Crafting the Call -- Early Season Check-in
A few weeks into the baseball season, Jesse and I do a brief episode to check-in on our voices, technology, and finding a routine
Crafting the Call is a YouTube series that I developed along with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler. Each week, we examine different aspects of baseball play-by-play announcing, offering our perspective as working professionals for fans, and advice for fellow broadcasters.
For this week’s Crafting The Call, instead of analyzing a legendary moment or breaking down the pitfalls of a unique play, Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and I simply compared notes on the start of our respective seasons and the challenge of finding the midseason form right away.
How long it takes for our voices to get used to 3+ hours of talking nonstop.
How the non-broadcasting duties impact our game preparation and how to adjust accordinly.
How much the Pitch Timer has changed the way we call a game.
How even though you think all the technology is tested and the mixing boards levels are perfect, it’s still not the same when a crowd is cheering and a big moment occurs.
How this YouTube series we’ve created has helped make us better at play-by-play.
How I learned about a new rule that I’d never seen before.
And finally, who knows what a “pie thrower” means for a pitcher.
Hope you enjoy this mini episode.
Here’s a list of previous episodes:
Episode 1 – How to call an inside-the-park home run
Episode 2 – Vin Scully’s perfect words to describe Koufax’s perfect game
Episode 3 – Eck vs Gibson, four legends with four different calls
Episode 4 – How calling a Triple Play can be treacherous
Episode 5 — Harry Caray without the shtick
Episode 6 — Clocking a broadcaster’s fastball
Episode 7 — Opening Day philosophies
Episode 8 — “Touch ’em All Joe,” four voices call the end of the 1993 World Series
Episode 9 — Don’t blink … someone might Steal Home