When Play-by-Play was Brewed

Over the past couple of days while the Texas Rangers played their games in Milwaukee, I thought about the last time I was in Milwaukee. It was in June of 2010, and it was my first full MLB series of handling play-by-play and color commentary with the great Eric Nadel.

Dave Barnett who regularly worked with Nadel stayed in Texas that weekend for a family event. This trip was my maiden voyage on the limousine in the sky—the Rangers team charter. That meant it was my first experience of a first class-plus menu on the airplane. After landing and a short taxi, we walked down the steps of the airplane to the tarmac where busses were waiting to take us to the Pfister Hotel.

I did not have to worry about my suitcase since I placed it outside the home clubhouse in Arlington. It magically appeared at my room in the Pfister.

Three games made up this series, and the Rangers won two of three. Rich Harden lost to Chris Narveson in the first game. Scott Feldman beat Manny Parra in the second game, and Colby Lewis out-pitched Yovani Gallardo in the third game.

Ryan Braun and I had good talk before the first game of the series. Of course, we are both alumni of the University of Miami. When I wanted to get him for a pregame interview over the next couple days, he declined. Alex Rodriguez agreed to an interview request of mine when the Yankees came to town last year—just thought I should mention that. I’m not bitter.

Just the experience of broadcasting Major League Baseball play-by-play is The Cool Factor.

–BD

Wrigley Field Memories: Bob Knepper, Sweet Lou & Hockey?!?

The Texas Rangers just finished up a series at Wrigley Field, and I thought this would be the right time to share a few of my thoughts about the North Side Shrine.

I have been to Wrigley numerous times beginning when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. My family has had a preference of going to the games on the South Side of Chicago, but there were exceptions made during my childhood.

Over the course of several years, my father used to work with Houston Astros lefty Bob Knepper. This was in the early to mid-1980s. Whenever the Astros came to Chicago, Knepper would leave tickets for my family to attend games. After those day games (because this was pre 8-8-88), Knepper would join our family for dinner in Chicago. My older brother was the lone lefty of the children in our family, and Knepper gave one of his gloves to my brother. My dad says Knepper was always great with my brothers and me. Very friendly.

Fast forward in life…my first Wrigley rooftop experience was when I graduated high school, and my high school basketball coaches invited my friends and me to a left field rooftop event.

I have been to one Cubs game where I sat in the bleachers. The beer is really cold out there.

I believe it was 2004 when I was able to get a couple tickets from friends in the Atlanta Braves organization to see Greg Maddux pitch for the Cubs against the Braves at Wrigley. I went with my dad, and I wanted to go to this Cubs game at Wrigley to see Greg Maddux pitch. He worked his six innings, and it was a pleasure to watch how he worked his six innings.

Later in life, I was a reporter for ESPN 1000 in Chicago and covered countless Cubs games. When I was covering a Florida Marlins-Cubs game at Wrigley in 2009, manager Lou Piniella was holding his postgame press conference in the bowels of Wrigley when I asked him, “why pinch-hit using Carlos Zambrano in the 9th?”

Lou responded, “what’s the harm in it?”

I answered, “He starts tomorrow. What if he got hurt getting hit by a pitch or running the bases if he didn’t strikeout?”

Lou quipped, “what if I got hit by a bus on my way to the ballpark tomorrow?!”

Interesting point, I thought. Then, I kind of locked in on his gaze back at me because I looked forward to where this would go next.

“Look…maybe you’re right…but the fans love it!”

No joke, Zambrano hurt himself the next day hustling down to first base on an attempted bunt. He went on the disabled list with a strained hamstring.

Later in 2009, I watched Sweet Lou make the coolest of switches in the 9th inning of the second game in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals.

After Sean Marshall walked a batter, Piniella decided to move Marshall to left field and replace Alfonso Soriano. Soriano left the game. Aaron Heilman came in to pitch. After Heilman struck out Brendan Ryan—the lone batter he faced—Piniella decided to replace Heilman with Marshall who came in from left field, and Reed Johnson came off the bench to play left field. Marshall retired the next two batters. There was such a buzz in the ballpark over this impressive use of baseball strategy by Sweet Lou.

I’ll never forget, though, how the calendar year of 2009 began at Wrigley Field. I was fortunate to hop on the L on January 1 and take it to the Addison stop. My assignment that day was to cover the 2009 NHL Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley.

My media location was inside the Batter’s Eye in center field. It was a difficult viewpoint, but in the 2nd period I stood in the bleachers to watch the game. After the Hawks lost, it was strange interviewing players with skates inside the Cubs clubhouse.

Everyone has an opinion about Wrigley Field. For me, it has contributed to The Cool Factor in many ways.

–BD

The HBP Defense Technique

Zack Greinke could have avoided a broken collarbone if the proper technique was followed after he plunked Carlos Quentin with a pitch when the Los Angeles Dodgers faced the San Diego Padres on Thursday night.

It was ten years ago when the hit by pitch defense was described to me. It was the 2003 season, and I was broadcasting for the Joliet JackHammers of the independent Northern League. We were on the team bus riding from the team hotel in Kansas City, Kansas en route to the ballpark to play the Kansas City T-Bones. The field staff described the technique to me.

That staff included former Major League catcher Matt Nokes who was the manager, former Kansas City Royals outfielder Les Norman who was the hitting coach, and Mike Pinto – one of the best motivational speakers you can meet – was the pitching coach.

Coincidentally, the technique they described to me on the team bus played out during the game that night. Amazing how this stuff happens.

In the game, Joliet’s starting righty Derek Santiago hits a batter. As the batter begins to charge the mound, Santiago jumped off the mound and onto the infield grass between the mound and first base. Santiago, a righty, moved his glove to his pitching hand.

When the batter was a few feet away, Santiago hurled his glove at the face of the batter. Not only did this stun the charging batter, but it gave catcher Ryan Sienko enough time to run up and wrap his arms around the batter and take him down to the ground. Santiago exited without injury. That’s HBP defense technique. It also made for a fun broadcast.

Greinke failed when he lowered his shoulder. His catcher was nowhere to be found. Quentin will crowd the plate another day.

Knowing the HBP defense technique is part of The Cool Factor.

–BD

My Home Opener Family Recap

After three straight baseball seasons of attending Texas Rangers games as a working member of the media, I made it to my first game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington as just a baseball fan. I was there for the home opener against the Angels and then I went on Monday night to see the Rays.

You may have read my previous blog about taking my daughters to the home opener…just me and my girls (my wife was out of town). I had high expectations, and we surpassed them.

My girls are five years old and almost seven. I took them out of school at around 10:30-10:45-ish am. We live maybe 15-20 minutes from the Ballpark, but I had no idea what traffic and parking would be like for the opener. I also like being early for everything unlike…(well, I will stop there).

I drove the side roads from Grapevine, Texas (the secret backdoor way–maybe not such a secret now). There are several ways to go from where I live. It’s traffic-free, but we might have been stopped by every stoplight. We made it to the Ballpark, and I paid $15 for parking. The parking lot attendant did not ask if we had a game ticket. I heard that would be a new policy to get into the lots. I remembered my days of working in the White Sox parking lots, and that’s a story for another day.

Flanked by my Rangers-red wearing beauties, we walked hand-in-hand through the lot that was filled with tailgaters. We walked past the statue honoring the father who had passed away diving for a Josh Hamilton foul ball (tugs at your heart & I’ll never forget that postgame show), and we entered through the Home Plate gate. We headed to the Kidzone in center field where I paid $20 to let my girls play on the playground for about 45 minutes or so.

Then, the girls ate lunch in the Kidzone. Hot dog, sliders, chips, drinks and candy for $20. The girls wanted to play more, but with less than a half hour to first pitch I wanted to head to our seats and enjoy the pregame festivities and player intros.

On the way, I bought a hot dog with grilled onions for me and a bag of peanuts for us. That was another $10. We sat in section 235 seats and in row 11—Club Level (second deck) and right behind first base at roughly $80/ticket. That’s a gamble with two young ones, but this day was so special for me that I thought it was worth the price risk.

The girls enjoyed the player intros, the unfurling of the huge US flag in the outfield, the flyover, the playing of the national anthem and then there was the ceremonial first pitch. A father, an Arlington native, of a 6-year-old who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting threw out that ceremonial first pitch to Pudge Rodriguez. My youngest daughter, oblivious to the meaning of the on-field happenings, was standing on the chair next to me. I found myself squeezing her oh so tightly as my eyes welled up behind my sunglasses. It was such an emotional moment.

Then, the game began. My oldest asks a lot of questions, but they both watched the game and in-between inning contests intently. I was prepared for questions, and I had answers.

We talked about player uniforms and the fact that Ian Kinsler, Lance Berkman and David Murphy show a lot of red stocking. We are fans of that look. Josh Hamilton was booed mercifully by the fans while at the plate and anytime the ball came to him in the field. My oldest hated hearing the boos because she is a huge Hamilton fan. I explained to her why fans were booing, but she said to me in a stern voice with an angry crunched up facial expression while pointing her right index finger at me, “I will not boo!” I calmly told her she didn’t have to and neither will I.

In the 4th inning and after my oldest had given her chair a workout—folding it up and down maybe a hundred times—I asked the older woman next to her, “do you wonder if the stadium seating company has little kids test their seats before they leave the factory?” She chuckled and didn’t seem to mind the restlessness of the 6-year-old next to her thereafter. Truth be told, my oldest was merely trying to get the best sightline to home plate as she tried looking around or above the big dudes in front of us. My youngest spent much of the game on my lap, and that was fine with me even though she had her own seat.

Before the sun left us in the 5th, it was time for ice cream in a souvenir cup. For $15, why not?!!? My girls were happy.

In the 7th, my youngest wanted to see fireworks. Then, Adrian Beltre hit a home run and she had her fireworks. Then, she asked when we would leave. It was 2-2 at that time, and I said maybe in a couple innings and explained how many outs remained until the 9th inning.

Throughout the game, I asked my daughters what they thought would happen in certain game situations. In the 8th inning, my oldest asked me that question. I responded, “let’s see…with the score tied at 2, two outs and a 2-0 count to Kinsler and super fast Craig Gentry at second base…Kinsler will get a fastball on the outer half and drive it to the opposite way to right field for a base hit allowing Gentry to score from second base.”

Kinsler said after the game that he didn’t intend to hit it to right field. The Rangers beat the Angels 3-2. This year’s version of my postgame show was walking out of the Ballpark holding my daughters hands and driving home. Granted, ticket prices are less for most of the other games, but I now fully comprehend what it costs to take a family to a game in this day and age, but the experience was priceless.

The Most Meaningful Home Opener

I have looked forward to the home opener of the Major League Baseball season every year since I was a little kid growing up in Deerfield, Illinois. However, it’s the home opener this year that I might be looking forward to the most. I’ll explain why momentarily.

When I was growing up in the northern suburbs of Chicago where about 95% of the residents were Chicago Cubs fans, my father raised his three sons to be Chicago White Sox fans. Year after year, my dad would take us out of school and we would drive to the South Side (maybe 40 minutes away) and go to the home opener at 35th and Shields (Bill Veeck Drive).

It did not matter if the temperature was around freezing with cloud cover, or maybe we would get lucky with a temp in the 60s with sunshine. We went to Old Comiskey Park in the late 1970s, throughout the 80s and into the early 90s at new Comiskey.

The only time that I can remember not going to the home opener was when the current Sox park was built. Our dad went, but he could not get tickets for his boys. (We forgave him when the final score was a 16-0 Tigers win. Frank Tanana over Jack McDowell that day. That was a Sparky Anderson managed Tigers team. I met Tanana years later in Joliet, but that’s not important right now.)

I have been to countless White Sox home openers as a fan, four years of University of Miami home openers honing my broadcasting skills, a decade’s worth of minor league baseball home openers as a broadcaster (Beloit, Myrtle Beach and Joliet), one White Sox home opener as their pre/post host (Buerhle over Westbrook) and three straight Texas Rangers home openers.

Just because I am no longer the Rangers radio pre and post game show host, that doesn’t mean my baseball fan card was taken away. On Friday, I have the honor and privilege of taking my daughters out of school and to Opening Day. My oldest will be seven years old in May and my youngest is five. Both are baseball fans and are huge fans of Josh Hamilton (the Rangers host the Angels—for those who did not know).

My girls have been to Opening Day in the past, but not with me because I was “working.” We will be in club level section 235 of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, eating hot dogs (my youngest wants a hamburger), eating peanuts and talking baseball (they have questions). The weather is supposed to be in the 70s and sunny. I can’t wait.

This is The Cool Factor.

–BD

March Madness Memories

When Texas Rangers radio voice Eric Nadel reads this blog post, he will roll his eyes and chuckle.  He’s heard one too many University of Miami basketball broadcasting stories.  I think the last time I shared one (and it’s usually the same one) was when we were in a cab ride in St. Louis when the Rangers were playing the Cardinals in the 2011 World Series.

I think it was the rained out Game Six night, and we were heading out for dinner.  Dana Larson from Fox Sports Southwest was in our mini-van cab as we went to dinner that night at The Hill, and she asked me something about my experience in broadcasting other sports.

Somehow, my response turned back to my college years and the year 1997 when Miami had 15 regular season wins.  They needed a strong showing in the Big East Tournament to make it to the NCAA tournament.  Student radio was fun, and we were in New York to cover the Canes.

We stayed with the team at The Grand Hyatt—not bad for student radio.  As you may know, the Big East Tournament was at Madison Square Garden.  Cross this off my broadcasting bucket list for arenas/stadiums.  We, student radio, were assigned to the hockey press boxes for our broadcasting perch.  It was way up there, but it was The Garden.

In the first round, Miami beat Fran Frischilla’s St. John’s Red Storm, 76-68.  Who doesn’t remember Zendon Hamilton and Felipe Lopez??!  Then, Miami moved on to the quarterfinals to face John Thompson’s Georgetown Hoyas.  A win, and we get to broadcast the next round courtside.  That’s important, right?!?

Sports director Jason Solodkin and I split play-by-play duties by the half, and I had the second half of this game.  The Hoyas decided to wear their gray jerseys with the silver numbers and letters (maybe it was vice versa) making it nearly impossible from the hockey press box to see who was who.  Thanks G-Town.

This is a simliar view to the one we had for those games.

I watched the first half and provided color commentary by looking through binoculars putting names with a body type and playing style so I wouldn’t need the binoculars for play-by-play.  That Hoyas team had Cheik Ya-Ya Dia, Boubacar Aw, Godwin Owinje, Joseph Touomou (I can’t make this up), and thankfully there was the simple name of Victor Page who scored basically every point anyway.  Miami lost that game, 63-59.

They went on to play and lose at Michigan in the NIT.  That was a Robert “Tractor” Traylor team.  We didn’t go to broadcast that game, and I cannot remember why.  I think it had to do with a baseball series we attended instead.

Speaking of baseball, Jason and I opted to cover the women’s Big East Tournament at UConn and the men’s in NYC while my fellow assistant sports director Randy Wehofer handled the pbp in Austin, Texas for a Miami-UT series in baseball.  Ah, college broadcasting life at a major sports school.

Anyway, I thought I would share this story before Miami wins this year’s NCAA Tournament!!!  Hahahahaha.  I mean that, too!

Tournament talk in college and present day about my alma mater qualifies for The Cool Factor.

–BD

Tips for a Successful Family Road Trip

Recently, I made the drive from North Texas to the northern suburbs of Chicago to visit family during my children’s Spring Break. I have two children, a five-year-old and an almost seven year-old. In addition to my daughters, the trip in the family SUV included the family dog, a 40-pound mutt named Buster. I would like to state for the record that my wife was not on this trip because she flew to Chicago after visiting with her brother and his family outside of Texas.

This is a long trek. It’s a drive in the neighborhood of 900 miles. It could be a 2-day jaunt, but I decided one would suffice on this trip. There’s no question you are wondering how could I possibly take on such a task as above and live to blog about it?!?! Please, read on.

It’s not the first time I have done this, but the last time included a stop in Memphis for the night. This time, I decided to drive straight through, and it rained for 11 straight hours—from just outside of Rockwall, Texas to southern Illinois. Sometime visibility was maybe a quarter mile when it was pouring rain. I left at approximately 6:15 am and arrived at my parents’ house at 11:30 pm.

I am not bothered by long trips. Why? When I was a kid, my family would drive from Illinois to Florida. In my professional life as a minor league broadcaster, I spent many hours on the team bus traveling the Midwest, the Carolinas and the Great Plains. The longest trip was a 15-16 hour ride from Joliet, Illinois to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Drive time is quality think time.

What happens when that quality think time is interrupted by two young children in the backseat? Well, you have to be overly prepared for a trip like this. You have to prepare for this trip thinking about what they like to eat, drink and how they like to pass the time.

We have two mini-DVD players including power sources to plug in the vehicle when the DVD players run out of juice. They picked out their DVDs of movies and TV shows in advance of the trip.  We have two “old” iPhones for them to play music and/or play games. During the holidays a couple years ago, grandparents gave them each a LeapPad. I don’t want to hear their movies, games or music, and that’s why it’s a rule that they must wear headphones when using those devices. Also, each has a backpack that includes books to read, books to color, paper and random toys along with an assortment of pencils and crayons.

There is plenty of talk time, too. My oldest will ask me, “can we have a conversation?” My youngest will ask me, “daddy, can I tell you something?” Each melts my heart and the greatest of conversations commence. Occasionally, they will ask me to play the music from my iPhone.

When it comes to eating, this trip included Lunchables, snacks (Cheez-its and Goldfish), sliced up bell peppers and granola bars. I also had juice boxes and water for them. A day earlier, I let them pick out a treat at Walgreens. Instead of candy, they each chose chocolate chip cookies. Their food and beverages are kept in a bag on the passenger seat so that when they ask for it, it’s easy access for me to hand it back to them. I picked them up McDonalds for dinner. I will never get them another Happy Meal, though. They seem to argue over the toy, and they both have one. It does not make sense to me.

My daughters catch up on their sleep, too. They each have a blanket. They have some sort of pillow (neck or bed), and they bring an over-sized teddy bear to put between them in order to lean on and add to vehicle comfort when sleeping or resting.  We also put down the middle part of the backseat so that they have easy access to reach back and pet Buster and talk to him.

My oldest will occasionally ask me how many minutes are left (never hours), and my youngest never asks when we will be there. They are both motivated for this ride because they get to see their grandparents at our destination.

For the driver (me), I’m all about trying to eat right and maintain high energy for the entire ride. My younger brother recommended Kind Bars and Mary’s Gone Crackers. Both were a good call. I also eat fruit. I don’t drink coffee, but I drink Alternative Energy by Function (found at Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc.). No kidding, I also whipped up a Dr. Oz Green Drink before I left. It was delicious when I began the trip. Entertainment-wise, I am constantly listening to music on my iPhone, MLB Spring Training games on the MLB At Bat App, and I listened to part of Baseball Tonight on the Watch ESPN App.

Aside from the unhappy, Happy Meal toys and one other backseat disagreement, my girls were well behaved. By the way, I have a roll of paper towel and toilet paper just in case someone loses their lunch or snack. I also have children’s meds in case there’s a sore throat, headache, upset stomach, etc.

It was a good trip.

Do you dare to take a 16-hour drive with your kids sans wife?

–BD