You might have noticed a beat other than sports media under my name lately. Have no fear, I’ll still be here (I have no illusions you were concerned). But as we navigate life between baseball writers, I’ve been chipping in on the Cubs and White Sox beats.
Not only am I fulfilling a dream I’ve had since I was a kid — covering baseball — but I’m getting out and seeing the broadcast media’s coverage up close, not just from my office chair at home.
It has been fascinating (such as seeing how broadcasters prepare for games) and boring (such as waiting out a three-hour rain delay).
Let’s start with that delayed Angels-Sox game, which began Monday and ended Tuesday. Reporters are allowed access to the clubhouses before games. On Monday, the Sox’ clubhouse opened at 2:45 p.m. The unfailingly punctual person I am, I arrived at Rate Field at 2:15.
Despite a losing record, the Sox drew a crowd of media, with Fox 32 and WGN 9 making appearances. With the Cubs on the West Coast and the Bears done drafting, the Sox were the only game in town.
Sox TV analyst Steve Stone was there, too, and we chatted. He noticed that I had covered the game Sunday and offered a helpful critique of my story, pointing out my failure to acknowledge the different climate the suddenly punchless Sox were hitting in back home.
“You read that?” I asked in bewilderment.
If you heard Stone call Cubs games with Harry Caray back in the day, you would agree that he sounds exactly the same today. His voice belies his 78 years on earth. He also has the same wry sense of humor and the same prescient powers he did then. He is a marvel.
“Who do you need?” he asked me, looking around the clubhouse for someone I might want to interview. I said I was hoping to speak with Austin Hays, who had been activated from the injured list, but it turned out he wasn’t available.
So I joined the media members who were waiting to hear from manager Will Venable. About a dozen of us, including camera crews, stood in the middle of the Sox’ clubhouse and waited … and chatted … and waited. The life of a beat writer includes a lot of waiting.
But I wouldn’t have guessed we’d wait through a three-hour delay. I filed my two stories, downed two complimentary jumbo hot dogs — one too many — and searched for a live game to watch. The Cubs’ game in San Diego had started. I’ll be at Wrigley Field on Sunday, so I tuned in.
When the Sox’ game finally started at 9:40, maybe several hundred fans had stuck around. They were treated to a great finish — around 12:30 a.m. After hearing from Venable and slugger Munetaka Murakami, I wrote a game story and eventually left the ballpark after 1:30.
That, my friends, was a long day. But it’s life in the big leagues. Delightful, but long.
It can’t be easy on the broadcasters, either. They have to stay sharp on the air. And one of the sharpest around is Sox radio voice Len Kasper. Every day I’ve been in the clubhouse, he was there, too. No one puts in more preparation than him, and it’s evident in his broadcasts.
When Kasper was the Cubs’ TV voice and Fox would take a game, he’d show up anyway and sit with the writers. They’d look at him incredulously and ask what he was doing there. He just loves to be at the ballpark.
Navigating Rate Field for the media is easy. The spacious press box is a short walk from the elevator, which leads to a short walk to the clubhouse, which is a short walk to the dugout. Wrigley Field is a jewel, but covering a game there is a different experience.
With the Mets in town April 17, the confined press box was packed, as was the ballpark. Though Wrigley has an elevator near the press box that leads to the underground clubhouse, media aren’t guaranteed access after games. You might have to take the ramps and dodge exiting fans to make manager Craig Counsell’s presser in time. It’s still better than it was pre-renovation.
In the clubhouse before the game, I chatted with Cubs field reporter Taylor McGregor about her preparation. She talks with personnel in the clubhouse and on the field during batting practice to glean information. She also does recorded spots for the pregame show.
I complimented radio analyst Ron Coomer for the show he and partner Pat Hughes put on to get through a blowout loss to the Phillies that week. Among the topics they discussed: Coomer’s first major-league at-bat, Hughes’ first major-league broadcast (also a blowout loss), Pete Rose and Lee Smith. Coomer appreciated it but deflected praise to Hughes.
I also caught up with TV analyst Jim Deshaies, who was wearing a Yomiuri Giants cap he brought back from the team’s trip to Tokyo last year. He’s as delightful off the air as he is on it. He was telling me a story about Vin Scully when he had to leave to meet with Counsell.
I think I’m going to like the baseball beat.
