Reliving the Magic: Inside Game Six of the 1986 World Series
"Crafting the Call" -- 3 voices, 1 incredible ending: the 1986 World Series broadcaster breakdown
Even though I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, a lot of my classmates were fans of the New York Mets. More specifically, they were fans of the 1986 Mets. The team of Doc, Darryl, the Kid and Mookie will always hold a special place in the hearts of kids all around the country.
The entire 1986 playoffs was also one of the most epic in baseball history. I can’t get enough of re-watching the Red Sox-Angels, Mets-Astros, and Mets-Red Sox games.
For this week’s Crafting the Call, we examined the famous 10th inning from Game Six of the 1986 World Series, as described by Ken Coleman on Red Sox radio, Bob Murphy on Mets radio, and Vin Scully on NBC’s national television call.
Here’s an excerpt from Bob Murphy on Mets radio.
We’ve done these type of episodes before, comparing and contrasting the different styles on some of the most memorable moments in baseball history. I think this week’s episode offered the most drastic differences in the philosophies.
Listening to the Red Sox feed, you wouldn’t know how close they were to winning the first World Series since 1918.
Listening to the Mets feed, you absolutely knew how close the end was.
Watching on NBC, the director, producer and graphics operators were all at the top of their game to paint a visual picture, while Vin Scully, naturally, chose the perfect combination of eloquence and silence on the air.
Here’s the entire episode.
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. To help support our work, subscribe, like, comment, or send us a suggestion for a future episode.
Here’s a link to all the episodes on YouTube:
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
Episode 10 — Early season check-in … how’s your voice?
Episode 11 — Appreciating longtime Reds announcer Marty Brennaman
Episode 12 — One Day in Baseball, May 1 through the years
Episode 13 — How did he catch that? Plus catchphrases to capture the moment
Episode 14 — Chris Caray analyzes his grandfather Skip Caray
Episode 15 — The calls that defined the 2001 World Series
Episode 16 — Close your laptop: Barry Bonds is up
Episode 17 — Appreciating Dave Niehaus with Ken Levine
Episode 18 — Wait! The game ended *that* way?!?