Quick question off the top:

Miss the pucks yet?

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You know, I’m quite glad when good people get big jobs and there’s no doubt that Dan Shulman is one of the very best baseball broadcasters in the world but, man, did I miss him on the radio Sunday night.

(I know, it’s been a while since he’s been there but I’m not in the car for extended time on most Sundays).

Was driving back from Buffalo and not much helps pass the time than a big ball game on the radio and the Nats-Braves last night was pretty big with division and wild card implications.

But it wasn’t that good, to tell you the truth.

No disrespect to the guys doing the game but they seemed to be treating it as some fast-paced action event, all breathless and loud and excited.

It was baseball. It unfolds at a leisurely pace, you can’t over-hype it with excited yelps with every hit and baserunner.

I guess that’s why the best pros get to the really big gigs, they understand radio inflection, they get that the game is somewhat slow and there are times when stories should be told rather than stats delivered.

The game I listened to was too full of “information” rather than stories, I could learn what this guy or that guy had done in his last 20 at-bats or four pitching outings but I didn’t hear an old story once.

I wish Vin Scully did every baseball game every night from every ball park.

There is no sport better suited to radio than baseball, never will be, but it’s best suited to that medium because the best broadcasters know how weave tales into the game, they know when to throttle back on the excitement and let some history come through.

It’s got to be tremendously hard, requiring experience, context, the ability to string along a story in between plays.

The greats do it; the lesser greats turn what could be a tremendously enjoyable evening into just another game.

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So, what’s an NFL day like for a grunt?

(Yeah, that’s how I spent my Sunday, chronicling the adventures of the Buffalo Bills; Smelly Ford Focus got me through another few hours of driving)

Well, I don’t have anything to compare the Buffalo experience to but the Bills do it up pretty well.

An interloper gets a seat on the 50, albeit three rows back, but there’s a good gratis breakfast, the PR folks couldn’t do enough for you, access to the locker room and interview room post-game goes off without a hitch and the players were quotable, glad to answer any question and available in pretty good time.

The only issue would be the somewhat antiseptic feeling in the press box, which is glass-enclosed and the windows don’t open.

Now, I understand how glad you’d be for that in, say, November or December but it tends to make it eerily quiet in there, no ambient crowd noise, you can’t hear the hits and it’s kind of lke watching a game on the best 120-yard long HD television in the world.

If it wasn’t for all the Sunday afternoon/evening basketball that’s in my future, I’d go back again in a heartbeat.

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Heard this on the radio whilst typing this morning (thanks, Q107, you never disappoint) and it opens an age-old debate.

Bewitched debuted today in 1964 – I don’t remember the first episode but I sure saw of lot of them – and I need to know:

Which Darrin was better?

I’m going with Dick York but it’s close.

And, yes, I had as big a crush on Elizabeth Montgomery as you can imagine; who didn’t?

But I liked Serena a bit better than Samantha and when I used to watch Hollywood Squares, I always thought of Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur.

And wasn’t Abner Kravitz the most put-upon husband of all time?

Yeah, I spent far too many hours of the formative years watching TV.

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Speaking of coming Sunday afternoons …

Two weeks today is media day, two weeks tomorrow is first practice out east in Halifax (yes, I’ll be seeking food/drink input from Haligonians as we get closer to the date) and you can sense a level of anticipation here and around the league.

I understand Valanciunas got in on the weekend, I think about a dozen of the 16 guys coming to camp are in town (Lowry gets in today, I’m reading) and the coaches are hanging around devising practice plans and stuff like that.

Guess that’s all a long-winded way of saying we’re closing in on a time when there’ll be legitimate HOTH items for here.

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Oh, yeah, Bills fans.

I know we couldn’t hear the audience as well as we’d like but apparently there’s some reward system where fans get free subs or somesuch if the team scores 20 points in a game and when the Bills got third touchdown, I didn’t see anyone going wild with glee over free food at all.

There’s a difference in the two crowds.

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Wonder if the guy I was following down the Peace Bridge yesterday morning – the one with the Ontario licence plate that read SASK RR – was a bit conflicted about going to a Bills game?

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And I guess there’s nothing wrong with a church charging $20 a car to park on a Sunday morning but when I pulled up around 11 a.m. I did wonder where all the parishioners were.

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Comments

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:

"stories should be told rather than stats delivered." I think that is why I'm such a huge fan of your blog. I can get the game stats and results from a myriad of places (although the only place I go is to your gamer), but your blog puts perspective on the numbers, tells us about the people behind them and brings them to life.
Thanks!

[Tim]

Well said, Tim H.

[Matty-Pix]

Good work on using the proper Haligonian term. I've spent the past decade or more heavily researching the answer to the establishment questions when they arise.

[sam]

There isn't a better way than to spend a summers evening than sitting on your deck listening to a well called baseball game. The TOD is well served with Jerry and Alan, and before that the late Tom Cheek, who I hope makes it to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dick Sargeant - Darrin #2 - many years back when I coached Special Olympics - It was at the Summer Games in London Ontario too many years ago. He was kind and patient with the athletes and willing to talk about his years as Darrin #2 on Bewitched and his affection for Elizabeth Montgomery.

[Mike D.]

Doug, the church undoubtedly held an early service at which the parishioners prayed for a Bills victory and for a whole bunch of people to park in their lot.

[David T (State College)]

Let me get the bar rolling on Halifax, NS suggestions. This all comes from going to a couple of conferences at Dalhousie.
1 - Dinner at Wooden Monkey
2 - Martinis at the Fireside. Particularly, go on Monday night when the martinis are, I think, $5 all night.

Some other suggestions:
- Your Father's Moustache wins best bar name and has a decent amount of TVs, but the selection isn't great.
- Rockbottom is in the same building and they will treat you well for food and (microbrew) beer. Just be careful of their stout -- it's a little too smoky for my taste.
- A few doors down (and upstairs) from there is a sports bar with a little bit better TV situation, if that's what you're after.

For lunch: on Spring Garden close to Dal try almost anything at Cafe Istanbul and you won't be disappointed.

For breakfast: a little further down, I think is a place called something like "Mary's". It's got a bunch of Shawarma-esque food on the menu, but they also do a nice breakfast. And what beats breakfast with falafel and garlic sauce?

[Rob.V]

The parishioners we're inebriated, and at the bills game... like everyone else silly!

[LeeZ]

Doug, if anyone writes in to say they thought Dick Sargeant was a better Darren, please revoke their membership in the Irregulars. It is no contest, my friend. No. Contest. And yeah, Serena was hot, I suppose, but come on, no one was hotter than Sam.
As for game callers, my all-time fave was Scooter. Used to listen to Yankee broadcasts back in the day (we won't say which day...), and Scooter and his "HOLY COW's!", along with Frank White as the colour man, were unbeatable. My brother and I would be hunched over our transistor radio in the bedroom we shared, waaaaaaay after we were supposed to be asleep, trying to hear the game through the static of the Syracuse station that picked up the broadcasts. Between innings we'd shut off the radio to "conserve power". Gosh. Good memories.

[Eric-in-NS]

In the 1960's growing up in the Washington DC area,, after listening to local (expansion) Senators (baseball) broadcasts, I happened to be able to receive the signal from KMOX and listen to the Cardinal broadcasts. Their broadcast team was Joe Garagiola, Harry Carey and Jack Buck, who all went on to do very well as most people know. The three of them would get wrapped up with stories in a wonderful way -- Musial facing Spahn recalling all other times the two faced each other, for instance -- that they would neglect to report the play-by-play (to the delight of most listeners I'm sure). "Meanwhile down on the field, Stan hit a single to right but White hit into a double play and that's the inning. No runs, one hit..."

[Colin]

The Old Triangle for good Live Celtic Music and a plate of Curry Chicken and Chips (with mushy peas!)

Your Welcome!

[LeeZ]

@Eric-in-NS: Great story. And at the risk of sounding like an old foagie (or like the Four Yorkshiremen sketch), the kids today just don't get what a great experience it was to listen to a game rather than watch it, especially with the announcers back then. And even in Toronto, we had Earlie Wynn (sp.?), who was so bad he was good! "Doug Alt is at the plate, and here's the pitch. Lazy pop up into shallow left field, and...(and here his voice all of a sudden gets animated and his cadence rapid fire)...and it's a home run!!!"
btw, I too grew up in the 60s in the DC area, in my case College Park just off Route 1. You?

[Dave T (Ottawa)]

I almost forgot!!

Morris East for some of the best wood-fired pizza you can find. Also excellent cocktails including some house-made (non-alcoholic) infusions. I guess there was a bit of a controversy a few years ago because they were making their own infused liquor and then had to stop because the NLSC couldn't accurately determine their ABV, but the end result is still excellent (though they can get a little sweet)

http://www.morriseast.com/

[Lorie]

Hello Doug,
Ahhh, The Dick Debate - second only to Which Cousin Would You Rather Be: Patty Or Cathy? - growing up at my house. My sisters always thought New Dick was cuter, but I was a solid supporter of Old Dick. He had an "Aw Shucks" genuineness that I found so appealing. And made him the perfect foil for the REAL star of the show - Endora! Had we ever before seen such utter fabulousness in prime time? With a mere lift of one of those deftly-drawn eyebrows (And have you ever seen such skillfully applied eyeliner? But between you and me, her blue eyeshadow seemed a tad overdone, I always thought...) she left no doubt about what an utter fool she perceived son-in-law Dilbert-Dilwood-Dagwood to be. And just about anyone and anything else, too. Her reaction to Samantha's explanation of baseball is typical. And a hoot.
http://youtu.be/IqhngG2pJ28

[LeeZ]

@Lorie: Endora was played by Agnes Moorehead. While Endora is probably the role she was most famous for (and she was GREAT, to be sure), she was also a member of Orson Welles' repertory company, and was in many of his greatest movies, including (if I'm not mistaken) Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. It's funny how some of the top character actors in the 60s and 70s had actually been magnificent film actors, like The Penguin (Burgess Meredith, who was in The Grapes of Wrath) and Catwoman (Ertha Kitt), to cite just one tv show as an example.

[LeeZ]

Oh, almost forgot: I think Mr. Freeze was played by the great Eli Wallach. And The Joker by Ceasar Romero. Now that I think of it, that show probably did more to shine a spotlight on aging but still great movie stars than any other.

[LeeZ]

One FINAL (I promise) rumination of the whole Batman employing aging film stars of yesteryear: it's a delicious irony that just as my parents told me that Agnes Moorhead and Burgess Meredith etc. used to be great movie stars, now I find myself telling my own kids that the guy who plays the Mayor on Family Guy used to play Batman! What goes around...

[Lorie]

@LeeZ
Oh, you're right about Agnes Morehead - who apparently was (correctly as it turned) so concerned that she would only be remembered for her role as Endora that she had it stipulated in her contract that she only be written in three-quarters of the episodes of Bewitched to allow her time to pursue more 'serious' acting roles. And how many only know Jim Backus from his portrayal of Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island and not from his role - alongside James Dean - in the iconic film "Rebel Without A Cause"? To say nothing of his voiceover work as Mr. Magoo?!

[Mike kovacs]

I loved Early Wynn! Especially when he called the 'filth inning'!

[doug]

oh Elizabeth Montgomery that was a MILF for the ages...her and Diahann Carroll were my top 2... and Dick YOrk hands down..baseball was meant for the radio and story-telling and this year Pat and Buck on the tellie they aren't statistic heavy guys, tell stories have a few laughs raise a few questions they seem to get it, I use to like Alan Ashby when he was a guest in the booth but now I find him to serious ...Early Wynn was the best you may not have have had a clue what was going on in the game , as he didn't but you were undoubtedly entertained...ok cheers....

[doug]

to those that are baseball fans Richard Griffins weekly column is a must read one of the best written overviews of the Jays and baseball going..it's great writing, informative plus with rants...just like this blog only a column...

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/article/1257782--richard-griffin-s-bullpen-baltimore-orioles-top-oakland-a-s-as-al-s-surprise-team

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Pat Tabler is excellent.
Now, I'll see your Elizabeth Montgomery and raise you a Marlo Thomas – yes, That Girl!
So Doug, is the three-month lockout now a standard formula for North American professional sports? The owners 'save' some bucks on the front end of the pseudo-lost season, then bank on raking it in starting around the holidays... and none of it has one lick of a thing to do with long-term collective bargaining?
Cheers. Go Raps!

Blogger's note: I (heart) Marlo Thomas

[james]

Baseball on the radio, a special thing: In the mid-1960s in Toronto it was possible for a Dodger fan to experience an almost complete season of LA night games beginning at 11:00 p.m., thanks to AM radio's atmospheric skips (playing a bit of havoc with class the next morning in the early season). Scully, of course, was too far away but, as Bluenoser Eric notes, KMOX would bring Cardinal games, WLW ("the nation's station") the Reds, WGN the Cubs, along with, more inconsistently, Phillies, Mets and on the odd night, the Astros from New Orleans. But a particular favourite was Pirate broadcaster Bob Prince covering the exploits of a player he called "the Great Roe-bair-toe", AKA the star-crossed Clemente. One night Koufax tossed what I recall as a 13-hit shutout against the Buccos (another Prince-ism) and Bob, more than a bit of a homer, almost swallowed his mike.

[doug]

if it is conclusive and without question then Yunel Escobar should be suspended for the rest of the season by AA and traded.....plain and simple as far as I am concerned no debate, no discussion pack your bags and see you later....cheers...

[LeeZ]

@Doug the poster: the problem with Ashby is he never. Shuts. Up!!! He has Have-To-Fill-Every-Second-Of-Dead-Air disease, a common ailment afflicting radio guys who fill in on tv broadcasts.

[sportschic]

Lots of Elizabeth Montgomery fans here, but what about Barbara Eden? No love for the Genie?

I just wished I could twitch my nose like Samantha.

Blogger's note: Genie, Samantha, Laura Petri, the conversation could endless.