Well, after another long and grinding, but yet an exciting baseball season, I can now sit back and reflect on my first year with a new team, a new classification and a new league.
When I can sum it all up, it’s still baseball as well as experience something that I enjoy and hope to do forever. It is also the experience of a new mode of travel, a new circuit of cities, new broadcasters and of course, new stadiums.
Of course, it all started when I went to spring training in the Phoenix area in Arizona back in late March for getting a chance to watch the Brewers and their minor league players in action. I was getting acquainted with Sounds’ 2nd year Manager, Don Money, Hitting Coach Sandy Guerrero as well as Pitching Coach Rich Gale and Trainer Dave Yaeger.
It was also a nice experience to be in the broadcast booth during the Brewers’ Exhibition Season and got to meet Brewers’ radio announcer, Cory Provus, face to face. What a gentleman he is. I also met former Brewers’ Catcher Bill Schroeder, who was now a Brewers’ broadcaster himself, primarily doing color for the Brewers on television. I got to watch Cory and company work during one Brewers’ radio broadcast in Arizona and it was neat, and simultanesouly imagining what it would be like to do a major league broadcast. Anyway, a few days later, I got that opportunity to do one inning of play-by-play with Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee coming up against the Padres’ Jon Garland. Even though it was a 1-2-3 inning, I felt the exhilaration on what it would be like one of these days to see these guys on a regular basis, regardless of what major league team I would ever call.
In any event, I got to meet a lot of the future Sounds and they were all great. Of course, I could tell right away with some of the guys on the team, that I would be dealing with a lot of needling during the season and sure enough I did. I even needled them back and were able to take it quite well.
It was great to see Luis Cruz again since he and I go back to our days with the San Antonio Missions, the Class AA affiliate of the San Diego Padres, whom I worked for prior to my joining the Nashville Sounds as their new broadcaster. Luis and I were part of the 2007 Texas League Championship club and it was nice that he was getting a long look with the Brewers. He didn’t make the final cut to stick with the big club, but he showed a lot of promise with the bat and glove this past season. As a result, he would eventually get the call to the majors when the Sounds’ regular season was over this past week. Cruz earned the opportunity with his hard work and I can only wish him the best for the future. He is still only 26 years old and the sky is the limit for him. He also has a right to be proud since he and his wife became parents for the first time this year when Luis Cruz III was born.
I can’t say enough for my fellow announcers in the PCL. They were all wonderful to me and they along with their media relations folks were outstanding during the season. Of course, let’s not forget the Sounds’ own Doug Scopel and Michael Whitty, as those two furnished myself and others with a wealth of information that helped with the broadcasts. I always try to prepare as much as possible, but their notes certainly helped as well. Doug has a vast knowledge of Sounds’ history since he is so much a part of the franchise. It was especially nice to see Oklahoma City RedHawks’ broadcaster, Jim Byers, again. He and I go back to our days as broadcasters in the Central Hockey League and Jim was always providing keen insight on his clubs and it was nice to reminisce about our hockey days as well.
I got a chance to see some old familiar faces with other broadcasters whom I met in the past and became friends. Doug Greenwald, the Fresno Grizzlies’ main play-by-play man and the son of longtime San Francisco Giants’ broadcaster Hank Greenwald, was a colleague of mine when we were both in the Texas League with Greenwald being with the Shreveport Swamp Dragons and myself with the Missions. There is Russ Langer, the longtime voice of the Las Vegas 51s, and we met at the baseball winter meetings in Dallas back in 1987. It was nice to broadcast in the same league as him and Rich Burk of the Portland Beavers as we used to exchange e-mails regarding information on Padres’ farmhands when I was in San Antonio. The list goes on and on!
I got to meet so many of the wonderful stadium game-day personnel at Greer Stadium and I kept getting stopped on how nice of a job I have done and “what a great voice you have!”. I chuckle when I keep hearing that, but I work hard and take pride in everything I do, but it is nice to get that kind of recognition.
The fans were also great. I loved hearing those cowbells from my broadcast booth below. Phil Krigel is one person I have enjoyed chatting with and was among the first to write me a nice note, especially after my very first game against the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines, Iowa last April 8th. Of course, there is Chuck Ross, a man with such a knowledge of the game and is the Sounds’ Number One Fan. He would always hang around in the Sounds’ front office and on occasion, we would talk baseball.
The Sounds’ Front Office Staff, led by George King and Brad Tammen as well as the interns,are wonderful to work with and have done everything they could to make every game like it was AN EVENT. On occasion, I enjoyed serenading “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch at Greer Stadium. Darren Feller, one of the Sales Reps for the Sounds, was also the on-field MC during the between-inning contests and he kept the fans energized.
I enjoyed travelling to the many great ballparks such as Memphis’ AutoZone Park, which was among my favorites. Melissa, the Media Relations rep, made me feel at home and immediately led me to the visiting booth upon my first arrival at the ballpark this year. She can tell that I was the “new guy” in the PCL. She was magnificent.
During the season, I had the pleasure of seeing the Sounds experience at least 15 walk-off wins. Joe Koshansky, the Sounds’ First Baseman, won at least 3 games at Greer Stadium with game-ending home runs. and despite missing two months with a knee injury, Brendan Katin managed to belt a career-high 26 home runs as he and Koshansky wound up sharing the club lead for the most home runs.
I thought the Sounds’ bullpen was the strongest suit with the likes of John Axford, Kameron Loe, Mike McClendon, Zach Braddock and Brandon Kintzler getting called up. Carlos Villanueva got sent down to Nashville, but worked hard to make his way back to the major leagues and got called back up to the Brewers when they expanded their roster to 40.
Of course, I was happy when future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman got his 600th career save against the St. Louis Cardinals this past week, but it’s so nice to see the current Sounds became current Brewers and are solidifying the future in the Brewers’ bullpen.
I enjoyed flying around the cities in the league and even though there were a few very early wake-up calls, I didn’t mind that at all as I was still going from city to city and as long as it was taking me to the ballpark, that’s what I was happy about.
As I look towards the off-season and get ready for 2011, I can look back on many great things in my first year with the Sounds and the PCL and I know that there will be more excitement in the PCL for 2011. Only time will tell. To the fans who came up to me and to introduce themselves as well as contact me via e-mail, thank you for your support and advice and I look forward to continuing our relationship down the road. Enjoy your winter and I can hardly wait when we can say “PLAY BALL” in April, 2011.
- Posted on September 10, 2010 at 9:33 pm
No comments:
Post a Comment