Late Night Baseball on the Radio
As a lifelong Blue Jays supporter living on the east coast, in Toronto, I’ve always had an affinity for the western road trip. The western swing: games in Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle. And as I inch closer and closer to 30 — Dirty Thirty — there isn’t much I enjoy more than a Blue Jays game that begins shortly after 10:00 pm eastern time on a weeknight, when all the duties of the day have been completed.
Tonight, the Blue Jays kick off their first western swing of the young season in Anaheim, against the Los Angeles Angels. Ervin Santana is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 10:05 pm. And tonight, along with Monday and Tuesday nights next week when the Blue Jays are in Seattle, I’ll be kicking it old school, like I used to do so many years ago — I’ll be listening on the radio.
Back in the day, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I don’t remember if every single Blue Jays game was televised, like they are today. I don’t think they were, but it hardly mattered, back then. I was young; I’m talking between seven and 12 years old. I had to be in bed. But I remember those late games. I remember catching an inning or two on the telly, if the game was on, and then retiring to my quarters, where my Walkman and headphones awaited. I remember falling asleep to the “Voice of the Blue Jays,” Tom Cheek, and his partner, Jerry Howarth. Tom and Jerry, yo. The voice of my fleeting youth. The best.
It was 1992. That most infamous year when the World Series trophy finally traveled north. And, for some reason, I remember an 11-game road trip the Blue Jays embarked upon on April 30, beginning in Milwaukee. Toronto dropped the first three of four to the Brewers, before heading further west. Two games in Oakland, two in Seattle, followed by three in California (when they were logically called the California Angels). The Jays went 5-2 out west, and 6-5 on the trip overall, and it was then that I thought the 1992 Jays were truly something special. Truly for real. The A’s, after all, were the class of the American League West, and, upon returning home from the long road trip, Toronto swept another mini two-game series with Oakland, in front of 50,000 plus each night at the SkyDome. It was a grand time to be a Blue Jays fan.
We lived in a different world back in 1992. I remember urging myself, in the dark, to stay awake as long as I could. I had to know the result before I fell asleep. Nine years old, I felt it was the least I could do for Cito Gaston’s Blue Jays. For Robbie Alomar, and Jimmy Key. For Jack Morris, and Juan Guzman. For Kelly Gruber, and Tom Henke. For Dave Winfield, Toronto’s DH, and elder statesman.
More often than not, I was asleep by 1:00 am, and the final out. It certainly wasn’t their fault, but on those late nights, Tom and Jerry put me to bed. And, looking back, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Come morning, I’d race to the newspaper, first thing after brushing my teeth. I needed to know if the Blue Jays had defeated Dennis Eckersley and his damn Athletics. There wasn’t usually — unless my memory has completely failed me — a game story in the paper; more proof of how different things were back then. By the time the final out was made, the paper had already gone to the presses. Sometimes we — my older brother and I — would get lucky, and our edition of the paper would have a box score of the game. Jays won? High five! Let’s get dressed for school. Jays lost? Brutal. Suddenly, I don’t feel so well.
There was no Internet. I know, the horror. In some cases, when there was no game story or box score in the papers, I’d park myself in front of the television and wait patiently for Blue Jays highlights. There was no ticker at the bottom of SportsDesk, as the show was called up in the north, either. Oh, the humanity.
Times have certainly changed. Today, every single Blue Jays game, all one hundred and freakin’ sixty-two, is televised. Hell, I’ve got television access, like most of you do I presume, to every single Major League Baseball game on any given day. Life is good.
But there has always been, and there always will be, something special about baseball on the radio. Especially those late night games. So tonight, when Vernon Wells faces the Blue Jays for the first time, I won’t be watching on the tube. I’m going to let Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby paint the picture for me instead.
Image via this isn’t happiness.
I was the exact same way, I loved falling asleep to the west coast games, even today I sometimes go to bed and throw the game on the radio. There was something so soothing about the way Tom and Jerry called the games. Although being a much bigger fan these days than I was back then, when I try to go to bed I end up actively listening to the game and if I do fall asleep some loud mouthed caller on Jays Talk would surely wake me up
Jays Talk is hazardous to my health.
And back then, you could watch quite a few games WITHOUT cable. I still don’t have cable, so the Fan Radio Network is my way to get the games.
Yeah, to get every Jays game on TV this year, you’d need good old Sportsnet One.
With the only way of catching the Blue Jays down here in New Zealand being on MLB.TV, and having limited bandwidth, I find myself listening to more games on the radio (Gameday Audio) than anything else, and it’s awesome.
The fact that baseball has been on the radio for absolutely forever with almost no changes to how it works and still be relevant is absolutely amazing.
Baseball was made for the radio.
Radio was made for baseball.
I see what you did there. And you’re right.
“Toronto dropped the first three of four to the Brewers, before heading further west.”
I don’t want to look it up because I’d rather believe my memory, but I recall the Brewers absolutely owning the Jays in the late 80′s early 90′s.
They even spoiled the rain-delayed Skydome opener…
It was KMOX, Harry Caray & Jack Buck doing Cardinals games for me. Way back in the day.
Nice article.
I don’t know what it is, but I made a pledge to myself to listen to more baseball on the radio. I’ve really kept at it and I’m listening to the Jays and Angels in the bottom of the tenth this very second.
It seems like a lot of Toronto folk have decided to turn on their radios lately. I hadn’t listened to a game on the radio since the early-90′s as well and my mind was blown when Wilner started talking about BABIP,OSWING, xFIP, etc.
I couldn’t believe that he was having a discussion about Jesse Litsch vs. Gustavo Chacin in a battle of FIP, K/9 and K:BB. Shit was crazy.
I’m 17 years-old and the only way I WANT to experience a ballgame is through the radio. A lot of my friends have no idea why I don’t just watch the game on TV, but the truth is I don’t like it as much. As Navin said a few posts up, baseball was made for radio. I also love the West coast games. First pitch at 9pm, wrapping the game up around 12:30, then the post-game until about 2am. Of course I’m asleep as soon as the game ends (even with my eyes closed my internal “I care about what’s being said up until a certain point and after that I couldn’t care less” clock is running) but still… I will forever love the radio. Been a subscriber to MLB Gameday Audio for four years and I don’t intend to ever by MLB.tv.
I completely understand both about the love of the radio…and of the west coast trip. First I grew up in the Midwest and lived during my early baseball years in KC. So not only did I get the Royals games on my little AM radio…with the one ear bud…..the walkmans had just come out…but I got the Realistic AM radio (those are the Radio Shack brand for those of you too young to know). …but I also picked up the Cardinal games….and on occasion the Cubs and the White Sox. Sitting with the blanket over head in the dark with your eyes closed listening to the drama of baseball was great. I still think about that a lot.
In college I was coming back from a class trip in TN with the Braves playing the final game of the world series…I bought a radio and listened to the CBS broadcast with Vince Scully until finally the Braves won it!
Later I worked out in central california and would often be driving at night….listening to the Giants broadcasts with the windows down and the cool coast air coming in…perfect!
Even now I have the baseball package and the radio package for my phone…I use the radio package far more. Just the other day a coworker and I were talking about the same thing…how he turns on his radio after his wife has fallen asleep and falls asleep to the rythym of the game. I do the same thing…especially with west coast games. I think that people dont understand that baseball is the greatest background noise in the world. With some of the tenure of the radio guys you can honestly grow up with them and feel you know them. I felt that way with old Braves broadcast crew (now living in the south for the last 20 years)..I feel that way about Uke in KC….and the Giants crew.
Unfortunately this aspect of baseball is lost and rarely understood.
@ ridley25: Let’s just say I wasn’t too upset when the Brewers were sent to the NL.
@ randy: I never got to listen to Harry Caray, which is a shame. Thanks for reading, and for the feedback.
@ Kris: I listened to most of the Anaheim/Toronto series on the radio. Was great. Won’t lie, though, I fell asleep during that marathon on Saturday night.
@ Anders: You’re one of the few not-misguided youth. Bless you. Way you continue to walk the righteous path.
@ Craig: Fantastic comment. Thanks for sharing.
I had completely forgotten about doing this as a youth, but the article brought back the memory immediately. Nowadays I DVR the 10 pm games, hit the hay early, wake up an hour early and zoom through it before work. But it’s definitely not the same.