If you’re a baseball fan, you know the name Laz Diaz. The 63-year-old umpire has been a focal point for baseball critics and commentators for the vast majority of his 31-year career, from mistakes on balls and strikes to hot-mic moments that made for plenty of viral clips. Next Sunday, Diaz will call his final game as a Major League umpire, closing out a career in a job that is supremely demanding yet often one of the most underappreciated roles in the game.
When Diaz spoke to USA Today about his upcoming retirement, his reflections on the game he served for more than three decades hit home. Resentment. Anger. Frustration with a sport that, in his view, has become too focused on the wrong things. His parting words don’t exactly shed a positive light on the profession for those who may want to follow in his footsteps.
It made me think: Have sports radio’s veterans done enough to elevate the medium they once served for the next generation?
In speaking with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Diaz said he attempts to warn up-and-coming umpires about the pressures of the job. He tells them that if they can’t have fun with it, they shouldn’t do it.
“There’s just so much scrutiny and negative stuff now,” Diaz said via USA Today. “It’s nasty. We don’t get the recognition. Everybody is putting us down. Like with Angel (Hernandez) and C.B. (Bucknor), they got so much criticism, and they’re great umpires. But everything is just so (expletive) negative.”
Diaz went on to say that he won’t miss the game in retirement because the sport has become too technical, restricting an umpire’s ability to manage a game.
Doesn’t that sound a lot like some of the legends of the sports radio industry?
“The station just isn’t the same.”
“Radio is a dying industry.”
“Today’s hosts are too soft on the teams they talk about.”
“The corporate suits have ruined the industry forever.”
Embracing Evolution
Much like baseball, the sports radio industry is different today than it was decades ago. Radio is no longer the sole destination for compelling opinions from talented hosts. The success of the medium has been copied time and time again across sports television, podcasts and digital platforms.
That doesn’t mean the industry is dying. It means there is more competition.
Today, sports radio stations and talent have to cater not only to the terrestrial audience, but also to on-demand, digital and social audiences. There are more hats to wear and more platforms to understand. For every legend of the format who takes time to criticize the current state of the industry, they also know their success would never have happened in the same way in today’s sports media environment.
Sports radio isn’t dying. It’s evolving. Just like baseball.
Nothing goes back to the way it was before. And that’s what can be so frustrating about seasoned veterans sharing overly negative perceptions about the roles they helped establish for future generations.
If we want people to be excited about growing the industry, the biggest voices in it should also be its loudest megaphones. Instead of finding every negative, why not showcase the positives and explain the rewards that came from pursuing the passion.
Yes, times are different. But why can’t that be challenging and exciting at the same time? Fan behaviors are different. More voices have copied the success model of sports radio and adapted it to other mediums. That should be a source of pride and achievement. Not a reason to compare today unfavorably with what came before it.
Was Laz Diaz a perfect umpire? Of course not. The sport’s lineage is built around the human element of the game. Sports radio legends are no different. They weren’t perfect, either, and traditional voices once believed the format would never last. What sports radio proved is that human connection through the vessel of sports is something you can’t ignore. It created community, built careers and proved to be a model for others to follow.
Elevate, Not Exterminate
Today, everything is amplified. Yes, that brings more criticism, but only if you allow it to outweigh the positives of how powerful the industry continues to be. That’s where Diaz’s comments and the criticism from some legacy sports radio personalities intersect. The pressure is different, the technology is different and the audience has changed, but the challenge remains the same: What do you choose to focus on?
Without the growth and evolution of the game, there is no future for the people who want to be part of it. Baseball will change. Sports radio will change. The audience, technology and way people consume content will change.
That’s inevitable. What shouldn’t change is the passion for the industry.
The people who helped build sports radio have every right to be proud of what they accomplished. But they also have an opportunity — and a responsibility — to explain to the next generation why it was worth doing in the first place. Sports radio doesn’t need its legends to pretend everything is perfect. It needs them to amplify what still works.
Talk about the connections. The careers. The audiences that still care. The opportunities that exist because those who came before them proved sports talk could matter.
Laz Diaz spent 31 years on a baseball field. Sports radio’s veterans spent decades behind microphones building a medium that became a blueprint for television, podcasts and digital content. That’s a legacy worth celebrating and a medium worth promoting.
If sports radio is going to continue to grow and survive whatever comes next, its biggest voices should be among its biggest advocates. The next generation doesn’t need to hear why things used to be better.
They need to hear why what comes next is worth building.
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