Spring training is for MLB broadcasters, too.
After weeks of workouts, ballplayers and coaching staff on the MLB fields in Florida and Arizona are ready for the 31-game exhibition season. Whether in the Grapefruit League or Cactus League, men in uniform get antsy to do what they are skilled at. The overall goal is that by the end of this month, all are physically and mentally prepared for the grind of a 162-game season.
Batting cages are busy, pitching machines are operating at high speed, and classroom meetings are all pointing to clubs intent on chasing a pennant and, ultimately, a World Series championship. For the overall picture to be complete, it is essential that broadcasters relay the story to fans in as much detail as possible. For that, there are listening devices, radios, smart speakers, tablets, cell phones, and television. By whatever method fans choose to consume baseball news, they are anxious to hear it from familiar and trusted voices.
As players are shaking off any “rust” from the off-season, broadcasters are also looking to get back into their “game day groove.”
At Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Florida, spring home of the Tampa Bay Rays, longtime club radio voice Andy Freed is relaying information to listeners of exhibition games. But, as Freed, now in his 21st season calling Rays’ games, tells it, his approach to broadcasting is continual.
“For me, preparation never ends. All year round, I’m hunting for interesting stories or tidbits that may eventually be used in a broadcast. Anything that will help the broadcast come to life with stories about players or anyone else within the game. Each spring training, my goal is to learn as much as I can about the Rays. Talking with the manager, coaches, players, executives, writers, and fellow broadcasters help set the template for the stories of the season,” Freed told The Epoch Times.
Even with ample preparation, Freed admits the first broadcast heard on WDAE 620 AM/95.3 FM (Tampa Bay’s radio network flagship station since 2009) feels a little awkward—like breaking in a stiff, new pair of shoes. But, after broadcasting baseball for most of his life, Freed says it doesn’t take that long for him to get reacquainted with the rhythms of the game once again.
Greg Brown is a familiar voice to Pittsburgh Pirates fans. Now in his 32nd season broadcasting for the club and with more than 4,000 games called on TV and radio, Brown is a welcome arrival at the Pirates’ “Southern Home” in Bradenton, Florida. Joining the Pirates’ broadcast crew in 1994, this spring, as in past MLB seasons, Brown is heard calling games for fans on Sports radio 93.7 The Fan/KDKA News Radio 1020 AM and 100.1 FM.
Listening to Brown offer his opinions on the value of “tune-up” broadcasts for getting him ready for the regular season, it becomes clear that being in Bradenton also means brushing up on the backgrounds of new names on the roster.
“For me, spring training games are about me working on the timing with my partner, Brown told The Epoch Times shortly before last Sunday’s Pittsburgh-Detroit Tigers game at LECOM Park. ”I have to get used to the ABS (Automated Ball-Strike system), and the pause it causes during a game. I’ve missed a few (ABS challenges), but halfway through spring training, the players and I should be used to them.”
For Pirates fans, it’s never too early to hear Brown deliver his signature calls—“Clear the Deck, Cannonball Coming” whenever a Pirate hits a home run, and “Raise The Jolly Roger” right after a Pittsburgh win.
Dan Dickerson, a play-by-play fixture on Detroit Tigers’ radio broadcasts since 2000, describes a relaxed approach in getting in his first games of the spring.
“The difference between a spring training broadcast and a regular season broadcast are totally different things,” Dickerson told The Epoch Times. “Everything that makes a regular season game exciting is absent in a spring game. There’s no strategy and no tension. None of this is present. And it literally doesn’t matter who wins. The whole emphasis of a spring broadcast with my partners, whoever that may be, and I’ve worked with Dan Petry, Bobby Scales, and Carlos Pena, is to have a conversation. It’s more of a conversation about baseball.”
Dickerson is based in Lakeland, Florida, or Tigertown, as Detroit’s spring home is affectionately known. Located between Orlando and Tampa, Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium is familiar ground to Dickerson. After his Hall of Fame broadcast partner Ernie Harwell retired, Dickerson joined the Tigers’ broadcast team for the 2000 season and became the club’s lead play-by-play radio voice in 2002. Like Freed and Brown, Dickerson is a trusted partner with Tigers’ fans. They count on him to give game news correctly and in real-time.
“There’s so much going on in camp. We [broadcasters] try to get to a few topics,” he said. In August 2021, Dickerson called the 500th home run of the Tigers’ legend Miguel Cabrera, a future Hall of Famer headed to Cooperstown, N.Y.
Concentrating on how Detroit manager A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris, the Tigers’ president of baseball operations, are making their decisions about who will make the 26-man roster for this season is key to Dickerson’s preparation plan.
“I want to give people a feel for the work going on down here and why,” explains Dickerson. “What were the strengths of last year’s team, and what are the needs for this year, and will they (Tigers) find them? During a spring training game, you’re going to see 50 players, literally, in a game. Most players get swapped out every game. Who is on the field in the 8th-inning, and who is at second base, it’s my job to inform listeners.”
When asked if making the journey south to Lakaeland from his home in Michigan each spring remains as fresh in his mind as the green grass at Publix Field, Dickerson doesn’t hesitate to say how excited he is.
“There’s nothing like the start of baseball season.”
