On Saturday night from Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, a dust-up ensued when Cleveland Guardians infielder José Ramírez dove head first into second base to secure a double. The slide nearly interfered with Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson’s attempt to tag him out, and seconds later, he confronted his opponent and ultimately ended up dropping the gloves. The two star players were able to land a few punches before being restrained by teammates, one of which was a right hook that knocked Anderson to the ground.
Cleveland Guardians fans listening to the melee on the radio heard play-by-play announcer Tom Hamilton describe the action, using imagery and evoking a clear picture of what was going on. In a call resembling legendary broadcaster Howard Cossell’s enduring account of “The Sunshine Showdown” between George Foreman and Joe Frazier, Hamilton exclaimed, “Down goes Anderson! Down goes Anderson!” During his postgame press conference, Guardians manager Terry Francona emphasized the severity of the altercation, but also made sure to mention Hamilton’s enthusiastic and hardly melodramatic verbal composition.
In a conversation with Sports Illustrated columnist Jimmy Traina, Hamilton explained how appreciative he was of the positive feedback on the call, which went viral on social media and is being lauded by many to be among his best work. The veteran radio broadcaster, who is in the midst of his 34th season calling Cleveland’s MLB games, immediately deflected attention away from the vociferation and instead towards Ramírez.
“It’s one of those things where it’s so unexpected because sometimes you can see a fight brewing because maybe there have been guys getting drilled by pitchers in a series or in a certain game and you feel like, ‘Uh oh. If somebody else gets hit, we’re going to have somebody charge the mound and look out,’” Hamilton articulated. “This was out of the blue; I don’t think any of us saw it coming.”
Especially since the skirmish abruptly began, Hamilton had to rely on his sterling eloquence and adept diction to find the words to duly encapsulate the moment. He asserted how there was no plan or forethought about what he would say if there were to be a bench-clearing brawl and simply had to sonically depict what was occurring on the field.
“There are a lot of times you walk out of that booth after a ballgame and you go, ‘Why did I say that?’ or, ‘Why didn’t I say this?,’” Hamilton said. “That was a night I was fortunate that maybe I said the right thing.”
Hamilton is a broadcaster synonymous with his team, representative of the sound of summer to generations of baseball fans in the locale. Through all of his years watching and calling baseball, he has been on hand for numerous brawls – but never one where two players evidently squared up with one another.
“It was almost like the second base umpire was like a boxing referee,” Hamilton recalled, “and he backed out of there and let them go.”
When Hamilton arrived at the ballpark for the Sunday game between the Guardians and White Sox, players on the team wanted him to do the call for them again. Hamilton, however, declined to do so, recognizing how it occurred in the moment and being careful not to say the wrong thing and being suspended or fired. Broadcasters need to be conscientious of the effects their actions could have on their employer and career, as demonstrated by Orioles play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown’s reported suspension. It came after a relatively banal remark about the team pertaining to their record against the Tampa Bay Rays in a recent broadcast open and strides in the right direction.
As for Hamilton, his 28-year-old son called him on the phone and told him that the call was blowing up on social media. Since Hamilton is not on any social media platforms, he did not know what he was referring to, nor did he realize it was plauditory rather than castigating in scope.
“Fortunately, this time, I didn’t do the wrong thing,” Hamilton said. “Again, I just don’t get caught up in it because if you do my job as a play-by-play guy – and I’ve done every sport and college basketball in the Big Ten for 25 years – if you get caught up in the people that say they like you and the people that say they hate your guts, you will never sleep at night.”
