As the World Series continues, Jon Sciambi, affectionately known as “Boog,” is in the midst of his first year as the national radio voice of the Fall Classic.
Sciambi, the television voice of the Chicago Cubs on Marquee Sports Network, succeeds Dan Shulman in the role and highly regards the responsibility of delivering the action to baseball fans. He is on the call with analysts Jessica Mendoza and Eduardo Pérez, along with insider Buster Olney. Sciambi is staying focused on the nuances of the job and making sure he adequately performs his role.
“People cannot watch the game, so as the saying goes, it’s painting the picture,” he said in an interview with Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. “There’s a craft to it, and it’s something that I really take seriously and something that I love.”
There are innate differences between calling contests on radio as opposed to performing play-by-play duties on television. Jon Sciambi has balanced both throughout the season as the regional voice of the Cubs and national radio voice for most Sunday Night Baseball contests.
“For radio, there is trying to deliver images in people’s heads,” Sciambi said. “You want to try to, as efficiently as possible, describe what you’re seeing. You want to use the sounds of the ballpark. When you do it well, you feel like you’re conducting an orchestra.
“Whereas on television, you have different choices that you can make, but the viewer can always see it. So if you want to say, ‘Here’s the 2-1,’ you can, but the score bug shows you that it’s the 2-1, and you see the pitcher pitching. On radio, they don’t know that the play is starting until you say, ‘Montgomery kicks and deals.’”
