Doc Emrick has called exactly one baseball game in his broadcasting career. As a graduate student at Miami (Ohio), he filled in at the last minute for a game against Kent State.
Emrick, the national hockey play-by-play man for NBC who has spent more than 40 years calling hockey games, will get another chance at baseball this spring by calling some Pirates spring training games.
“I didn’t know anything,” said Emrick, who visited Pirate City Thursday, of that college baseball game in the 1960s. “All we had was a lineup, no media guide, nothing.”
Emrick called the game with Stan Savran, at the time a senior at Miami and now a radio host in Pittsburgh. Future rookie of the year and MVP Thurman Munson played in the game, and Cy Young award winner Steve Stone was available to pitch but never did.
“I don’t remember who won,” Emrick said. “I do remember that you can only mention the flag blowing a certain way in center field so many times without driving people nuts, but there was a lot of time to fill between pitches. I was awful. Stan got through it OK.”
Emrick, who was honored with the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2008, began broadcasting hockey games in 1973. He spent 21 years calling New Jersey Devils games before working for NBC exclusively starting in 2011. He taught at Geneva College in Beaver Falls from 1969-71, and, during that time, covered the Penguins, on a volunteer basis, for the Beaver County Times. Over the years, he became a huge Pirates fan.
“I was raised on Bob Prince,” he said.
Emrick and Pirates play-by-play man Greg Brown have known each other for years, and Emrick will work with Brown in the booth.
“I thought, gee, if there was ever a case when I could be on with Brownie, that would be fun for me,” Emrick said. “I don’t know if it would be for the audience, but if it was a harmless spring training game, maybe people would be sympathetic, saying, that’s just Doc, let him go for a little bit.”
To read the rest of this story visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where it was originally published
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
