Back on the Air

Game on, and in a shortened season it’s game on after game on. A true fan’s delight. And for a 13-hour drive, it was wonderful. The anticipation of a slate of games at my fingers made for a cranky driver while stuck in traffic, first behind the slow pace of southern pickup trucks from the 70’s, and an occasional tractor pulling one, followed by the frantic inching pace of stop and go traffic on I-95 up the Eastern coast.

Finally, the clock turned two and I turned to my XM play-by-play channels. First up, the Cubs and Yu Darvish at home. My fingers flipped at the channels to check for matchups or a game I didn’t want to miss. A few channels later to the right, I found what I was looking for: the White Sox hosting the Twins. I settled in for the rest of the drive knowing that the Nationals were hosting the Yankees later. In between, I was that person flipping from one station to the next during commercial breaks or pitching changes. Let’s face it, I turned twice during a replay review and still picked up where I left off.

And then it happened. I struck gold, as in Cleveland gold, the voice that keeps you there: Tom Hamilton. My fingers froze, traffic disappeared, and I listened to the end of inning three and felt I was right there, on the corner of what’s that street name and the other street name. Suddenly I realized and vaguely remembered that he platooned for the first few and last few innings. This was followed by a long line of brake lights in front of me. Easily the worst part of the trip.

Eventually, traffic picked back up, and while the best part of the Twins-White Sox was over, I flipped back to the Indians-Royals game. Tom was back. And there was peace on I-95.

With every “Folks, I know it’s early, but that’s as fine a play as you’re gonna see all season” the game went into extra innings. Christmas in July. Listening to the 10th inning of that game, I realized that I may have been wrong about the new extra innings rule. It was exciting to listen to; maybe because of Tom, but mostly because it brought strategy into the game. With the Royals first to bat, they approached it the way I would expect a visiting team to handle it – put the ball in play with a bunt and get the runner over. Or maybe it’s just Royals manager Mike Matheny’s philosophy for this year’s 10th inning. The results were textbook: bunt runner to third, score on a sac fly. Simple. The Indians took a different approach. The first batter, Bradley Zimmer, was in a two-strike count before getting hit by a pitch. He didn’t attempt a bunt, showing the difference in philosophy. Yet with two runners on, the next three Cleveland batters struck out. Traffic picked up a bit, and I don’t recall if there was a bunt attempt by the next in line, Cesar Hernandez, but I would’ve expected one (by the way, if anyone fell asleep on Cleveland’s signing of Cesar Hernandez, they better wake up quick. He is an exciting ball player).

I don’t know if it was Tom Hamilton, or the rule and the way it worked out with the two differing strategies, but it was some very exciting baseball to listen to. After that trip, I plan to do some more listening around the league. I certainly want to catch a Blue Jays game, as Dan Shulman has been one of my favorites, replacing Vin Scully on my list in a silky-smooth grab you in the moment kind of way.

Baseball is back on the air, and I’m listening…and appreciating.

Note of interest:

From the Cleveland Indians MLB webpage (https://www.mlb.com/indians/team/broadcasters):

TOM HAMILTON, the “Voice of the Indians,” will enter his 31st season of calling Cleveland Indians baseball games on the radio in 2020. In his 30 seasons since 1990, Hamilton has called all 92 postseason games the Indians have played over that span, including three World Series' (1995, 1997, 2016). His 30-year tenure, along with Rick Manning, is the second-longest in club history next to his former partner, Herb Score (34 years, 1964-97).