Casey At The Bat: Back where it all started

 

TAMPA--April 3, 2010, I boarded a plane from Baltimore to Tampa to begin a new personal adventure. I had been asked to produce the Orioles games on the radio, and I was on my way to Tropicana Field to do my first game with broadcasters Joe Angel and Fred Manfra. Now on Sept. 27, I am about to produce the final three road games of the season back at Tropicana Field.

 

It has been an amazing journey that I will never forget, and I have so many people to thank for it.

 

While I could fill this blog with 500 people to thank, the first, and most important, is my wife Bronwyn. She is the mother of our four children and a neonatal intensive care nurse, and she gave me the OK to pursue this opportunity. She has been an amazing supporter, and she has handled everything that has come her way. Our kids,Morgan,Andrew,Jacob,and Gabe, have all been great while I have been gone, although my youngest always told his teachers that I was in Florida all the time. I could not have done any of this without their support.

 

CBS Radio trusted me enough to handle this job, and I will be eternally grateful to Bob, Dave and Eric for trusting me to get the job done. There are so many people to thank at CBS that I am afraid I would forget someone if I started naming everyone. Special thanks to all the crew in the studio that had to hear me sing commercials every night or ask random questions on late nights on the West Coast. Special thanks goes to Ann Peters for keeping me straight and dealing with all that goes into traveling during the season. I owe so many people there a huge "thank you" for making everything run so smoothly.

 

I had never had very much interaction with Joe and Fred before meeting them during spring training, but they have been amazing to work with. There have been a lot of laughs and fun times with these two gentlemen and professionals. They truly made this job easy to do every night -- including doing a game by themselves when I had a severe allergic reaction to some medicine, and I had to miss the first six innings of a game in Tampa. Thanks also to the Tampa Bay and Minnesota medical staffs who took great care of me when I had a pair of allergic reactions while on the road.

 

As a kid growing up in Arcadia, La., I loved baseball. It was all I cared about, from playing it in the summer, collecting baseball cards to playing baseball video games. To have spent the last six-and-a-half months with a professional baseball team has been a dream of a lifetime. I have a whole new appreciation for what these guys go through on a daily basis.

 

The Orioles organization has been great to work with every day, and they have always been willing to help in any situation that came up. All the staff, players, coaches, etc., treated me tremendously this entire season. I got to spend every Saturday afternoon with the Orioles skippers recording the Managers' Show, and Dave Trembley, Juan Samuel and Buck Showalter were always accommodating, and all three made sure we had what we needed for the show while getting ready for a game.

 

I learned a lot about the TV business and behind-the-scenes work to produce each game from all the people at MASN who always made sure we had everything we needed television-wise every night in our booth. Being around Gary Thorne, Jim Hunter, Mike Flanagan, Jim Palmer, Mark Viviano, Amber Theoharis, and the MASN production crew was a great learning experience.

 

This journey allowed me to see some great cities, baseball parks and amazing sights all across the country and Canada. Some of the best things I have experienced in 2010 was getting to meet some of my childhood baseball idols. Nolan Ryan, Mark Grace and Ben McDonald were three of my favorite baseball players. Ryan, because in Louisiana we got Texas Rangers games on TV, and I always liked to watch him pitch, Grace, because we also got Cubs games on WGN, and he was a left-handed first baseman like me, and McDonald, because he dominated on the mound at LSU then went on the majors with the Orioles. This year I had the opportunity to meet all three in person and spend a few minutes talking to them, even though I was in total awe. The opportunity to meet Eddie Murray, Brady Anderson, Al Kaline, Dan Gladden, Bert Blyleven, Ken Singleton, Fred McGriff, Paul Molitor, Roberto Alomar and many others was also a very enjoyable part of this job.

 

Three more games on the road, and then four more at home, and the 2010 Orioles season will be complete. It has been an amazing ride that I will forever be grateful for and remember.

 

I thank everyone who read my blog this season -- I hope you got a taste of what life is like working in the major leagues.