Letters, We Send Letters

I e-mailed Pat Hughes and Ron Santo for the first time in the fourth inning of Friday’s game, and they read it on the air in the sixth. It was pretty cool.

They were talking about bad-ball hitters, so I asked Ronnie about Yogi Berra since Yogi came over to the Mets early in Santo's career. I've heard bad balls were Yogi's bread and butter, and Ron was kind enough to comment.

Of course, I also said I vote for both of them on every Ford Frick Award ballot. It’s nice to butter up the talent when you’re e-mailing a live broadcast, but in this case it’s true.

A lot of ex-jocks do color commentary, but not a lot of them come off as regular guys, regular fans. You can tell from his broadcast that Santo wears his heart on his sleeve for the Cubs just like the rest of us, and always has, just like the rest of us. Harry Caray was wonderfully bombastic, and once he was here he was one of us for good, but there’s always that knowledge that Harry came over from the Dark Side. St. Louis. The White Sox.

Die-hards are familiar with the fabled Brant Brown call against the Brewers late in ‘98. It’s probably floating around the web somewhere. I was watching that game, and I can tell you Ronnie’s reaction was exactly what I felt when I saw the ball bounce off Brown’s glove. You can’t fake that. You won’t find that kind of rawness on a network, either.

And then there’s the mellifluous Pat Hughes, the wise-cracking straight man, punster and foil to the wacky sidekick. Makes palindromic guesses in the attendance game. Formerly Bob Uecker’s partner in Milwaukee. 'Nuff said.

Hughes is a pro. He’s a throwback to the smooth-talking radio announcers of my parents’ generation. He doesn’t need flashy catch-phrases, and has a simple, but effective and exciting home run call. “That ball’s got a chaaaaaaaaaance… gone!” The intonation of his voice distinguishes a ball in the basket from one onto Waveland to an audience that doesn’t have the visual element, and his call is on the play instead of after it, so he gets you the recap quicker.

Maybe I’m a little biased because I worked in radio, but I always thought radio guys had to work harder. A TV broadcaster can fall back on that visual element and drop in a little dead air, letting the pictures speak for themselves, but a radio broadcaster has to fill in more gaps when all the listener knows is what you’re telling them.

Close your eyes and let your mind wander at the beginning of a Pat Hughes broadcast sometime (assuming you’re not behind the wheel, of course…). Some folks think it’s a little corny to describe the scene down to the color of the visiting team’s socks, but if you’re there at the ballpark and you look around, you see random little things like that. He brings you the experience along with the game itself, and it’s a nice touch.

Besides, some of the broadcasters I’ve followed are already in the Hall, so fewer of my favorites are still on the ballot.