Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers (63 page)

Let us not bury but praise baseball lifers. Jimmie Reese bridged John
McGraw and John McNamara. Cal Ripken, Jr. was horn into and breathes the
game. Envision Tom Lasorda without a Dodgers uni. You can't.

"You love baseball more than me," says Mrs. Lasorda.

"Yes,"Tom replies, "but I love you more than basketball or football."

Voices can be lifers, too. Joe Garagiola spannedYogi Berra toYogi Berra. Boys
Club catcher Bob Uecker's .200 average made Cooperstown. Jim Kaat absorbed
the Cubs growing up in Zeeland, Michigan, 150 miles northeast of Wrigley Field.

"I'd follow Bert Wilson and Jack Brickhouse," Kaat said, "theTigers' Harry
Heilmann, later Earl Gillespie." Each Sunday he tuned the family Zenith to
WCFL Chicago. "The Old Commander [Bob Elson] would do a doubleheader,
and I'd be eating popcorn." TOC transfixed-the name, and sound.

Ultimately, Jim became a pitcher, pitching coach, and broadcaster,
saving, "I don't think I've ever cashed a non-baseball check." Kitty was born
in 1938. In 1956, signed by Washington, he began using nine lives.

Kaat made the major leagues at 21. In 1961, the Senators of the Nation's
Capital since 1892 became the Minnesota Twins. Jim pitched through
1983-the last Nat to dot the majors. "I'll never be considered one of the alltime greats, maybe not even one of the all-time goods. But I'm one of the
all-time survivors."

Jim won 283 games. "Great control and curve," said mate Harmon Killebrew. "Knew how to play the game." He hit 16 dingers, had a pitching high
134 sacrifice hits, and was a palatine on the mound. "No one noticed my
fielding until a bouncer knocked out six of my teeth." Kaat smothered bunts,
covered first like jam, and wore 14 straight Gold Gloves.

He pitched like being double-parked: to Killebrew, "always kept you on
your toes." In September 1965, Kitty clinched the Twins' first flag, beat Sandy
Koufax in the Series, but lost twice to Mr. K, including Game Seven. "Next
time," Kaat laughed, "I think I'll pitch against a mortal."

In 1966, Koufax had 27 victories, 317 Ks, and a 1.73 ERA. Baseball then
awarded one Cy Young award. "Maybe my best year," said Sandy, "and it had
to be, to beat Kaat [A.L.-high 25 victories and career-low 2.75 ERA]." In
1972, Jim started 10-2 but broke a wrist sliding. Next year he slid to
Comiskey Park.

Mate Dick Allen loved taters, horse racing, and Kitty's two-hour games.
"You pitching, old-timer? Good. I'll be early at the track." Once, blowing a
double play, Dick allowed three runs. "Old-timer, I'll get those back for you,"
he said, and did: two two-run homers.

In 1974, Elliot Gould visited Comiskey Park to hype his movie
M*A*S*H. Allen asked, "Who is that?"

Kaat explained. "Yeah," Dick shrugged, "but can he hit a slider?"

"No, but he probably can hit my Peggy Lee fastball: You know, `Is that all
there is?"'

Kitty joined the Phillies, Yanks, and Cardinals, then, retiring, became
Reds pitching coach: "I liked it, but hoped that my talent wasn't limited
to my arm."

In 1984, ESPN TV named the lifer to minor-league and college baseball. Ex-CBSer Gene Kirby warned of tilt. "If you say, `Trouble. There's a
ball in the corner,' ask yourself, `Trouble for whom?' Don't be a homer."
Dick Enberg noted the baseball nut, no-nothing, and tepid fan "listening at
the same time," Kaat said. "Not the easiest job to ever come down the pike."

It got harder in 1986. The rookie Stripes colorman was stranded by Phil Rizzuto: "Kaat, I got to go to the men's room." Producer Don Carney burned.
"I know he went back to the hotel room. Phil does that all the time." The
freshman soloed. Dicier: enduring George Steinbrenner. "He'll send notes
telling you what to say," Bill White said. "You have to take a stand."

Kaat did and was sacked, the truth having set him free. "George's a goodluck charm. After my release, the Cards sign me and win the '82 Series. In '86,
George fires me and my career takes off." 1987: Jim joins Atlanta. 1988: Minnesota rehires him. 1990: Columbia's new backup analyst flashes a good-guy
air. "This was a [L.C.S.] night for pitchers to excel," wrote Ron Bergman.
"Dave Stewart. Roger Clemens. Jim Kaat [on commentary]." Kitty wanted
coverage to "go on forever." Instead, it went belly-up.

In 1994, Jim manned ESPN and The Baseball Network. A year later, succeeding Tony Kubek, he revisited Camp George's giants, ghosts, and ghouls.
"It's the Yanks," Kitty said, calling MSG TV color. "What more can you ask
for?" Four world titles from 1996 to 2000.

On August 7, 1995, dysfunctional Darryl Strawberry joined the Bombers.
Said Kaat: "If [replaced Luis] Polonia was a tax evader, alcoholic, cocaine abuser, wife abuser, he'd probably still be on the team." In 2002, having
pitched or announced for 14 teams or networks, Kitty, settling down, made
Steinbrenner's new regional cable-TV network. Unsettling to hacks and
flacks was his Upper Midwest nothing-but-the-whole-truth hub.

JIM KART

As Commissioner, Bud Selig barely foiled a 2002 work stoppage. "Baseball people will tell you if they left it to [ex-CEO Paul] Beeston, not Selig,"
Jim said, "they would have had an agreement a year ago."

In 2003, manager Joe Torre ordered Jose Contreras to Triple-A. Overruling him, Steinbrenner sent the pitcher to instruction. "It undermines his
[Torre's) credibility, and makes him look like he lied."

Like Selig, Boss George fumed. Insiders nodded. For one lifer, baseball
means looking in the mirror-and being able to look back.

"It is impossible to think of any other franchise like the Yankees," wrote The
New York Times. Several Voices ape their glow. Barber was a diva. Allen made
cricket riveting. Jim Woods crackled like kept wood. Rizzuto was Rizzuto.
"Inimitable announcers," said Lindsey Nelson, "but they haven't had as many
as you'd think."

Frank Messer made vanilla racy. The comic Bob Gamere chanted ad nau-
seam, "Here it comes, there it goes." Thirty-eight striped players, coaches,
skippers, or execs people Cooperstown. Of Hall mikemen, only Mel, Red,
Arch McDonald, Joe Garagiola, Curt Gowdy, and Buck Canel, several
briefly, nested in the Bronx.

In 1989, John Sterling, born in NewYork July 4, 1948, joined his childhood club. Is he Allen's heir, Gamere redux, or somewhere in between?

Spotting him, a driver screams, "Bern, Baby, Bern! [John's panegyric to
Bernie Williams] You're the reason the Yankees are great!"

Phil Mushnick counters: "Condescending, self-centered. Thoroughly
absorbed. A lost cause."

Are we discussing the same homo sapien?

Sterling Time, and the quarreling is easy.

"Give us the tools and we shall finish the job," said Churchill. John's blazed
zest, brass, and a silken voice. Early jobs included WMCA talk radio, Morgan
State football, hockey Islanders, and basketball Nets. "Give it to Julius [Erving]!" he shouted in a playoff game. In 1983, Sterling left Bullets hoops
for Braves radio/TV. Five years later "it was time to move on," but where?

The 1961 Cubs' College of Coaches rotated skippers. By late 1988, the
Yanks suffered a rotating door. Sterling became their 17th Voice hired in a
decade. Soon he, Joe Angel, Tony Kubek, Rizzuto, Tom Seaver, DeWayne
Staats, and Al Trautwig shared color/play-by-play. "Splitting radio and free
and cable TV, we had separate teams," said Kubek. "The result was that no
one guy really dominated the rest."

The '93ers placed second. A .619 percentage led the 1994 league. "Holy
cow!" rasped Rizzuto. "The strike cost us the Series." Scooter fled in fits and
starts. Kubek left the game. Staats moved to ESPN. Enduring, Sterling
boarded baseball's most successful wagon train since Mel (14 1949-64 flags)
and Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren (1991-93 and 1995-2004 first place).
It began in 1996.

Atlanta took a 2-0 game Series edge. In Georgia, New York won thrice.
For months, "[new manager Joe] Torre's brother had been trying for a heart
donor," wrote Phil Pepe. "The day before [Game Six] Frank got a heart." The
Yanks got their first title since 1978. Next year, the Madison Square Garden
Network bought its radio. "MSG To Sterling": said Mushnick. "Clean Up Your
['smug and self-smitten'] Act."

NewYork lost the 1997 Division Series to Cleveland. "The bear bit us,"
said Torre. Actually, the Yanks were hibernating, awaking next year.

In 1998, New York won a league-record 114 games, swept the Series, and finished an otherworldly 125-50. A year later, it drew 3 million for the first time. In
1985, Steinbrenner had axed Yogi Berra, who snubbed the Bronx for 14 years.
"He had somebody else tell me," said No. 8. "That's what I didn't like." Finally the
Boss apologized, his clan communing July 18, 1999. "It's the history," said Torre,
giving Berra a 1998 Series ring. Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, Gil McDougald, and
Bobby Richardson stood nearby.Yogi snagged Don Larsen's pregame pitch, then
gave his mitt to Joe Girardi, who used it vs. Montreal.

Inning after inning sealed a laying-on of hands. "He popped him up! He's
going to get it! Brosius down from third!" Sterling said. Pointing skyward,
David Cone grabbed his head in disbelief. "Ballgame over! A perfect game!
... A perfect game for David Cone! Twenty-seven up! Twenty-seven down!
David Cone has attained baseball immortality!" At that moment, John
seemed a successor to Woodsie, Red, and Mel.

That fall, New York again met the "Team of the Decade." The "Team of the Century" swept. The usual suspects took the usual parade down Manhattan. Said Torre: "This stuff never gets old." New: the 2000 Subway Series.
"Bernie back! Away back! He's there! He makes the catch! Ballgame over!
World Series over!" John puffed: third straight world title, four in five years,
and 26th overall.

Sterling and 1992-2001 partner Michael Kay emceed the title party,
"The-eh-eh-eh-eh Yankees win!" ferried through City Hall. The cry
became John's logotype: also, "The-eh pitch," French lilt ("De-TWAH,"
for Detroit), and exchange with the ex-Daily News reporter. It included
Sterling's triplets (Veronica, Bradford, and Derek, born October 11,
2000), Kay on fashion ("interlocking NY"), and sidekick's distaste of
today's slow-mo game ("length: an unmanageable three hours and thirty
minutes").

"See-ya!" Kay cried of a homer.

"It is high! It is far! It is gone!" John replied, filing with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office--officially, SN 75-205, 21 3-to put the call on T-shirts
and sweatshirts.

"[Their] image," wrote a columnist, "[is] two friends who ... happen to
be spending the day at the park." Some thought baseball prop for ego. Said
Bob Raissman: "He's doing a talk show disguised as . . . baseball." Harry
Caray's "Cubs win!" seemed a kettle of Americana. "Stop being a copycat,"
said a friend, "give `Yankees win!' a rest, and John's a great announcer."

In 2001, Arizona's Luis Gonzalez's Game Seven ninth-inning World
Series bloop put the lid on "TYW!" Next year, Kay launched play-by-play, the
"Center Stage" talk show, and other programming on TV's new Yankees
Entertainment and Sports (YES) network.

Replacing him on radio: a Brooklynite who heaped new connotation on
coming home.

"I found out my future in the game wasn't as a player the first time I played
a fungo softball game around the block from my home," allowed Charley
Steiner. "Donnie Sorensen, an experienced veteran of eight or nine," said to
hit the ball, then run to first base (elm tree), second (towel), third (another
elm), and home (cardboard). Charley was nothing if not literal, racing for the
tree, towel, tree, and "home. I mean home. All the way to my house. I couldn't
figure why everyone was chasing after me, laughing, screaming, and telling
me I was running the wrong way."

Steiner took his last piano lesson in October 1960. "My teacher wouldn't let me out, despite it being Game Seven. She looked me and, in
broken English, asked, `What's the World Series?"' Bill Mazeroski cost him
a $1 bet. "Not only was that a monthly allowance, but my piano career
came to at end. Maz swings, and I'm playing `On Top of Old Smokey."'

In 1967, Charley entered Bradley University, later sold an underground
paper in Haight-Ashbury, kibitzed with Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale, and
at Woodstock mixed mud and drugs. "We were right about the war in Viet
Nam, and how wrong it was. We were right about civil rights, right about
women's rights, right about questioning authority."

Graduating, he rightly trekked to Iowa, Connecticut, Ohio, and WXLO
New York's Jets and USFL New Jersey Generals. In 1988, Steiner added
ESPN TV boxing and "Sports Center." A decade later he began its radio network's "Sunday Night Baseball." Looking at the bases, "I knew I'd arrived."
They did not include a cardboard, towel, or tree.

Charley spent 2002-04 in New York, then joined the Dodgers as Vin
Scully's second. "How's this for karma?" he said. "I knew I wanted to be a
broadcaster the first time I heard Vin's voice doing a Brooklyn Dodger game
on the radio. Had to be '55 or '56. 1 was six or seven."