High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Scott Franzke’s Memorable Calls Last a Lifetime for Phillies Fans | 'The PBP: Voices of Baseball'

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

From 'The PBP: Voices of Baseball' (subscribe here): This week's guest on The PBP is Phillies radio voice Scott Franzke, who has delivered so many memorable calls of big moments in team history -- "Bedlam at the Bank", World Series appearances, no hitters and more! Franzke also details his relationships with the legendary Harry Kalas, and current radio partner Larry Andersen. There's so much goodness in this episode. Enjoy! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello, hello, and welcome in to the P.B.P. Voices of Baseball. I am indeed Matt Spiegel, and I love doing these interviews. I love getting to know these people. And this week is no different. Scott Franski is a really cool guy. And I didn't know. I really had no idea what he was like as a dude. And then you look at the career and there's so much to talk about with him.

And we do. A one-time talk show host like yours truly who dreams of being a play-by-play voice. So we add him to a list of play-by-play people who've been talk show hosts along with Dave Sims of the Mariners. Len Casper did some talk shows in Milwaukee. John Boog Shambi was a talk show guy down in Miami. I'm sure there are more, but that is a growing list. That's for sure. Some things that I think you'll hear from Scott Franski in this long conversation, really great stuff. I'll keep it tight up top because the conversation is long and really good. The respect that he has for the players who then respect him back in terms of the interactions in the clubhouse.

It's their show, folks. We on the PBP celebrate these people who celebrate the players who are playing the game. The broadcasters appreciate the players and help us appreciate the players and stuff. But really, it's a fascinating role because as a broadcaster, you have to be committed both selflessly and creatively at the same time. So you want to be creative, but you got to be selfless because it's really not about you. It's about the players and the game. You've heard me allude to that. Scott gets that and speaks on that very, very well.

Also in this conversation, you'll hear him talking about Harry Callas. That is one of the formative voices of my young baseball consciousness. Harry Callas doing Phillies games on 1210 WCIU. Some of you may know Harry more as the voice of NFL films after John Facenda had died. Harry Callas took that over. Imagine that voice for six months as your baseball companion. And you'll hear from Scott Franski what it was like to work with and under an icon like that. I really enjoyed Scott Franski.

I know you will, too. And we start by talking about that amazing crowd that he gets in Philadelphia. All right, Scott Franski of the Philadelphia Phillies radio broadcast. It is a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much. I find myself envious, like I'm sure many people in the industry are, envious, like I'm sure many people in the industry are, of you being able to feel the energy of that crowd in that stadium coursing through you for multiple incredible moments of now in your career, multiple incredible postseason runs of different eras. That's, uh, that is an amazing, amazing thing. I can't imagine what that feels like to be above and in the midst of all of that, but tell us what that feels like. Uh, it's pretty amazing. Honestly. Uh, I, I know that every fan

base can claim, uh, energy at the right time and,, and they can claim incredible moments at times. But I can't imagine it being any better anywhere else than it is at Citizens Bank Park. The fans there are just so crazy. And, you know, you mentioned the two different eras. When I first got there, it was pretty incredible. And to go dormant for so long and and the way the fans piled in and made noise and created energy. The last couple of post seasons has been really remarkable to watch. And I just am so lucky to be a part of it.

When. Yeah, a lot of fan bases can claim it. We had Pat Hughes on the show last year and Pat likes to say there's nothing like the crowd at Wrigley. And of course it feels like that when you're there and you're in the midst. But does that energy ever get distracting or does it just amplify your feelings and what you're doing? I think as an announcer, the thing you have to guard against is just letting it sort of take you over the top before it should. Because again, big moments can happen at any point during the game, but certainly when leverage is on the line and seventh, eighth, ninth inning, then it gets to be even more so. I've always been a guy who likes to try to at least try to leave myself somewhere to go if I need to go up another notch.

That's hard to do if you start from here, you know, start from here and you want to, you know, bring it up a little further. That's, that's hard to do if you've gone, you know, sort of over your skis at the start. So I think that's the biggest thing is for, for an announcer to try to find some calm in all of that. And, and, you know, sort of wait for it to burst when the moment calls for it. It's amazing looking around on the internet, how many people and Phillies fans just love your calls of those moments. But I think I've read you talk about it. There's like, it is about you and your call, but it's just about, it's also about you as a vessel, right? You're the one who can feel those moments.

Yeah. People say all the time, they say, oh, I listen to this and I play this back and whatever. I just love your call. It's flattering. It's great. I'm not dismissing it by any stretch of the imagination. dismissing it by any stretch of the imagination. But I do realize that what they really want is to see Bryce Homer again, or they want to see J-Roll double again,

or they want to see something amazing like that again. And for a lot of them, this is the way to get back into that moment. They might have been there at the time. They might have been watching. They might have been listening, whatever the case might be. But they want to go back to that moment again. And you're the you're the one who's there. And as you said, you're just kind of a vessel. You bring it to them and you hope that whatever you've done is is good enough that it can sort of last with that sort of moment. But really, I mean, I joke about it all the time.

You know, Bryce did the hard work or or, you know, Jimmy did the hard work or Roy Halladay did the hard work. I just was the lucky SOB to be there at the right time. All right. So you referenced a couple of big ones right there. And the great thing that we get to do is like to play some of the calls and ask you about them. So tell us about the moment, Bedlam at the Bank. I mean, it's freaking iconic. Had you thought of the word Bedlam at all? Had it come to you at all at any time before that Harper home run? No, I mean, I don't know whether I've used it before. I really have no idea. It's not something that I predetermined or thought about,

really. It just sort of came out. And for me, that run and that moment was so much about the crowd and so much about what was happening there. There was this love affair that was brewing between a team and a city. And, you know, there was, I kept calling it this month of mutual admiration. I mean, I've never heard players so consistently, honestly, praise the fan base for what they brought to the table. And by the same token, the fans were the same way. I mean, they were loving these guys, who they were, what they did, their personalities, their performances. And so it was this constant back and forth all month. And that was the thing. He hit the home run. And I just remember seeing the ball go into the seats,

and I remember the way the crowd was reacting, and that's kind of just, it was hands in the air. It was people jumping up and down. It was, you know, beers flying in the air. You know, spray was going everywhere, And that's just what came to mind. It just seemed like Bedlam in that moment. Two balls, two strikes to Bryce Harper. Suarez delivers. Swing and a drive.

Left field. It's deep. It's going. And it is gone. Yes. It is Bedlam at the bank as Bryce Harper has put the Phillies on top are you kidding me his 10th career

home run of the postseason and he may never hit a bigger one wow postseason and he may never hit a bigger one. Wow. Four to three Phillies in the bottom of the eighth inning. It's crazy. It wasn't something I planned or, or something that you think about in, in advance.

It just sort of happened. I love that you're feeling the crowd. We had Joe Davis on the show last year and talked about his call of that moment. On the seventh pitch, Harper hits one in the air, left center field, back it goes. Harper, the swing of his life. I was actually sitting with my dad at his home in Lambertville, Pennsylvania, watching, and Joe, with a great call of his own, the swing of his life. But it's interesting because he's focused on Bryce and the players,

and you, as the local guy and the guy who's been there all year, you're feeling it. So it's like both of those perspectives are completely valid when you think about the moment coming together and sort of different things getting accentuated. Yeah, I think that's an interesting way to look at it. You know, from Joe's perspective as a national guy, I assume he's the number one thing he wants is a good game and a good story and some drama. And he's got one of the biggest stars in the game, certainly the biggest star we've got sort of handed to him on a plate there. And, you know, you know, for for Bryce to be in that moment, number one, which is kind of weird for baseball anyways, right? I mean, it could have been Brandon Marsh or it could have been Johan Rojas or whatever.

I mean, it could be anybody. Right. It's kind of like it's like it's like Otani getting trout at the end of the WBC. You don't get it. Exactly. And, you know, baseball is one that you can't plan for that. You can't just say, all right, well, the moment's on the line. Let's get Bryce up there, right? Let's put him in there. So, yeah, from his perspective, it is, I can understand why it would be, you know, about Bryce and about, you know know everything that comes with being a superstar and being in that moment um and I'm not you know I mean Bryce is certainly a huge part of it and and I didn't I don't mean to downgrade all that I just for me it was the reaction of the crowd and

the way uh our city got to celebrate that um for me me, that's so much of what the whole month was about at that moment. Yeah, and you talked about Bryce a little bit later on in that call and the context, of course. And then I love that I think it was the first runs of the 2022 World Series was on a Bryce Homer, and you called it as, and we'll play it here. Cullers kicks and comes home, and the pitch swung on, hit the right field, and the Phillies are going to lead it. Yeah, they are.

Bryce Harper has put the Phillies on top with a two-run home run over the out-of-town scoreboard. Simply amazing. Harper here at home has homered on back-to-back swings that's that's a great little in the moment out of the context and a reminder for what felt like a continuation yeah i guess we had opened on the road in houston so we this is probably game three of the world series and and um i'm guessing that was the McCullers game when and so Bryce Homer in his first at bat, his first swing. And so, yeah, take you right back there. Yeah, exactly.

What I'm I wondered if you could think of any other moment from that postseason run or just something where you felt like the crowd, like you made the conscious choice to lay out? And maybe that's frequent, but just kind of letting the crowd be a part of it or feeling the crowd be a part of it in some way because it's easier on TV to lay out and let the crowd do its thing. But it's got to be a pretty conscious choice on your end, it would seem, as a radio guy.

Yeah, it's hard to do. And I almost always, when I listen back to a call of mine, I almost always feel like I said too much. I mean, almost 100% of the time. And I don't know if there's one that stands out. I mean, there's other's one that stands out. I mean, there's other moments from that postseason run that were big and spectacular. And, you know, the Hoskins homer off of Strider in the first game at Citizens Bank Park, you know, the first playoff game in over a decade.

That's when the crowd was this powder keg ready to just blow. And here's Reese. Two on, one out. And the a pitch swung on did it crushed and the Phillies are gonna lead it four to nothing a three run home run for Reese Hoskins his first postseason home run and he's sprinting around third base what a moment here at citizens bank park that for me was the moment that i thought there's something going on here. You know, we had played on the road for two weeks, basically, the way the schedule worked out. We were on the road to end the season.

We had a because of the lockout that started 22. We had to go back, tack on our first three games at the end, which were also on the road. three games at the end, which were also on the road. So the season-ending road trip ended up being, I think the team was in a hotel for 17 or 18 days. I mean, because then we went to St. Louis, won two games there, went straight to Atlanta, played two games there. I mean, it was like basically almost three weeks since we had been in that ballpark.

And, you know, when we left, it was a casual fan appreciation day Sunday, you know, kind of thing. And everybody's getting free schedule magnets for the next year and stuff. And it had a very, very different feel to it. But when we got back there, I thought that was the moment that I felt like, I mean, it was great. It was cool. They won in St. Louis and whatever. But when they, when Reese hit that home run, you kind of had a thought that, man, something's going on here. And, and, and sure enough, it was. Yeah. It's a, it's a pretty special group. It isn't it? Like, I wonder, how do you, do you feel like you've gotten inside of that group at all? As a broadcaster, I'm sure you go down to the clubhouse and you hang out and you talk and you want to get stuff. And they know you, I saw a great story about Hoskins coming up to you and saying, Hey, man, you nailed that call. And you're like, I nailed it. You nailed it. What are we talking about? Right. Do they let you in? Do you feel like they've let you in a little bit?

I mean, I think I don't think we're as as ingrained in them as we might have been at one time. And certainly broadcasters of another era. I think players, you know, personalities a little different. And but there we, we have had, we've been really fortunate and it's funny. Um, I don't know whether it's the winning that brings it out. Um, but we've had a, a really good collection of people. Um, and for us, you know, we deal with guys on a day in, day out basis. They're all different personalities. You try to engage with them.

You try to interact with them. Some are more boisterous than others. Some are more sort of casual than others. Some are more shy than others. And you try to respect all of that along the way. I've always been a big believer in if I need them for something, I don't like to be in their face all the time. Um, because then when I, uh, I just want to, I don't want them to think I'm pestering them or, or, um, you know, if I need something, they're always, uh, giving of their

time and they're there, they're available. But I do try to make sure I take a step back and not just sort of be right there in their face all the time, if you know what I mean. Sorry. So when you start with the Phillies, and I want to talk about your radio career before that, at some point as well, because that interests me a great deal as a talk show host who's just getting to dabble in finally in big league play by play over the last like four years in my life. I'm very interested in the radio crossover. It's been kind of a theme of the thing. So we'll get to that. But the start of your career in Philly, you're working with Harry Callas, man. Right? Like, I grew up listening to Harry on WCAU, and I felt like I could hear the cigarettes burning in the ashtray.

Now, maybe I could. I'm not sure. So, what is it? But, like, iconic and Michael Jack Schmidt, number 500. It's not a good one. I don't know if you ever do it. You don't need to, of course, but like, but what is that like? What are the levels of working with an absolute legend at that point

in your young career? Well, a few things about growing up in Texas, I wasn't really aware of of Harry's work as a baseball announcer. So there's that. But I do I will say this. And, you know, I wasn't really on the air with Harry as much or almost never. I mean, in fact, I used to joke that I was, I mean, I got hired and I was the pre and post game host, but I did two innings each night when they did their crossover between radio and TV as they used to do regularly. And I was basicallyry's smoke break i mean the the i guess it was the fifth and sixth innings uh i would be on doing play-by-play that first year that i was with

the phillies so and that was basically harry just to get a break during the how many years how many heaters do you think you could smoke into i don't. It depended on how long the walk was to where he had to go, I think. But, yeah, you know, and then – but I will say this. One of my first games – it might have been my very first game on the air with the Phillies, spring training of 06, and we're in Kissimmee. And, you know, again, there were a bunch of us there, and they kind of rotate us around, and they kind of throw us all into the soup, if you will.

And I was on the air with him he was doing play by play and i was on the air with him as the number two and ryan howard hit a home run and he did the out of here call and i was sitting there and i was just dumbstruck thinking, what happened to me? Like I'm sitting next to one of the all time legends of this industry. And I'm he's right here next to me. And the chill bumps are going down my spine and listening to him call that. So that was my first, you know, real thing with Harry. And then the other part of it was everywhere we went.

You know, Phillies fans are big for traveling. They go to road games and you'll see them at a hotel in San Diego or Los Angeles or, you know, Atlanta or wherever you go. There's there's Phillies fans that fans that show up and show out. And I just couldn't believe what a rock star he was. It was, I mean, the top three gets of autographs were like Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Harry Callas, you know, outside the ballpark or outside the hotel and uh you know he would stop and record um people's outgoing voicemail message and you know uh you know Matt is on a long drive he's out of here he'll call you back later or whatever uh that kind of stuff

uh but he's just a rock star it was hairy hairy hairy and i remember in 08 when they won the world series we're on we you know we the broadcasters were on a particular one of the flatbed floats and uh the streets were just jammed and we were stuck it felt like we were stuck for an hour uh near city hall the the parade just wasn't moving and we didn't know why we're uh we had no idea why but we had on our float it was all the broadcasters and uh some city people you know um from the mayor's office and stuff like that and um the fanatic was on our float. I mean, everybody, I actually have old video somewhere on an old,

like not on my phone, but on a camera that I carried. And it was, we're stuck and Harry is on the float and everybody is chanting for Harry. Wow. He's waving to the crowd and you can just see the emotion in his face like that. He's overcome by it. The amount of love and adoration that that our city and our fan base had for Harry Cowles is something that will never be matched. And, you know, and you could tell it really affected him in a deep and meaningful way. Man, that's amazing.

On the float with Harry and the Fanatic. I'm trying to picture them interacting. The Fanatic probably didn't mess with Harry too much. No, he wasn't dumping popcorn on Harry very often. All the rest of the broadcasters got that treatment. Hey, fantasy football owners. The road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception.

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the idea of legendary broadcasters sounding a certain way. And now here you are and you sound, I mean, you have so much more information, Scott. It's crazy. Like you've got the World Wide Web and nine websites open if you want and all that stuff and all the numbers and everything. And the game is, the way we talk about the game and think about the game has changed. But there's sort of an expectation that it feels that the sound, the feel of the sound, if that makes any sense is the same

as when Harry was doing it that's kind of what people want whether they know it or not on some level on the radio I wonder if you agree or disagree with that yeah I don't know I mean uh you're right we do have so much at our disposal and um that can lead an announcer into overdoing it and talking too much and all these other things. As I said, I grew up in Texas and I listened pretty religiously to Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel. And Eric, of course, is still there. He's now in the Hall of Fame as a Frick winner. And he's been a huge influence on me and a mentor to me. I only met Mark a couple of times. I was just kind of getting into the business and met him. like, or thinking back on it now, I feel like listening to Mark and Eric do a game was somewhat similar to listening to Harry and Whitey. And that was two guys that are, they're talking the game,

they're analyzing the game, but they're also friends and they're also passing the time. And they're also, you know, getting you through seasons in which your teams suck. And you're, I mean, we're not always in the playoffs. And, you know, the Phillies had a decade of just not being a factor at all. And that those are the times when the people in our business really earn their money. Right. Because there's something we have to do something to make it worth listening to. When you're 20 games out, people don't tune in to get the score because they want to know if you gained a game in the standings. They don't care at this point. They want to be with you because you're a part of their lives and somehow you can make them feel like a part of yours, that they're a part of the club, that they're a part of

the story. And I don't know, I just felt like Mark and Eric, they did all those Ranger teams that were kind of going nowhere. And people were thinking about the Cowboys by June 1st. And but I still listened. I still liked what they did. I still was entertained by it. And for me, that's something that I've always tried to hold on to is the idea that a three to two game in the eighth inning is easy. that a three to two game in the eighth inning is easy. I mean, it just is. That's easy.

There's a hundred fundamentals that you can just continue to roll through and do a great broadcast and you let the game be the game. But sometimes the games aren't very much fun and sometimes the games get long and sometimes the games get blown out and you got to find something else to do.

And, um, so I thought that, I think that's what, one of the things that Harry and Whitey did so well and why people in this town sort of connect, um, and, and, uh, uh, maybe can appreciate the way we do the game, uh game on Philly's radio. Because I think it's not that I've patterned myself after those guys or anything like that. It's just what I'm doing is how I feel like it should sound, as best as I know how. And I may be right, I may be wrong, and I'm not for everybody.

And that's okay. I'm just trying to do, I'm trying to be me and I'm trying to do the game like I feel like, how I remember it, right? I mean, that's what we're all doing. We're just kind of parroting what we remember. Yeah, I think Theo Epstein said

the best version of the game is the one that you loved when you were 12. Sure, yeah. Or it can be a broadcast. Eric Nadel is terrific, was a guest on this show a few weeks back and just so thoughtful, so smart, and so comfortable. So that makes a lot of sense. I you say at times you are a therapist? Are you a pal? Are you, you know, an advisor? Like, give me some of the roles that you guys play, that you play for Larry or you play for each other, you think, along the way? Well, certainly there's the humorous foil. We go there a lot. You know, again, Larry has been one of the, I mean, of all the things that have happened in my

life that have made a real lasting difference, one of them has been being paired with Larry. And I, at my stage, at my career back then in, you know, four or five or six, I'm in my early 30s. I just want a job. I want a job doing play by play every day in the major leagues. That's what that's what my goal is. And if there had been a team in Timbuktu and they had offered me their job, that's where I'd be. And you don't pick your job at that age, right? You can't just sit around and wait. I'm really going to wait for that job that I really want to open. You take the job you can get, you do the best you can and then maybe after you're good and you've proven yourself for a few years maybe there's an opportunity you can i don't want

to say engineer but you know what i mean um yes have your eye on the other thing you can't do is you can't pick your partner and it's it's highly conceivable i could have gone to the phillies and been paired with somebody who wasn't as popular, who wasn't as funny, who wasn't as entertaining. And people would think differently of me from the very outset. I used to joke. I don't know what there's a phrase guilt by association right whatever the opposite of that is um like i got street cred because larry seemed like he liked me um you know uh and that can go a long way with fans whether they realize it or not i mean that is something that fans, I think, absolutely resonate to. And you mentioned Pat Hughes.

I remember Pat telling me a story. Early in my career with the Phillies, the first year, 06, we were mathematically alive going into the second to last day of the season. In fact, we weren't mathematically eliminated until after game 161, somebody else had won mathematically eliminated. And then we went to the playoffs for five straight years. So I went six years and I did one meaningless game, right? I did a lot of winning baseball. I got to call a lot of winning baseball. And, you know, Pat tells me the story about when his first year they lost whatever it was, 14 in a row out of the gate. And, you know, Pat tells me the story about when his first year they lost

whatever it was, 14 in a row out of the gate. And he's like, hi, I'm Pat Hughes and I'm bringing you the bad news. Right. Every day. And fans are like, well, who is this new guy? Like all we do and we're losing and we're in a bad frame of mind. And so we don't take to the guy. right? So for me to be paired with Larry, a guy who was funny and affable and well-liked and, you know, was a popular player, was a popular announcer, all those things, for me, it was just, it was my unbelievable fortune to get paired with him and for us to connect in the way that we did. And, you know I, you know, I, I think back on my career and there's always those moments that, that, you know, the, you make the right turn instead of the left turn. And, um, that's one of those that I made the turn and ran into the best pot of gold at the end of

the rainbow. You could imagine. Um, what, what's. What's your favorite, you know, what's one of your favorite moments of you guys just messing with each other? Because he likes to needle you, which I enjoy and you take it extremely well. Well, I do. And I, you know, I certainly have made a living at needling him in return

and sort of playing to his, oh, I don't know, old doddering ex-ballplayer persona, right? The things I love about Larry, he is honest. And honest and uh that has certainly gotten him a blowback um but it's also the fans appreciate it yeah um he uh he understands the game uh in a very deep way and understands pitching um you know the guy pitched 17 years in the major leagues much less you know not counting what he also did professionally in the minors and and uh uh listening to his stories um i've heard most all of them at this point but uh i don't tire of listening to them or listening to him deliver them um he's incredibly kind and has one of the biggest hearts of anybody. He, you know, the way he embraced me, the way he embraced my wife and, you know, later my kids when they arrived.

I've still got this giant toy Jeep in my garage, a riding Jeep. Like you can, the kids can ride in it. And he was, he gave, he goes, Hey, I have something for you for the girls for the birthday or whatever.

It might've been for my son, my first son. And he's like, but you, I got to make sure you got, you have your pickup. I just want to know what car you're wearing the ball i'm like oh my god what is this it's this massive it's a literal car he gave

my kids um they they um and you know it used to be one of my daughters was totally in love with him um you know she'd come to the booth and she'd wear her i love la t-shirt and all this stuff and um you know one of the my i don't know anybody notices knows this about larry but he's deaf in one ear uh is it the one that faces you is it yes it is in fact it is in fact when we're um but it's funny i don't know how many stadiums and ballparks we've been walking out of where somebody comes up behind him and asks for an autograph and he doesn't hear them because they've come to him on the wrong side. And he literally doesn't hear it.

And we actually have had an agreement for years. He's like, man, make sure you tell me if you hear that because I never want to walk away from a fan who's asking for an autograph or's like, man, make sure you tell me if you hear that, because I never want to walk away from a fan who's asking for an autograph or something like that. Make sure I know because I don't want to like I will sign whatever and do whatever and take photos and do all that stuff. As long as I know they're asking if I can't hear. That's that's partnership. That's partnership. It's some of the most beautiful stuff about the job. Like when I got to hear Marty Brenneman talk about Joe Nuxall

and the decades they had together, you know? Or you hear Kuyper and Kruko sound like Stiller and Mira or like the Sklar brothers or something, you know? It's like there's – it's a beautiful part of the gig is figuring out how you can help your partner because Cause you know, he's going to help you back. Yeah. And it's funny, you know, I don't know. We've spent so many hours, you know, like in Florida driving to spring training games, you know, we do a lot of the road games sometimes the way the schedule works out, not as much anymore. I mean, Larry doesn't travel, but

how many times we've we've been on the road driving to a game, sitting at a restaurant, eating or having a beer after a game or playing golf together. And we don't we don't have to talk. It's like this really old, comfortable friendship that we don't need to talk to each other the whole time. Yeah. But, you know, it's not a lot of that. that we don't need to talk to each other the whole time. It's not a lot of that. It's really great. It's comfortable. It's easy.

And then we get on the air. I know him. He knows me. He knows how I do the game. And I think he's got a real similar sense of humor to mine. And so that helps for us to to laugh and joke in the in the times when it's a blowout or whatever so it's i've been i've been really lucky tell me about uh scott franski talk show host now it says you were a studio host on the prime sports radio network which became fox sports radio i was actually at Sporting News Radio when you did, I think you covered like the

2000 Olympics or something? Yeah. So somebody I knew, yeah, somebody I knew from Prime Sports Radio, a producer there had gone to Chicago and was working one-on-one sports. And I worked in the minor leagues outside of Chicago in Kane County, Illinois. We actually lived pretty much, we lived in Oak Park. So we're basically in the city, you know. My wife would take the train into the loop and she would work downtown. And we had one car and I'd drive out the other way to the suburbs to do minor league baseball. And every now and then. Were you a talk show host? Like, did you ever sit down to host a talk show, either solo or partnered partnered where you're setting up topics, you're monologuing,

you're like taking phone calls. Did you do, cause that's the realm of, of broadcast entertainment that I know super well. And then I've tried to do what you do. So I'm wondering, it's like, tell me about you as a talk show host.

Yeah. So when I got out of college, uh, prime sports radio was based in Dallas, Fort worth. I went to SM so when I got out of college, Prime Sports Radio was based in Dallas-Fort Worth. I went to SMU, and I got out of college, and I had met a gentleman by the name of Alan Stone, who years ago was the voice of the Mavericks, and he was doing SMU basketball for the commercial radio station,

and I met him. I was doing the student broadcast for SMU basketball. So I kind of had had some face time with them. I got a job as a producer, you know, three or four months out of college. And I was there when they went on the air. They flipped the switch and went on the air. And within the first 48 hours, they were like, we don't have enough people on the air.

Like they're doing 24 hours of coverage nonstop. And at the time they were not taking phone calls it was all like news oriented and all this stuff and you know you just talked and talked and talked and talked and they realized that these people who are on the air by themselves um our morning show host was rich learner you know rich learner from the golf channel he's been on the at the golf channel for years and years and i was rich Rich's producer. And so we'd get up and we'd hash out topics and Rich would go on the air and he'd talk to himself for three hours. And after a while, you're like, this ain't going to work. People, you know, we got to have some back and forth here. So within the first week, they said, we need more talk show hosts.

Within the first week, they said, we need more talk show hosts. And so I had been hired to produce, but they had given me an opportunity to do like an around the league show on Sundays. And it was a lot of let's go to Soldier Field. Matt has an update on the Bears and the Packers. Let's go to Philadelphia. Henry Clay is standing by at Veterans Stadium or whatever. And so it was a lot of bouncing around the league and updates and stuff like that. So yes, I did a ton of long form talk show. Eventually they got into doing calls. It was unbelievably good experience for me. Number one, because I was working. I was on the air working.

Number two, because I was working without a script. I was doing live radio, and you were in that mode where anything could happen, anybody could call, any sort of story could come your way, and you just had to get through it and make it work. We were not on in major markets, which actually was really good because there wasn't a ton of ratings pressure. I mean, we were a satellite radio service. So smaller stations in, I don't know, Redding,

Pennsylvania would carry you overnight. So where they didn't have a local person to cover, they would. Of course, of course. But it sounds like what you're talking about, Scott, is like those skills have added to your skill set now. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, I would tell any young announcer or broadcaster anything that you're doing on the air, anything that you're doing, whether it's reading copy, whether it's extemporaneously dancing around a topic, whether it's interacting with a partner. I think that's one of the things I did all those minor league years of play by play without a partner. But once I added a partner into it and got to the major leagues and there was back and forth, I had all that talk show experience. And it's basically that,

I mean, it's basically what we're doing is a talk show where there are certain things that we have to say, here's the pitch, here's the score, here's what happened on that play. But the reality is we're doing live talk radio. And there's something happening in the background that we're keeping up with, no doubt. But I think that really, all that talk show experience helped me once I got into doing play by play with a partner and having interaction and interplay and these kinds of things to go back and forth and to follow storylines and tell stories and make jokes and

things like that. But I always say, man, anything you can do that's on the air. I'll tell you, when I was in college, this is a little off topic, but sort of. I did, I was trying to do anything. And this is the early 90s. And some people may be like, when I tell them what this is, some people may be like, what in the hell is he talking about? Back, it used to be you'd get a phone book right the yellow pages okay and in the front of the book there's a a bunch of pages that you can call a phone number and get recorded information okay

at first it was like imagine WebMD, right? You want to diagnose your foot fungus and you call and you call the number and you punch a certain code, four digit code, and it leads you to the recording about foot fungus or whatever it is. I got a job with a company that was based near SMU, and I would go there and I would record different scripts that were written and prepared. And then they had a whole thing that was up to date. It was daily content. It was weather. It was news. It was soap opera updates. It was lottery updates. So for a while, there's two

things. One, I did soap opera updates every day. And I would go to the fax machine and get a stack of scripts and say, and I'd go, all right, here we go in three, two, one. Today on All My Children, Alice told Jane she was sleeping with David, or whatever, right? And I would have to read it, and I had about eight or nine scripts to go through, right? They're all about- Alice was so catty. Alice was so catty. Don't even get me started, okay?

But I have four, eight or nine of these to go through they'd all be a minute worth of copy and i'd have to hit i'd have to get it in the time frame and i couldn't make mistakes there wasn't i mean i just needed to do it so i got really good at just ripping and reading copy uh i followed i did updates on the OJ police chase, right? I'd get the little thing that come over the UPI ticker and I'd go and I'd punch a new code and I'd rerecord. And, but that was me doing news or me doing sports or me doing, here are the winning lottery numbers for Wisconsin on Tuesday,

April 17th or whatever. It all adds up. It all adds up to your sensibilities and your skill set for doing baseball. It's a unique broadcast item in that way. You need all of it to really be truly great at what you do now. Yeah. And I mean, again, everybody wants to start by going and sitting behind the microphone at the ball game and saying, here's the first pitch of the game. But there are so many other things you can be doing if that opportunity is not there yet um that you can go find um and again they're not in the yellow pages anymore but there's obviously

so much content on the web and podcasting and uh all kinds of things all kinds of webcasts and stuff like that there are opportunities out there so So just get out there and, and work, just work. That's, that's great. That's great advice. All right. I want to ask you about a couple more moments here because it's so fun to hear the thought process. What, what feels more memorable the holiday no hitter or the holiday perfect game for me the no hitter um the perfect game uh was so unexpected and out of left field and um

it was it was i didn't i never felt that night I never felt like I was in control of the broadcaster myself, really. Um, I don't know why that is. Um, you know, you're in a stadium down in Miami. There's not a lot of people there. It's just a random Saturday night. And, um, you always knew Doc could do something amazing every time he went to the mound. He had been blown out at the start before that, so we weren't certainly expecting that.

And then as it built and it got closer to the end, you're on the road, there's one PR guy on the road. We don't have any support staff in the booth. We had our engineer in the booth that's what we had and yeah our engineer back at the station was a little adept at being able to maybe search something up you know again you didn't have you know the depth of of um information say on baseball reference that you could go to to look stuff up sure but but the no hitter the no hitters in the playoffs in a big moment where you're prepped yeah to have all your resources and focus

right there's there's more going on and and there's there's more being sort of given to you even if even if it's just um stuff that's coming up on the screen next to you uh well on the national broadcast because you know they're outfitted with everybody that they need and stats and and context and all this other stuff um but i just felt generally more in control of myself and you know my voice and um i just generally felt more in control that night than I did the one in Miami. Just about a quarter to eight, October the 6th, 2010, the first postseason game for Roy Halladay. He winds the 0-2, swing and a dribbler out in front of the plate.

Ruiz out to get it, the throw from his knees. It's in time, and it's a no-hitter. Unbelievable. Ruiz and Halliday embrace and the Phillies again celebrate around Roy Halliday. 4-0. It's the second no-hitter in Major League postseason history here tonight at Citizens Bank Park. What an interesting aspect for people to understand is part of the gig is like even when it does feel a little out of control or you're

like hoping it goes well or hoping it goes better, you got to stay a pro and stay on it and do the job. That's kind of a part of the broadcast life that people don't get. Yeah. I mean, my biggest fear going into, like, say, the eighth inning in Miami, and I can remember trying in between innings to make sure that I had the proper number of perfect games in Major League history. Like, I didn't want to say it was the, you know, 21st if it was only the 19th or whatever. It's a tricky number it it's listed weird in different spots because some of them are pre-modern right and and and again you know i mean

at this point i'm like well i know bunning did it for the phillies but you know uh so i mean that's the thing and i'm like i have this has to be right, because, you know, it's going to get attached to that for ever. And, you know, but again, I just felt way better about the one in in the postseason. And maybe that's where at home and this crowd and there's more on the line and all those other things. But I just felt like it was for me. I just felt like it was better. those other things, but I just felt like it was, for me, I just felt like it was better. Yeah, I get it. There is a consensus on the internet of what your best call is. Is there?

And you already mentioned it. You mentioned it up the top, and I don't know why, but let me ask you, and we'll play it. It's Jimmy Rollins. It's Rollins walking off in the NLC. Yeah, I think that's because of the Ray Liotta mashup uh somebody did with the Goodfellas scene um uh the the one where they do the Lufthansa heist and he's in the shower and he's listening on the radio and he says hey Jimmy Jimmy so somebody mashed that up uh with the call and it, what it does, what they made it sound like, I don't know how, I have no idea how they did it. And people are so creative. I love it. It's, it's as though I'm coming out of the radio in the shower, the way it's,

the way they edited this thing. And I have no idea how they did it. So, and then Ray Liotta is saying, yo, Jimmy or whatever. I think that's why people like it the most, to be honest with you. You think so? I don't know. I think I think it was. I mean, that that's a home energy explosion on the cusp of greatness. I will say there's so much to it because not to be too nerdy, but from a broadcast standpoint. This is the place to be nerdy. OK. All right. From a broadcast standpoint, it's not a home run. There's a lot happening there. There's base runners.

There's fielders chasing the ball. There's throws to be made. To me, and again, I'm not downplaying a great home run call or anything like that, but just from a nerdy technical perspective, if you can capture what's happening on the field in that way somehow, then and for me, I think I mean, I've I've certainly listened back to it. I've heard it replayed. And I think one of the things that I liked about the call is that. I liked about the call is that off the bat, you knew he could win the game where the ball was hit. But I didn't want to go there immediately, right? And you want to try to build up to that point. A right-hander checks the runner. Here's the pitch. Swing and a drive. Right center field.

This one is falling. It's a base hit. It'll go up the alley. Rutland will score. Ruiz around third. He is being waved home. The Phillies have won the ball game. Ruiz slides. Rollins has won it. They stream out of the dugout.

Rollins ball near third. This game is over as the Phillies strike again with two outs in the ninth inning, and they have a three games to one lead. The Phillies have beaten the Dodgers with two outs in the ninth inning and they have a three games to one lead the Phillies have beaten the Dodgers with two outs in the ninth and they have done it to Broxton again in game four wow what a finish Jimmy Rollins has made his mark in this series I mean I have Ruiz. I think I have Ruiz scoring before he touches the plate, but then I, I mean, it's that idea that this is building and, and, uh, it's still in the balance, right? Until it's not. And, um, home run clears the wall. It's over. It's done with, you know, what the score is. Uh, but this is different. This is different. These guys actually have to touch the plate,

and there can't be a throw, and there can't be a play and a tag and all that other stuff. So from a nerdy perspective, I think I always tell minor league announcers the tapes that I get, that's great. I love hearing your home run call, but I don't need to hear it over and over again. I want to hear a play that's different. I want to hear a play that has action, that has

different things happening. And it might be a game winning double. People ask me what call I'm most proud of. One of the ones I'm most proud of is Eric Bruntlett, an unassisted triple play to end the game. And I got all three outs and I got them in the order that they occurred. So for me, got them in the order that they occurred. So for me, who practices an unassisted triple play to end the game, right? We all call home runs all the time. And if we don't like the one on Tuesday, we can change it three times on Wednesday. This is one that doesn't come around very often. So it's the plays like that that I always tell young announcers, find me those that are good. Find me those that stand out i don't want to discount your home run call and maybe it's uh maybe you have a signature or

whatever that's fine but i want to hear you call something that's out of the ordinary sure i think i think eric nadell told me i forget if he got it from harwell or he got it from somebody um observe if he got it from Harwell or he got it from somebody, observe, describe, and react. That's great. Right? And when there's more action and there's more stuff, especially on radio, you got a lot to share. That's when it gets exciting and you better be on your game and ready for it. It could be at any moment.

Right. And somewhere along the way, you sort of train your eyes to be bouncing. Right. A home run, I think, locks us into the ball because we want to see whether or not the ball leaves the yard. And it can be tricky depending on the stadium, the time of day, the the booth sight lines, wherever you might be. It might be a different look. And you're it's harder to call a home run for me in a stadium where you're higher up as opposed to what I'm used to at CBP, right? Or whatever. So I think when the ball's in play and moving and rolling and you know it's not going to leave the yard, then there's so much to bounce your eyes to and see. And where's the center fielder? And who's taking the

relay throw and all these other things. And then in the process of that, your mind has to edit what your mouth can possibly say in that fraction of time so that you're not four minutes behind the play when he actually does win the game. My producer, Ryanorth reminds me it's a John Miller quote to Nadel. See, you're among your dorky friends here. We are your people. I love it. I love it. Yeah. I mean, there's just so much incredible stuff about doing the job that fascinates. All right. I want to wrap up with a few questions that I like to ask to everybody. One broadcaster that we haven't mentioned who you admired in your youth. I mean, I was a fan of, you know, Eric and Mark, Mark and Eric, for sure.

Mark, Mark just, Mark was the lead announcer at the time, and Eric was a different voice, and he analyzed the game a certain way, and he was funny, and he got Mark to show his big, big personality. But I thought Mark was just – his voice was power, and it was on the money in the moment. But, you know, I mean, I'm still just, if I hear John Miller doing a game, I don't ever want to turn it off. I mean, again, part of it, it's just his voice and his cadence and the way he plays with his voice. And there's just a warmth there that I love. And again,

maybe not for everybody, but for me, there's just something about it that I love. And again, maybe not for everybody, but for me, there's just something about it that I love. Love that. And then anybody else's work who you admire now, who's still active? You just gave me John, but if somebody else who's active. Yeah, I mean, I love John. You know, what I love about John and what I love about Joe Castiglione and, and what I love about, you know, Pat Hughes, they, they all do the same thing, you know, or Eric, they all do the same thing and they do it in their own way. And you know, instantly who it is. We I'm of a certain age where a lot of us sound the same, but those guys, I instantly know who

all of them are. And maybe that's just my age and being comforted and being familiar, but they all do such good work. And again, their voices to me are so singular that I think we've lost that maybe as an industry to give someone who has a little bit of an unorthodox voice or delivery a chance. delivery a chance and we're all we all get succumbed to the big voice on espn or national or whatever there's nobody who sounds like joe because digley own right i mean there's nobody just his tone and his timber and his pace and his cadence and all the things he's uniquely him and i just think we've lost some of that in our industry. And I mean, again, I'm not singular. I think there's a lot of guys that sound a lot like me. I think Tom McCarthy and I sound a lot alike sometimes. We certainly say a lot of the same things. But those guys for me, I mean, those kinds of announcers, I still listen to them all the time.

of announcers uh i i still listen to them all the time yeah it's interesting um is there a specific item that you like to always have with you in the booth can be a good luck charm or a talisman or anything that just absolutely has to be there for you to do the job the way you need to do it larry right no i don't want to i don't want to discount my other great partners that I've had, that's for sure. I don't have anything really. Generally, I've got some coffee. In a general sense, I always have a cup of black coffee when we start. How about scoring? Do you use a book?

What kind of pen do you use? Yeah, well, actually, over the last couple years i have switched i got my score sheet from eric who i think got it from john um when he started and i started using it in the minors and i slowly adapted it over the years and my score books is now all digital and so i score on a surface pro um and i print it uh sort of print it on the page and i have a i have a tablet that's just for inking you know and marking it up i miss the paper i really do um but i have found that having a digital scorecard has saved me a ton of time with the road, you know, just writing down stats and writing down things that a computer can just do.

And now I'm free to stand at the cage and talk or go to the clubhouse and talk. I'm more free to do stuff like that. Sure. Why do you, why do you hate the traditions of play by play, Scott? Why do you know? Yeah, right. Right. I mean, I'm a, I'm a, like a tactile person. Like I miss the paper I have. I mean, I've got a boxes full of old scorebooks and I love them, but it, but it's sensible. It's completely sensible. I used to take notes and print them for talk shows and then I would email them to myself. And now I use every note.

So it's there and I can just access it wherever. It's just a sensible way to- I have three, I think three different scorecards autographed. I have Halliday's playoff no hitter that Halliday and Chooch both autographed for me. Wow. I have, I think, a Hamels one-on-one from his no-hitter, I think. But, I mean, I don't have the pay.

Like now, on my surface, I can't print it out. I have the first pro, the first professional game that Albert Pujols ever played in. Wow. Gloria Chiefs. And he hit a home run and I got him to autograph it last year. And, but I, I'm not going to give somebody my, you know, my scorebook digitally now, you know, it's kind of, it's kind of. Next, next contract. Next contract.

digitally now you know it's kind of it's kind of next next contract next contract so yeah um what is what's one part of your game prep that you absolutely can't ignore something you have to do or else you feel naked when the game begins uh oh i don't know um i know, I don't want to say I can, I mean, I, I can get by usually, I think when you go to do a day game and it's all quick and you, you don't really sort of feel the rhythm of the day and talking to the skipper and talking to the players and getting questions from the night before answered. If, um, you can't find a player or whatever. That might be part of it, but I can usually get by. I mean, it's not about me, right? The game is the game, and you never know what will unfold, but something will come up. Last year, I got permission to come in late for one broadcast.

My son was playing down in Dover, Delaware, in the Little League Regional Tournament. And because I have a digital scorebook, it was all ready to go. It was a 640 game, and I parked at 622. I had a whole bunch of people later tell me, why didn't you get a police escort from Dover? You could get the Delaware State Police to get you back to Philly. That's exciting though. That's a big shot moment right there. That's exciting, though. That's a big shot moment right there. That's got to feel strong walking in. I mean, I literally sat down at like 635. I mean, at 633, I think we cracked the mic at 635. Hell yeah.

And I mean, really, all I needed was a cup of coffee and the score sheet and I was ready to go. You're good to go. You're good to go. I mean i mean look everybody wants to write their own ticket right remember scully scully stopped his games lowered to what 150 then 140 then 110 and then he didn't go east of colorado and then he didn't leave the state of california it's like you you might be the 635 guy you know i don't i i'm not out to make a habit of it uh it's certainly uh there was a lot of uh panic uh we had a backup plan if for some reason i didn't make it um but uh i was definitely sweating it a little bit there's no doubt about it i mean i my son it was his last year in little league or whatever and they're they're a couple wins away from maybe going to california for the world series for 13

year olds and i was like i don't want to miss this it's right there it's right there in dover i gotta go away no way life is way more important yeah no doubt and the phillies that's one thing about working for the phillies they are so wonderful that they, I mean, they're a big family organization and they're the ones who are pushing me to do something like that. That's great. That's great. And then I want to ask you for the best piece of advice that you've gotten that you want to pass on. I want to ask about it in two parts. One is sort of mechanically for doing the gig. I believe you said fundamentals of the gig. So if there's something about that you want to share, and then another,

just in terms of like an overall career perspective. Yeah. Well, I think I kind of touched on it earlier, the overall career perspective, and that's to work for a young broadcaster work. I remember I was doing pre and post for the Rangers and I was doing high school football and some college football, a little basketball. And I got a little, little bitty, you know, baseball tape and whatever. And Eric Nadel and Vince Catronio were there at the time in Texas. And they're both really good friends to me and very supportive of me. And they said, look, and I'm waiting around in Dallas, Fort Worth, like I'm going to walk into the Rangers game. Right. Or walk into like I'm going to use this these three high school games to get a job with the Braves or something. And they're like, man, look, here's the deal. You have to go work and you need to go

do this job every day. And you need to do it six days a week and seven days a week. And you need to do that for a few different reasons. You need to do it, A, because you find out if you're really good enough. B, you find out if you really like it enough. Because if you don't like it, working six and seven days a week and missing out on summer and missing the kids regional tournament in dover um you better you damn well better like what you're doing because being a local radio guy in baseball is as demanding as any gig i can imagine and yes we get winners off and i I know that. But from March 1, basically, to if you're lucky enough, into late October, you're gone.

And so you better like it. So I think that was the advice that they gave me. They said, go get a minor league job and do it every day. Because you have to find 100 different ways to describe a ground ball to the shortstop. Right? You got to be able to and and you're only going to do that by doing it every single day and doing it a lot and then the fundamentals the fundamentals of doing the gig i have always said um if you're worried or whatever if you're if you're fretting about it if there there's anything about it, just it's really easy. And it's a

little bit like what John was talking about and Eric. Say what you see. I mean, it's as basic as that. Say what you see. There's no, on the radio, there's no detail that you can't, There's no detail that you can't, there's no detail that's not necessary, right? I mean, you can use anything at your disposal, anything you see. I talk about, you know, Eric is the classic, I'm going to describe the player's uniform all the time. And I still do all of that, maybe not as religiously as I once did. But to me, for Aaron Nola yesterday, comes out in the first two innings wearing long red sleeves underneath his uniform top. And he comes out in the third inning and he doesn't have any sleeves on. And I mean, again, he's probably soaking wet because it rained or

whatever. It was raining during his, I don't know, but now, but that's, that's a small detail that I can say what I see. And it's part of the fabric of what we're doing. You know, it's, it's still, But it's it's still you still have to understand that your audience in large majority. I've heard that 10 percent of your audience is turning you off and 10 percent is turning you on at any given moment. Right. They're in their car and they're out of their car. Yes, there are some who will passively turn it on the radio in their house and they'll have it as background noise and all these other things. But so because they're it's constantly in flux, your audience. Go ahead. Tell the score again. Tell us who's up again. Tell us how many outs there are again. You can never do it too much. Yeah. You can't. Just say what you see.

And everything that's in front of you is fair game to describe. Everything that's in front of you. It doesn't have to be the guy with the ball all the time. It can be anybody on the field, anything you see. Right? Just say what you see. Scott, thank you so much. What a pleasure.

Really, really enjoyed this. Thanks for doing it. Well, thank you so much. What a pleasure. Really, really enjoyed this. Thanks for doing it. Well, thank you for having me. It's been fun. Appreciate it. Thanks for letting me nerd out. Oh, dude, this is the spot. Tell all your nerdy friends. We're hanging out. We're hanging out. That's right. Tell all your nerdy friends. We're nerding out together on the PBP. Didn't you enjoy Scott Franski? Lord knows I did. The relationship that he has with Larry Anderson is beautiful, isn't it? It's respectful. It's collaborative. They fill each other up. They have each other's back.

But they also poke fun at each other and with each other. They laugh at each other. And above all, they enjoy the game together. And that helps us enjoy the game more through both of their respective lenses. That's the way it is supposed to work with those relationships growing deeper and more full every season. Man, I got chills listening back to this when he talked about the Jimmy Rollins play, and then you heard the Jimmy Rollins play-by-play. And he's right.

It's not even too nerdy, really, just to talk about a play in the game that has more going on than a home run, a double to the gap with runners on base moving and all the fielders moving around. That is the good stuff. That's for sure. Thanks so much to listening to the PBP Voices of Baseball. I am Matt Spiegel. Thank you to my producer, Ryan Porth. Thank you to my collaborator.

That man is James Vickery. Love talking about this with James, and you've heard a lot of his thoughts, even more than you might realize. You can find us on the Odyssey app or you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. Very much looking forward to more all season long. Thank you, the listeners, so very much

for being a part of it. We'll be back every week of baseball season right here on the PBP. We bring you the people who bring you the game.