After exactly 156 days, the 2021 Major League Baseball season officially kicked off on April 1, as one team began their first game in the snow (I’m looking at you Cleveland). And before you ask, no that was not an April Fools joke. It really did start on April 1st and Miguel Caberea really slid into second base after hitting a homerun because he thought it was a snowflake. With a new season comes fresh rookie talent, balls thrown at heads, fans booing their own team, blow up trash cans tossed at the Houston Astros, and most importantly it means the return of the real stars of baseball: the announcers. Without the commentators what really is baseball? Just a bunch of freakishly athletic men hitting balls thrown over 100 mph well over 400 feet. And, boy, that would just be boring. I’ll bet you have been sleepless for months worrying about your dream of becoming the TV voice of your favorite MLB team. Well, lucky for you, there are a few things you would need to know, and I know them.
The most important quality of every great commentator is an extremely opinionated personality. You cannot be afraid to share those thoughts on live TV without thinking them completely through first. As a matter of fact it is even better to yell those opinions into your microphone to really get the point across. For example if you think the picture chosen to be displayed on the big scoreboard for a certain player could be improved, then you must voice your displeasure. To see this skill in action we can take a look at the Kansas City Royals announcing duo helping out retired left fielder Raul Ibanez:
“If I’m Ibanez, I got to ask the guy in the scoreboard, “Can you put a different picture? I look like the hitting coach.”” “Yeah that hasn’t eaten in three weeks, wait a minute just photoshop it.”
Those two sentences, one by each announcer, is an example of a perfectly executed opinion and assist. Not only do they address the problem of Ibanez looking like a malnutritioned 65 year old hitting coach, but they also provide an original solution, never heard of before, photoshop! A great announcer can not just have an opinion of the pictures of the player, but their skills as well. The best way to do this, as demonstrated by the announcer of the Chicago Cubs, Pat Hughes, is to critique the skills of one player, then compare them to another (bonus points if they have the same name!):
“Jose Hernandez has almost no range whatsoever at shortstop. That’s a play Jose Valentin would make in his sleep!”
If a player takes offense to your comments, that just means you were correct all along. Sometimes, a lot of the time, announcers make mistakes, so a key aspect to succeed in the industry is one’s ability to apologize. No one has ever made an apology quite like Thom Brennaman after uttering a homophobic slur on live televion.
“I cannot tell you how much I say, from the bottom of my heart I am so very sorry. I pride myself and think of myself as a man of faith- as there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos, it will be a homerun, and so, that will make it a 4-1 ballgame- I don’t know if I’m going to be putting on this headset again.”
Brennaman really embodies the phrase, the show must go on! While he was indeed fired mid game after the apology, and did not put that headset on again, all upcoming announcers can learn something from him. What exactly are you learning? How to get fired halfway through the second game of a doubleheader!
This job is simply talking about baseball, and we all know, there is nothing better than that, but the road to being an announcer might be hard, as a matter of fact if you are not a TV personality or a former MLB player, don’t even bother! Still I wish you good luck because trust me, you’ll need it. Happy Announcing!
