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We welcome back Bill Schaefer today with a delightful recounting of the great marriage between AM radio and major league baseball. Any long-time fan will have no trouble grasping Bill’s theme. Sadly, as Bill points out, that marriage is undergoing severe strain. Anyone who has listened to a Cub radio broadcast in recent years knows that a once-wonderful baseball experience is becoming almost “unlistenable,” with incessant “revenue streams” marring the esthetic flow of the broadcast. Give Bill’s essay a read and I think you’ll find it interesting. -GL
IS The100-YEAR PARTNERSHIP OF AM RADIO AND BASEBALL FACING THE SAME FATE AS THE WOOLLY MAMMATH AND THE DODO?
Some consider AM stations a dying medium in the modern age of digital technology. Many automakers will be eliminating broadcast AM radio from newer models—prompting lawmakers on Capitol Hill to now propose the “AM for Every Vehicle Act.” Sure, from satellite radio and streaming services to FM stations and cellphone apps, baseball fans today have myriad options for tuning in their favorite ball clubs — even all 30 teams — whether their car features AM radio or not.
But somehow the combined DNA of AM radio and baseball in America is so powerful a link that ripping it apart in any way seems almost a form of blasphemy. Suzyn Waldman, former star of the musical stage and pioneer announcer for the New York Yankees, remembers:
“Growing up in Boston, I can still hear the Wyoming twang of Curt Gowdy. Not everyone can remember who their first television broadcasters were — but everyone knows who the radio team was. Everyone.”
Particularly for the over 50 million people in this country who have reached 65 and beyond, the memories branded on our brains are indelible…like my dad in 1951 driving our Chrysler relentlessly to the first stop, Rocky Mount, North Carolina before nightfall, on our way to Ft. Lauderdale. My mom and sister had no interest, but I was hanging on every pitch of a tense Giants game as the WMCA signal was fading fast. The crackling static was increasing by the second and I begged Dad to stop somewhere near the Delaware border to hear just one more pitch. But even though he was a great Giants fan, to my shock and disappointment, the travel schedule was more important!
The AM/baseball marriage goes back to August 5, 1921, when Harold Arlin delivered the first play-by-play of a major league game between the Phillies and Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh on KDKA. The Pirates won 8-5.
October marked the 100th anniversary of the first World Series broadcast to a national radio audience when Graham McNamee and Ford Frick were among those who called the 1923 Fall Classic between the New York Giants and Yankees on NBC.
Even though the future of AM radio is uncertain, there’s no denying its impact on the growth and popularity of baseball. “Joined at the hip,” said long-time New York Mets announcer Howie Rose, who is 69. “What AM radio has meant to baseball and vice versa is probably the quintessential symbiotic relationship.”
Those magic voices emanating from our small Philco radio absolutely grabbed me as a nine-year-old in 1947. Though riveted by the Giants in late ’46, this year the New York team had some serious sluggers. Johnny Mize, Willard Marshall, Walker Cooper, and rookie Bobby Thomson came to life with the electric radio call of Steve Ellis and Frankie Frisch.
Way past my bedtime one May night Ellis jolted my innocence, “Thomson hits a helluv…ah…heckuva drive to deep left field!” My dad and I smiled. The Fordham Flash was a little stiff, but I loved his iconic, “Oh, those bases on balls.”
Close friend, Donn Williams, and I were fascinated by Philadelphia broadcaster Byrum Saam. He was so outrageously pro Phillies it was sometimes comical. Donn’s dad had hooked up a special antenna on his radio so Donn, a diehard Dodgers fan, could hear the Brooklyn games on WMGM when the family vacationed in New Hampshire. One day in 1949, we tuned in to hear Saam on WIBG and could not believe he was screaming from the booth to get the attention of Phils’ pitcher Robin Roberts, walking off the mound after a controversial play. We heard, “Hey Robbieee! Hey Robbieee!” Oh, that AM radio again.
I interviewed Mel Allen in the mid-70s at a Hot Stove League meeting in Union, NJ. The Yankees immortal who broadcast games for seven decades, from Gehrig to Mattingly, was so nice and accommodating. Best call of a home run in baseball. And “How about that?” will live forever. The 2009 American Sportscasting Association ranked Allen the #2 Greatest Sportscaster of all time, second only to superstar announcer Vin Scully, who joined the Dodgers in 1950 and became a legend.
Sitting in the Rialto theatre in Westfield, NJ, late 40s and early 50s, there was nothing like Mel Allen doing the sports segment on Movietone News. His “Boom Box Voice” with just a touch of Alabama, reverberated through the movie house with exactly the right combination of resonance, inflection, and friendliness. Wonderful.
Mel Allen’s favorite partner, Russ Hodges, joined the Giants in 1949 and teamed with Ernie Harwell in 1950. Ernie had been with Brooklyn, and after a four-year stint with the Giants blossomed as a beloved Detroit Tigers announcer for 42 years. (Both Allen and Hodges had law degrees but never practiced law).
Russ was my favorite with a slight Tennessee intonation flavoring his play-by-play. Every kid I knew wanted the home team guy to be a fan. And Hodges conveyed his Jints allegiance with total class. His famous “The Giants win the pennant!” playoff call in ’51 [see above] was perfect under the circumstances. Red Barber said it was “unprofessional.” But anything less, after the Giants’ historic run and uber-dramatic come-from-behind victory in the ninth inning, would not have met the moment. An AM radio classic.
Official baseball historian for Major League Baseball, 76-year-old John Thorn, said,
“Some clubs resisted the advent of radio believing it would deter attendance at the game. But like the introduction of night baseball in 1935, radio had already brought big league games to the working class and especially to women.”
“Giant clear channel stations like KMOX in St. Louis with signals reaching far across the United States definitely grew the game” said Mets announcer Gary Cohen. “AM radio expanded your chance to hear about all the stars you only had in your mind.”
Harry Caray (later with the Cubs) and Jack Buck (“I do not believe what I just saw!”) brought Cardinal greats like Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock to life for a huge AM radio audience.
Red Barber and his refined Mississippi drawl provided folksy sayings like “He’s as cool as the other side of the pillow” and “The bases are FOB, full of Brooklyn’s” to the delight of Dodgers fans for 15 years through 1953 (most with the popular Connie Desmond) when he left to join the Yankees and Mel Allen.
There was Pittsburgh Pirates great, Bob Prince; Jack Brickhouse (primarily a fixture with the Cubs, briefly Giants ‘46); Chuck Thompson (Baltimore Orioles). And a young Ronald Reagan announcing Chicago Cubs games, in Iowa during the 1930s, by re-creating play-by-play at Wrigley Field that was originally transmitted via Morse code.
And we dare not exclude the re-creation genius, Les Keiter, (“He beat the play, he beat the play!”) who re-created San Francisco Giants games for three years (1958-1960) after the Giants departed New York. So good, complete with sound effects, that many thought Les was really at the game in SanFran!
We get it, AM radio is too much a part of American baseball fandom to be excised from the radio dial. So, give me a super-sized serving of Amplitude Modulation, please.
Bill Schaefer
SOURCES: Las Vegas Sun, 9/26/23, AP baseball writer, Mike Fitzpatrick; SABR, Red Barber, by Warren Corbett; SABR, Mel Allen, by Warren Corbett; Wikipedia, Red Barber, Russ Hodges, Ernie Harwell; Wikipedia, WMGM.
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