Dennis Eckersley has said that when this season concludes for the Boston Red Sox, he will be calling it a career. On Tuesday night, he offered advice to Will Middlebrooks on how to be successful in the TV booth.
Middlebrooks has been in the NESN booth before but this time, with the exit of Eckersley and the season looming, he took a moment to ask for some advice from Eck.
“I’m new here,” Middlebrooks began, “what would make me good at this job?”
Eckersley didn’t have to hesitate before divulging some wisdom.
“Not being afraid to say what needs to be said,” Eckersley said. “That’s probably one of the hardest things to do coming out of the dugout. Once you leave the dugout, you’re not in the dugout anymore. Players have a hard time with it, because this game is not easy and then we get up here and it looks a lot easier up here.”
Eckersley would continue by adding that being live, as a broadcaster, it can be scary but nothing else compares to the feelings he got while playing.
“Be who you are and it’s scary because if you are who you are, you can’t be afraid to be who you are,” Eckersley opined. “Sometimes you feel a little naked up here because, I don’t know, it’s falling off a cliff sometimes. Because you never know, it’s live. This is as close as it gets to playing because you get a little nervous, I love it. that’s why it’s going to be hard to leave, cause there’s nothing that you do in life that gets you going like this.”
