The Atlanta Braves are a storied organization and an epitome of sustained success, consistently fielding a championship team and creating a stellar sports and entertainment experience for fans. For the last 46 years, Braves fans watched games on television and heard a member of the Caray family broadcasting games – Skip from 1976 until his death in 2008; and Chip from 2005 until 2022. On March 30, Braves fans will notice a new commentary voice in Brandon Gaudin, living out his childhood dream amid the team’s quest for a championship.
Throughout one’s professional career, there are unforgettable moments where a person can vividly recall where they were and the details of what happened. Some people experience more of these moments than others which are firmly etched into the subconscious, the connotation thereof notwithstanding. For Gaudin, his latest moment came approximately two weeks ago when he received the job offer to serve as the television play-by-play voice of the Atlanta Braves.
Gaudin’s journey to reach this point took him across the United States, finding opportunities and adequately performing his role while always possessing a growth mindset. It all began with a trip to Atlanta, Ga. to visit his aunt and uncle to attend Game 5 of the 1991 World Series at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Tom Glavine started the game for Atlanta and a triple by second baseman Mark Lemke ultimately put the contest out of reach – Braves 14, Twins 5.
“When I left the park that night with my foam tomahawk in my hand, I was head over heels,” Gaudin said. “That night, I didn’t know I was going to be a broadcaster for my career, but I knew that I wanted to be a part of Braves baseball.”
Cognizant that games were televised, Gaudin began fervently watching the team in the evenings on TBS featuring the broadcast crew of Chip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson and Pete Van Wieren. He learned an interminable amount of information about the franchise, including, of course, the 1995 squad that captured a World Series championship. In fact, Gaudin can still recite every starting lineup for the Atlanta Braves from 1991 to 1999.
At the age of 13, Gaudin penned a letter to Caray asking him for advice on how to become a broadcaster and to adequately stay composed during a big moment. He explained his fandom, divulged some of the games he had attended and mentioned how everyone in his family thought he should try working in sports media. A few months later, Gaudin received a reply from Caray where he recommended publications to read and subjects to study. Additionally, he implored him to learn how to manage his voice and expand his lexicon through reading.
“He was really the most influential person, even though I was so young, in my broadcasting career,” Gaudin said of Caray. “When I was calling baseball games to start out [at] college, everything that I knew I had learned from him really from just watching countless Braves games on TBS.”
With a vast portfolio, Gaudin attended the MLB Winter Meetings resolute in his quest to land a broadcasting job. For $500 a month, he became the new play-by-play announcer and media relations director for the Orem Owlz, a former Pioneer League-affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. Even though the team played an abbreviated, 76-game season over an 80-day span, Gaudin and other broadcasters knew it would be a grind. By the end of the season, which consisted of bus rides through the intermountain west surrounding Orem, Utah and fast-food meals galore, Gaudin remained hungry to do more.
“I think that minor league season and getting a start there was fitting because baseball was my love and my passion,” Gaudin said. “….It opened my eyes that I was on the right track.”
Gaudin continued broadcasting baseball at the University of Evansville, along with serving as the voice of its basketball team and general manager of its student-run radio station WUEV-FM. Before that though, he remained home to help care for his father who had suffered a serious heart attack days after the conclusion of the Orem Owlz baseball season. “Thankfully, he’s still here; he didn’t pass, but it was very serious and there was about a five or six-month recovery,” Gaudin said.
In August 2010, Gaudin returned to his alma mater to become the new play-by-play voice of the Butler University Bulldogs men’s basketball team. Broadcasting a sport with a rapid tempo, Gaudin made sure to be concise and comprehensive in his storytelling. Moreover, he sought to pace himself and refrain from expounding on all of his ideas, leaving time for his analyst to chime in. Simultaneously, this shift provided him a chance to effectively call significant plays with proper verve and subsequent extolment.
“I think when you listen to the greats and the ones who really have had a lot of success in the industry, that’s a big key of just making it a comfortable listen and not over-talking for the viewers at home,” Gaudin said. “….Let the crowd and the game dictate the level of excitement in your voice, and I think that’s a key to success for any broadcaster.”
When he was named as the new radio voice of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football, men’s basketball and baseball, Gaudin officially made the move to Atlanta where he resides today.
During that time, he not only honed his craft but took a further liking to the city itself. One year later, he joined Westwood One to call select NFL games and part of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, sharpening his play-by-play skills on the aural medium.
Presently, he estimates his duties only account for about 3 to 5% of his total work, but nonetheless looks to remain involved in radio because of the unique aspects of the medium.
“There’s just something so pure, and it throws you back to the old days, about calling a game on the radio where the listener’s completely vulnerable to your words,” Gaudin explained. “On television, they’ve got the pictures. I always say on TV [that] you’re helping put the game in high-definition, but they can see what’s going on. On radio, they’re completely vulnerable to what you’re saying because they don’t have the pictures.”
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The Madden NFL franchise has redefined sports video gaming since its advent in 1988, providing fans with a way to participate in the game with genuine plays and NFL rosters. Over its 35-year history, a select few broadcasters have had the opportunity to provide play-by-play commentary in the game, including Pat Summerall, Al Michaels, Tom Hammond, Gus Johnson and Jim Nantz.
For Madden NFL 17, those involved in the game’s development looked to change direction and bring in an up-and-coming broadcaster to fill the role. Much to his surprise, Gaudin was contacted on LinkedIn by a producer at EA Sports who had heard him call a Georgia Tech play featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter, and proceeded to invite him for an audition. After he auditioned, Gaudin was optimistic and considered himself a “dark-horse candidate” to be the voice of a video game he had played with his friends while growing up. One month later, he received the phone call of a lifetime shortly before playing pickup basketball with friends at a gym.
“It was one of the coolest feelings you could ever experience,” he said. “They asked, ‘Are you interested still?,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I would love to do it.’ To continue to do that almost eight years later, it’s been a really, really neat journey.”
Joined by analyst Charles Davis, Gaudin records various lines each year that are programmed to be implemented in the video game. Oftentimes, courses of dialogue could span multiple years, requiring consistent intonation and prosody to achieve a smooth, consistent sound. Even though they do not call live NFL games together, Davis has become an important figure in Gaudin’s broadcasting career, guiding him and being there for advice.
“Over the last seven years, I’ve truly spent more time in-person and on the phone with Charles than anybody else outside of my family,” Gaudin said. “He’s become a close friend, and he’s just been such a good mentor and given me wisdom and advice on everything career-related [and] personal-related. He’s just been in my corner and a lifelong friend.”
Gaudin expects to continue his role with the Madden NFL franchise, along with balancing several other jobs. Since 2016, Gaudin has broadcast football, basketball and baseball on the Big Ten Network, demonstrating his adept versatility as a play-by-play announcer. Additionally, he broadcasts MLB, NFL and NCAA basketball and football games on FOX Sports, and is often asked by viewers whether or not he finds it difficult changing from one sport to the next.
“There are nuances to each that you have to be aware of that kind of change how you broadcast the game,” he explained, “but ultimately, the core of what you’re doing and how you’re conversing with your analyst and how you’re weaving in stories; that all stays the same. I didn’t realize that, I would say, as much 10 years ago than I do now that it is transferable sport-to-sport.”
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Caray had served as a play-by-play voice of the Atlanta Braves for the last 20 seasons across various mediums, but he grew up around St. Louis and the Cardinals, making the opening in their television booth that much more appealing. Additionally, both his grandfather Harry and father Skip served as Cardinals broadcasters during their careers, giving him a chance to continue the family’s legacy with the franchise.
“Chip reminded me a lot of his dad who I grew up listening to for all those years,” Gaudin said. “He certainly inherited a lot of the same phrases and things his dad did. For me, it was always kind of nostalgic listening to Chip because I felt like I was kind of listening to Skip through him.”
In departing from the Braves, the play-by-play role Gaudin had coveted from the time he was young suddenly became open. Gaudin, though, had experienced a shift in his thinking over his career centered on remaining in the present rather than hypothesizing about the future. In spite of this, he understood it was a chance he could not pass up and visited Truist Park, the home of the Braves, to be interviewed.
In a one-hour meeting, Gaudin conversed with Bally Sports South/Southeast Executive Producer James Shapiro and Senior Vice President and General Manager Jeff Genthner to discuss his interest in the role and career path. He then proceeded to meet with Atlanta Braves President and CEO Derek Schiller and General Manager and President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos where he learned more about the direction and vision of the organization. Implicitly, their presence communicated a sentiment about the franchise seldom substantiated across professional sports.
“The fact that the president and general manager of this club want to talk to the candidates for an announcing position says a lot about where the franchise is and how they view their television crew because that wouldn’t happen everywhere,” Gaudin said. “I’ve been in some of those meetings and that’s pretty rare to get two of the top people in the organization that want to sit down and chat with you.”
As a local broadcaster, Gaudin knows it is incumbent on him to render the broadcast towards Braves fans. Over the last few years, the team has signed young players to long-term contracts including catcher Sean Murphy; infielders Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley; outfielder Michael Harris; and starting pitcher Spencer Strider. These core players will suit up for the Braves for many years to come, giving fans the chance to learn about them over the next decade.
The differentiating factor will be in informing viewers about the opponent, an aspect of the broadcast Gaudin is used to from doing national games. He thoroughly enjoys researching and reporting on players, personnel and organizations, conveying that information to the fans – albeit at more of a “30,000-foot view.”
“Certainly the first year as I’m getting into this, even though I’ve done MLB [for] the last couple of years, you’ve got to get that groove of kind of learning who is where and the stories behind each player,” Gaudin said. “The prep will be more in year one than in subsequent years, and I know that and every broadcaster that has reached out to me has told me that.”
An ostensible advantage Gaudin may have in entering the position at this time will be adjusting to rule change, instituted with the intent to expedite pace of play and increase offense. A pitch clock, for example, will be implemented into games this season – 15 seconds with the bases empty; 20 seconds with runners on base – necessitating brevity in commentary. Additionally, the league has limited defensive shifts, requiring two infielders to play on either side of second base, along with introducing bigger bases to prevent injuries and encourage more steals.
“With the pitch clock being quicker and these pitchers having to deliver maybe 3-4 seconds faster in-between pitches than normal, you’re going to have to be more aware of your storytelling and pacing than before,” Gaudin said. “Three-to-four seconds may not sound like a lot, but if you’re trying to finish up a point before the next pitch… you’re going to have to tidy things up a little bit.”
From the moment he received the call with the life-altering news on Feb. 7, Gaudin has been working diligently to prepare for the upcoming season. Whether it is watching previous games, reading articles or compiling information on the team, he hopes to be as prepared as possible by his first broadcast on March 23 in North Port, Fla. in a spring training matchup against the rival New York Mets. In addition to his preparation, he will be broadcasting college basketball in both the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament, along with the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, making him quite busy in the next few months.
What should make the upcoming season more facile for Gaudin is that the Braves are expected to compete for a World Series championship. In his meeting with Schiller and Anthopolous though, he stated that he would aim to bring passion and enthusiasm for the team regardless of their on-field play. The team has won the National League East division title for five consecutive seasons including a World Series championship in 2021, giving him flashbacks to his childhood.
“Certainly it is an exciting time to be taking over this job because of the success that the Braves have had,” Gaudin said. “It truly reminds me of a lot of what they had going in the ‘90s when I became a fan of the team when they were just rattling off title after title after title, and they had just this bevy of talent that was in the hopper and was going to be in the hopper for a long time.”
Gaudin recognizes that a combination of hard work, talent and luck has placed him in the positions he garners as a play-by-play announcer locally, nationally and digitally. With each broadcast, he tries to perform his job to the best of his ability and carries the intent of steadily improving. He is appreciative of every chance to step behind the microphone and deliver the action to fans by intuitively watching the game and collaborating with his analyst – an amalgamation of information and entertainment.
“It’s what I call a candy-store job,” Gaudin said. “Everybody on the outside that looks at this job… always says, ‘Man, that must be so cool. You’re getting to live out your dream. I would love to be able to do that.’ When you hear those comments, it just reminds you [that] yeah, you’re pretty fortunate to do this for a living.”
Most broadcasters have an avidity for the sports they call and keep a consistent pulse on its ceaseless news cycle. The motivating factor of being in sports media, however, differs between professionals; some want to ascend to national positions of eminence and prestige, while others are content with where they are.
Because of the scarcity of national broadcasting jobs, very few aspiring play-by-play announcers reach that point in their careers, let alone remain at it for an extended period of time. Gaudin is open to the idea of one day having a chance to call a Super Bowl or a World Series, but is not fixated on those goals and instead tries to live in the moment. For now, he looks forward to the first pitch of the Braves season and immerse himself in, as he put it, “the realization of a childhood dream.”
“If you get into it because you see the big dollars at the end possibly or being known and having your face on television, that will ultimately, likely, lead to you being upset because there’s so few that get to that spot,” Gaudin expressed. “The majority of us are just calling games because we really like the art of broadcasting and storytelling…. Just make sure that your heart is in it because if not, you might find out that you don’t like as much as you thought you did.”
