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Old Broadcasts Bring Back Classic Baseball Announcers
I just discovered this on YouTube, although it looks like it's been there a while. And while it's not for everyone, it does reveal an absolutely amazing treasure trove of some of the greatest radio baseball announcers of all time. It's called "Classic Baseball on the Radio" and it presents an unbelievable number of play-by-play broadcasts from MLB's storied past, with such voices as Vin Scully, Dick Enberg and Mel Allen.
And these aren't just excerpts - with the exception of a few recreations, these are the actual hours-long radio broadcasts that went out over the air during the game. The oldest one I can find is from way back in 1936. I have no idea who saved these all these years, but if you're a fan of the so-called "voices of the game," it might be worth a listen. The real stars here, in my mind, aren't the players - they're the guys in the booth.
Unfortunately, there are no samples of the Blue Jays - everything is pre-1972, which I'm led to believe is before copyright problems kick in (although the way the current Jays are playing, maybe that's a good thing!) You can listen here.
There's also a separate YT channel that features the complete recordings from dozens of TV games broadcast over the years. There's at least one Jays game there, against what was then arch-rival Detroit back in 1978. This was only a year after the Jays came into the league and they weren't very good. But I won't tell you whether they won this one or not. The full menu is here.
- dwelsman
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Re: Old Broadcasts Bring Back Classic Baseball Announcers
I'm listening to Yankees / Dodgers World Series game 7 from 1956. Interesting that the recording is taken from CKLW.
- John D
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It's too bad they don't have any of the old International Baseball League Broadcasts with Joe Crysdale and Hal Kelly. I was just a boy; but my neighbour would sit out on his front lawn and listen to the Toronto Maple Leaf baseball broadcasts all the time. It was exciting.
- RadioActive
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Re: Old Broadcasts Bring Back Classic Baseball Announcers
It amazes me how many of these classics were actually saved, given the recording equipment available in some years and how most stations threw out so much of their history. Not only that, but the quality seems to be pretty good for what I presume are old tapes.
There is a story I've heard many times over the years about what is arguably the most famous radio call in baseball history. It centres on the Shot Heard Round The World, Bobby Thompson's home run to give the Giants the pennant against their hated rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers back in 1951.
The radio station - WMCA - was one of three airing that game, all with different announcers. But they weren't taping it and it wasn't common in those days to keep anything. Instead, a fan named Larry Goldberg asked his mother to tape it off the radio on his then newfangled reel-to-reel while he was at work.
Russ Hodges, who called the play, later told interviewers that Goldberg was a Dodgers fan and wanted to use the tape to torture his friends who supported the Giants. That apparently wasn't the case, with others saying Goldberg was actually a Giants fan.
Whatever the truth, the most famous call in baseball history exists only because one fan wanted to hear it played back because he couldn't listen to it live.
I love stories like that, even if they get exaggerated over the years.
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