Hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season! The turning of the calendar to 2024 will, of course, start the legit countdown to the start of Spring Training. Thank goodness.
In the spirit of giving, and because you guys sent in a ton of great questions last time, I thought it would be fun to do a bunch of Q&A here today. Thinking I may do a Part 2 next week, but no promises.
Major quality Q’s, not so sure about the A’s, but trying our best! Some questions have been edited for length and clarity:
D.J. sends in the first one: MLB has always seemed to change gameplay rather sparingly, but it seems like in the past few years we’ve seen an increased frequency in fundamental alterations to the game. Is the current pace of changes to the rules something we can expect from here on out? Or is this simply a window where big changes (pitch clock, base size, ghost runners etc) are popular?
Jesse: This is a phenomenal question and not something I’d really taken time to ponder before. For all the talking and writing I’ve done about the rule changes, I hadn’t really stepped back to consider this.
I think my answer is two-fold. For one, as D.J. correctly points out, the sport has historically been very slow and sparse when it comes to legislating change. That said, the game has still changed a ton. Think about baseball in 1985 and 2015. While there weren’t any major rule changes in that 30 year period, the look and feel of the sport was wildly different. So while the rules themselves may not have changed much, the game did. And in the last 10/15 years, let’s call it, it kind of felt like the game got beyond the rules. And the rules needed to catch up, which they have started to do.
There’s no doubt that current baseball leadership is less afraid, for lack of a better word, of change than their predecessors and they haven’t been shy about collecting and implementing data to make changes. So in that way, baseball is not only catching up to itself, but also to the other major sports, which, let’s be real, are their competitors. In today’s world, you’d better believe they’re aware that a couple of years ago the average length of a Major League Baseball game was about an hour longer than an average NBA game.
I realize I haven’t actually answered D.J.’s question, so let me try and wrap it up: I expect RoboUmps/an automatic ball-strike system (“ABS”) probably in 2025. After that, time will tell. Will we see more major-major changes or a continuation of tweaks (for instance, the pitch clock potentially shrinking from 20 seconds to 18 with men on base this coming year)? My guess is tweaks, but as I said, Baseball leadership is more open-minded and forward-thinking on this kind of stuff than they ever have been, so if they think something could use adjustment, you’d better believe it’s possible. It’s a new era, that much I know for sure.
Nick in Portland, OR: What qualities do you look for in a city while on the road that has them rank towards the top of the list? Is it the food, the weather, the views, etc. or something completely different that you geek out about?
Jesse: Another fun one. And probably another wishy-washy answer. Walkability is key. I never rent a car on the road and try and avoid taking a cab or ride sharing service unless I’m really going to go out of my way to see a friend or go somewhere special. So having stuff in the general vicinity of the hotel is big to me. Weather is weather, I don’t really think about it too-too much, though of course Milwaukee in April and Milwaukee in August are basically like two different planets, so I can’t say it doesn’t have any impact.
Road off days are really the only times this stuff truly matters. The reality is on a game day, I am going to wake up, do some work, work out or run, eat something, do some more work, then shower and go to the ballpark. So I don’t get too caught up in what the city may have to offer most of the time.
Similar but different from Roy: Which ballpark radio booth(s) provide the best viewing angles for calling a game? Which leave the most to be desired?
Jesse: Funny, but the less desirable ones are the ones that pop to mind most quickly. It’s no secret, but the Nationals, Braves and Pirates booths are probably the least-announcer friendly ones in the league. Just so high up. Hard to see pitches/balls and strikes, etc. The new Rangers park has a similar reputation, but I still haven’t done a game there.
In terms of great booths, Petco may literally be the best. Our booth is roomy and perfectly placed right behind home plate, not too high, not too low…couldn’t ask for anything else.
On the road, it’s actually generally the older stadiums that have the best booths. So LA, Anaheim, Oakland (RIP), Toronto, TB are all really good in terms of sight-lines. Among “newer” parks, Cincy, Seattle, Arizona, Philly, Milwaukee all come to mind as good to work at. I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but that’s the general gist. SF has a wonderful view of the Bay, as well. I might need a couple of more trips through the AL parks before I have full and complete thoughts on them all, too.
The reality is I get to go to all these different places I dreamed of as a kid and do this job I dreamed of doing, so even in the least comfortable spots, I try and remember that and stay positive, even if a pop up to shortstop and a fly ball to the warning track look exactly the same from some cough Washington cough places.
John F. sent in four really good questions, and I chose my two favorites: How much interaction do you normally get with the players? Do you get the sense that it's strictly a business relationship or one where they can open up a bit? Do you interact with them before each game or more of a check in every once in a while? Anybody famous in your contacts?
Jesse: Talking with the players is definitely a critical part of the job, but also one that I consider fairly delicate—especially during the season. I try and look at Spring Training each year as relationship building-time. Generally guys are much looser and it’s a wonderful opportunity to get to know them better and chat about this and that. During the season, things get pretty serious and we all settle into our routines, but I still try and make it to the clubhouse and/or field for batting practice pretty much every single game. I never want to wear a guy out and I’m super respectful of what they need to do to get ready for the games, so while I may be on the field for 45 or 60 minutes on a given day, it might be just to wait for the right moment to have a quick chat with one or two guys.
Working with Tony is wonderful in this regard, too. As a former player, he can have a lot of conversations with players, coaches and managers that frankly most of us can’t. And then if he has something really interesting that he thinks would be great for the broadcast (which he doest with great regularity), we kick it around off the air and then do our best to get to it during the game.
and…
What are some of the fundamentals when preparing for a broadcast? Much like the players have routines, do you have one? Any notable tips that you've picked up over the years from say Mud or others?
Jesse: Oh man, it’s always a work in progress, but as you said, there’s a definite rhythm and routine to the thing. Normal game day begins with morning reading and notes. I have a whole system of files on my computer and every regular season game gets its own tab. I add stuff to it pretty constantly. I’ll update some stats, read whatever I can find, and jot down the stuff I think is most interesting. Once I head to the ballpark, more reading, more notes, then down to the clubhouse and field to talk to players, coaches, managers, other broadcasters, etc. Come back upstairs, eat, then read through the notes provided by the teams’ PR staffs and jot down whatever I find most interesting there. At some point, I’ll fill in my scorebook, which is fairly straightforward, since most of my more detailed notes go into the computer. Before you know it, it’s 6:40 and away we go. When I get home or back to the hotel at night, I always update some stuff just while it’s fresh in my head. Hit the sack and then we do it all again the next day!
In terms of tips and tricks, for sure…always, always trying to hone the thing to its most efficient and useful state of being. A lot of other broadcasters are prep dorks like I am, so it’s fun to kick around how we all do things. Everyone’s system is a little different, of course, because you’ve got to find what works best for you.
Since you mentioned Mud in particular, the things I’ve learned from him (and there are a lot) that have most stuck with me are just sort of to ALWAYS remember to have fun and be loose. This is baseball! He’s the best at making sure there’s a good time being had, even on those days when we might be tired or worn down or the team sis struggling or whatever. He also passed on maybe the best little piece of broadcasting advice I’ve ever gotten: you’re never as good as you think you are on the good days and never as bad as you think you are on the tough days. It’s so true. There will be nights I leave the ballpark and think to myself I was awful, how do I even have this job? and then I’ll listen back in the car and it’s like Oh, OK. It sounds pretty much like it always does. And similarly, you might walk away from a game and think you just had the greatest broadcast in the history of broadcasting. Listen back. Oh, OK. It sounds pretty much like it always does. Knowing this is a huge key to staying sane during the season, especially for me.
Thanks again to everyone who sent in questions, and feel free to shoot some more. Like I said, I think my idea is to do another one of these next week and hopefully that’ll carry us into the New Year!
Hope your holiday season is off to a wonderful start and by my math (always suspect), we are just 91 days away from Opening Day in Seoul…