MySpace


blogs.myspace.com/55941797
MySpace.com | rss | sign in
Andrew



Last Updated: 11/23/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 24
Sign: Scorpio

City: QUAKERTOWN
State: PENNSYLVANIA
Country: US
Signup Date: 2/15/2006

My Subscriptions
The Girl In the Box
Mandy Lee
Pam/Jenna
Muslimah running rampant in the UK
Monday, April 13, 2009 11:02 PM

Current mood:  sad
Category: Sports
This afternoon Phillies’ broadcaster Harry Kalas died at the age of 73. Kalas began broadcasting with the Phillies in 1971 on the day Veterans Stadium opened. Since then he’s called about 6,000 Phillies games. He’s provided voiceovers for NFL Films, TV and radio commercials, and The Puppy Bowl.

I still remember watching Phillies games when I was about 4 years old. Even as a child I wouldn’t be watching so much to watch baseball; I just wanted to listen to that marvelous voice. His voice was deep and relaxing, but he made even the most routine plays sound like a life and death struggle. I’m watching a game right now, and everything’s just different. I’m used to hearing "swing and long drive" and "it is… outta here". During the World Series, I turned down the volume on the TV and listened to Harry’s call on the radio. The extra 7 second delay was still preferable to Joe Buck.

When Harry was calling the game, he would announce birthdays, anniversaries, and get well wishes during the broadcast. It wasn’t until today that I learned this was rare for a large market. Growing up, I would wish that Harry would announce my birthday, but of course that would never happen as my birthday is in November. He used to tell a great story about calling games with Richie Ashburn where they would plug Celebre's Pizza during a game to get free food. The producer told them to stop doing that because Celebre’s wasn’t an official sponsor. So Harry announced on air, "Birthday wishes to the Celebre Twins, Plain and Pepperoni!"

For a long time I was hoping the Phillies were preparing some kind of Harry Kalas Machine that would play clips of his voice to provide commentary to games even after he died. I suppose if you went through about 18,000 hours of video tapes it would still be possible to make such a device. I knew something like this would happen one day, but I didn’t think that day would be today.
The Phillies will never replace Harry Kalas. That would be impossible. But I hope they can find someone to fill in for him for the next 20-30 years.
 
Print
Previous Post: Limbaugh wants Obama to fail  | Back to Blog List