Baseball’s best were on display Tuesday night in Cleveland, at the 90th MLB All-Star Game. With the sport returning to regularly scheduled programming Friday, I think that display really helped Major League Baseball and the coverage on Fox had a lot to do with that.
Now that the All-Star game is back to what it’s supposed to be, an exhibition, Fox put one on themselves with the telecast. Using in-game interviews, to allow viewers to actually get to know some of these players was one of the biggest hits to me. Most of the guys they chose to talk to showcased not only great play, but great personalities that allowed fans to see them in a different light during this game.
In a day and age where baseball is trying to appeal to a broader and younger audience, it was nice to see guys enjoying themselves. After all, they are playing a kids game.
To me Francisco Lindor stole the show. He was on air for an entire half inning of play. Early in the interview, he kept getting interrupted by everyone, from his third baseman Matt Chapman to umpire Phil Cuzzi. All were genuinely happy to see Lindor and exchange pleasantries with the Indians All-Star shortstop. He even made a restaurant reservation for someone on the field and gave a very nice free commercial for the local establishment. With the Cubs’ Kris Bryant at the plate, Joe Buck started to mention the “last time Bryant played in a big game in Cleveland….” Lindor interrupted and said “don’t want to hear about that…” referring to Bryant starting the final play that made the Cubs World Series Champs in 2016, ending the 108 year drought.
Lindor was a perfect ambassador for the game during his time on the air. When A’s pitcher Liam Hendriks caught his spikes and threw a strange pitch, Lindor cackled “I like that, I like that brother, that’s an All-Star trick, hey that’s a good way of making a highlight!”. Lindor even wanted to know where Buck and John Smoltz were sitting in the booth and gave them a little wave. I thought it was a pretty riveting time on the telecast. Lindor made it very difficult for even non-Indians fans to not like him. Great stuff.
It was pretty interesting to hear the three members of the Astros giving each other grief during an inning. Alex Bregman who had scored the first run the previous half inning, saying “I’m still out of breath”. He took it from Michael Brantley for “hustling and puffing out there, glad he made it, way to go Breg”. Great behind the curtain stuff.
Another moment I found very interesting, was the interview of both All-Star managers at the same time. Alex Cora and Dave Roberts are two of the nicest people in the game and they showed that even during play, they could be personable. Cora told the story about how in this is first ever All-Star game and how he was overwhelmed when Sandy Alomar Jr came into the clubhouse. It didn’t seem real for the man who took the Boston Red Sox to the World Series title in his first season in 2018. He and Roberts interacted during the interview as well.
Roberts talked about how much fun it is to manage a team with all these stars on it, but did admit to it being a challenge to get everyone into the game at some point. Later in the conversation, with the National League on the field, Roberts was asking Cora about what pitch was coming next. Cora said “fastball up” and Roberts went with “change up”, the pitch? Fastball. Made for some good “letting down of the guard” by these two very successful managers.
Freddie Freeman was a brave soul, for wearing a microphone and interacting with the booth as well as Gary Sanchez and the pitcher Justin Verlander. Freeman saying “I know what you’re going to throw me…no (to a slider) a heater”. Except Verlander threw that slider to his back foot. Verlander can be heard saying “swing the bat”, prompting Freeman to tell the Astros pitcher, “throw me a strike!” Pretty cool.
There were a couple of other Cleveland moments that are worth mentioning because they tugged at heart strings. MLB’s initiative to promote cancer awareness in association with Stand Up 2 Cancer was front and center late in the game. All fans were standing with placards to say who they are standing up for when on the field surrounded by teammates, Carlos Carrasco, The Indians pitcher was recently diagnosed with Leukemia, appeared. He’s being treated now, but to see him out there holding up “I stand” was pretty poignant.
The other moment, appropriately happened near the end of the game. Aroldis Chapman was cruising, with only one out to get before the AL won its 7th straight All-Star game. He looked toward the third base dugout and walking toward him was CC Sabathia. The current Yankee and former Indian is retiring at the end of this year. He wanted to make sure Chapman was “good” and then walked back to the dugout to a standing ovation.
Sabathia won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award with Cleveland. Whoever thought of this way of getting the lefty a well deserved final bow in the city he started in, take a bow yourself.
It wasn’t all home runs for the Fox telecast though. I still think the broadcast features too much Buck and not enough Smoltz. The Hall of Fame closer is so in tune with the game and has become one of the best analysts in the game. He has an easy going demeanor and isn’t afraid to poke a little fun at himself. The self deprecation is an endearing trait, considering that his baseball career was an incredible one. There are times in my opinion he gets a little pushed aside by Buck. During many of the on field interviews, we barely heard from the guy who was an All-Star, which isn’t how I would have drawn it up.
Is it just me, or has Fox’s audio always been an issue? They have so many microphones all over the field (the players, the bases, the walls and dugouts) that they sometimes drown each other out. It sounds like a great vacuum sometimes with a whooshing quality that isn’t all that pleasant on the ears. Some sounds are way too loud, like when a player slides into a base, the commentary gets completely washed out. I’m all for the “sounds of the game” (as I mentioned earlier) but I want to be able to hear all of the sounds of the game.
I’m sure there were some that thought all the “bells and whistles” got in the way of the game. Many people watching don’t have a dog in the fight and want to be entertained. I think they were and maybe a few that weren’t before became baseball fans or fans of a few of these players after checking out the game.
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.
