Baseball itself has changed a lot over the years: the way teams travel, to the building of new parks, sabermetrics and of course the defensive shift. Because of all of that change, broadcasts and broadcasters have had to change the way some information is presented, but some habits have been hard to break. I know, because I’m guilty of a few of these myself. So, don’t take this as me scolding, instead maybe think of it as a reminder that we all need to pay attention to this issue.
For as long as I can remember baseball broadcasts have featured a lengthy out of town scoreboard. The action takes a back seat to “out of town scores”. This info was relevant for a while. The days before electronic devices made this scoreboard feature a big deal if you wanted to know a specific score. But as my old broadcast partner Jerry Coleman used to say “that was then, this is now”.
I’m not sure how needed this information is anymore. Why take anything away from the team you are actually calling games for to bring some meaningless scores from around the league. Chances are pretty good that if you want to know a score, you can easily find it. Your smartphone, tablet, or computer has that information covered.
Now there are a couple of exceptions to this rule. Pennant races late in the season are a good reason to keep an audience updated on another team’s score. If Team A, needs Team B to lose, well certainly if you’re calling games for Team A, your audience cares if Team B wins or loses.
The other exceptions would be if something very out of the ordinary is going on in a game, if an individual had a monster game or there was a significant injury involved. To update the score of last week’s Padres/Phillies game would have been a good idea, considering Andrew McCutchen left with an injury. It turned out to be a significant one, with an ACL tear. If you were talking about the White Sox/Astros game from a couple of weeks ago, I’d be fine with an update on that game considering the Sox turned a triple play and hit a grand slam in the same contest. You get the idea.
When it comes the next two old habits, I have been guilty of both in the last two weeks.
Baseball is fighting the image that it’s a slow sport that drags on and on. The worst part is that at times the game does drag on. If you’re a broadcaster constantly reminding people of this fact it sounds like you’d rather be somewhere else or that this game is infringing on your time. I understand that in the moment, yes, the game can get long and drawn out, but I feel like we should make the best of it.
Instill a little humor or interesting fact. “There have been 82 pitches thrown in this inning by 4 pitchers…”, that gives the listener an idea of how long things have been going on. It should also give you an opportunity to tell a story or two, relate a conversation you had with a player or coach before the game. I know I’m guilty here too, but we should all be trying to change.
This next one came up recently while doing a road series with the White Sox in Washington DC. Those that have called games in Nationals Park know exactly how high the broadcast booths are in relation to the field. I’ve heard (and probably said), “there will be no fly balls higher than where we’re located”, or “we hired Sherpa’s to help us climb up to the booth”.
Ok once it may come off as sarcastic and funny, more than that, seems to the listener that you’re complaining about being paid to be at a baseball game. I get it, sarcasm might be my actual middle name, but we have to be better than that!
Maybe instead of the sarcasm we can describe how well we can see the defensive alignments, or how it’s a bird’s eye view of the jump the left fielder gets on a ball in the gap? I’m going to try this for sure.
I know I’m coming off a bit preachy here. I’ve listened back to some of my work this season and noticed a few of these “crutches” and I cringe a little bit. I can only imagine what our listeners are thinking.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
