Baseball broadcasts are still being held hostage in several cities. There has been no ransom demanded or locations given for a money drop. It’s a shame too, because the hostage holders are the very networks and teams these broadcasts are seen/heard on.
While the country is trying to get back to normal, some broadcasts are still not traveling to games. Yes, I’m serious. The number of networks behaving this way is dropping, but the fact that there is still a list is absolutely maddening.
I’ll say it as bluntly as I can. There is no excuse for broadcasters not to be traveling. None. Yes, in 2020 it was the only way. Today it’s more NO WAY. The fact that networks, radio stations, and teams are fighting this is ridiculous. For those claiming to want the best broadcasts they can possibly get to serve a fan base, not allowing travel is hypocritical.
MASN issued a statement as to why it wasn’t allowing broadcast teams to travel. It read “The global pandemic required all of us to learn new lessons in innovation, resourcefulness, and resilience. MASN is carrying forward some of those lessons.”
These teams are taking heat from the media and from the fans. Rightfully so. I felt for Bob Carpenter on the Nationals’ television broadcast, when the picture was lost during Washington’s game at Pittsburgh. What do you do? How are you supposed to do your job? You can’t. There was also confusion over a player entering the game.
This is so unfair to the broadcasters and worse, to the fans.
The Orioles had several issues too. Fans complained about delayed commentary, like when a key error was called several seconds after it was already seen by fans. During one spring training game, an on-site MASNsports.com reporter handled the broadcast because of technical difficulties. It’s not the broadcasters’ fault at all. Blame those that deserve it – RSNs that are trying to save a buck.
Finally, the folks at MASN caved to the ongoing pressures. The Nationals broadcasters were in San Francisco for the series on April 29th and the Orioles were back on the road for a series with the Yankees April 26th. Victory!
It took embarrassing glitches, numerous mistakes, and finally social media critiques by the team’s fan bases. There was no reason for this to even be an issue.
The folks making the decisions seemingly don’t understand how difficult it is to broadcast a game while you’re at the park, let alone trying to follow the action from miles away. If the decision-makers actually did “get it,” it would not have taken all that it did to get this situation corrected.
Broadcasters are ultimately judged on how they perform. Putting the added stress of not being able to actually see the game doesn’t help their cause. Some fans are quick to criticize without knowing the circumstances and the degree of difficulty these professionals are performing under.
The situation in Anaheim is a little different, but the results have been the same. The Angels’ play-by-play man on television is Matt Vasgersian. He is calling games from Secaucus, New Jersey with the rest of the crew in California. Vasgersian also works for MLB Network, so remote broadcasts are needed in his case. He plans to do up to 100 games for the Angels this season. But the telecasts have been riddled with issues. In mid-April, the Angels were in Texas to face the Rangers. Vasgersian calling the game from hundreds of miles away had the call of a Mike Trout homer that was way behind the picture on TV. Then Vasgersian initially called a home run by Jared Walsh a foul ball.
“My frustration is high,” Vasgersian told The Athletic recently. “I don’t take myself very seriously…But I take the work seriously. So, if your work is being criticized and clowned on, that stinks. And yeah, I don’t like the idea of that.”
Again, don’t blame the broadcaster.
At this moment, the Angels aren’t planning to travel their radio crew this year. The Orioles seemingly have no plans to let the radio broadcasters follow the television team on the road. The Blue Jays won’t let the radio broadcaster travel either. This is unacceptable as well. It’s much more difficult to call a remote game on radio.
I know, because I did it during the 2020 season with the White Sox. We didn’t complain about it then, because the pandemic was raging and we were working. Less than ideal, but the games were going on.
The biggest issue as I recall, you couldn’t just trust your eyes. There were multiple monitors in front of me. One had the program feed, there was a tiled screen with the scoreboard, bullpens and an all-9 wide shot of the field. That picture was tiny. To try and pick up a ball in the gap on that monitor was hard to do. I was basically flying blind.
You had to do the best you could and go against everything you knew in play-by-play. I mean, I wanted to be fast to the call like normal, but I had to wait. It seemed like an agonizing amount of time to make sure things happened the way I thought they might. I made plenty of mistakes, I will admit, but I was doing the best I could.
Brian Anderson backed my thought on the situation. The Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster said in an interview reprinted by the Washington Post, that calling a game off a monitor requires an announcer to rethink years of muscle memory.
“In the stadium, you see contact and you can immediately react. But on the monitor, you would have to wait two beats,” he said. “You fight every instinct to say something because you have to sit there in silence and wait for the next frame because you can’t be wrong. And two seconds can feel like an eternity.”
Like I said, you can’t just trust your eyes and normal thoughts.
“My eyes can travel 300 feet in a split second,” Anderson said. “But on the monitor, batted balls can look like a foul ball. You can also use your ears at the park, how the ball sounds off the bat. That’s one thing I really lost — how it sounded and how the player reacts when he hits.” he said. I’ll add too, that baseball is probably the hardest to call off of just a monitor. The ball can go in multiple directions and you are at the mercy of a good director and camera operators.”
There is another problem with the broadcasters not traveling with the team. Now that things are becoming more normal again, announcers and reporters have access to the clubhouse again. Those that are on site are getting to develop relationships and are finding out things that the team broadcasters aren’t. I can only imagine how unprepared even the most prepared broadcaster is feeling when he/she doesn’t get word of something that everybody else knows.
Every announcer will tell you that there is value in being there. Going all-in on the team you’re covering is important. Now, even Zoom press conferences are being phased out creating an additional challenge to get information when you aren’t there. I’m getting frustrated for these folks just writing this.
2020 forced everyone into pivot mode. We all had to be creative on how the product was delivered. The layout and monitor setup we started with in Chicago changed as the season went on based on our needs. It was great to see the cooperation level back then. It was a “whatever you need” mentality. What we all need in 2022 is for teams/networks/radio stations to stop making excuses and get our broadcasters back on the road.
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.
