I tuned into the Yankee opening the other day because I wanted to see their pre-game ceremonies as they begin their final season at Yankee Stadium. As much as I hate the organization, they do present baseball history better than anybody. And a large part of that can be attributed to the stately incantations of longtime public address announcer Bob Shepherd. And, of course, he did not disappoint.
"De-rek Jeet-her."
Wait. That's not Bob Shepherd. I later found out that the guy, who is probably pushing 120, is under the weather. Yankee fans tell me that he's been MIA a lot the past two years due to illness. But, the guy I heard sounded amazingly like Bob Shepherd. Some dude named Jim Hall.
I wonder about the job specification that went out from Yankee Human Resources when they were looking for his replacement. "Must sound like Bob Shepherd under the age of 80." Or d0 they just go down to Atlantic City and hunt down Shecky Impersonator for the gig? Whatever the case, I wish the original a speedy recovery and hope he gets to make it across the street to the new place for just one "...and are avail-able from Stad-ium ven-dors."
Of course, this brings me back to one day in college when I had a one-on-one encounter with Bob Shepherd. Well, sort of.
I was working with WFUV and helping out on a sports broadcast. The Fordham football team was playing St. John's at their Queens campus. Well, okay, maybe I was doing more hanging around than working. But, nevertheless, I was there for this un-momentous match-up of these two great football titans.
At one point, I'm standing right behind the WFUV broadcast crew in the pressbox. And, right on the other side of the wall, is one Bob Shepherd. As it turns out, the famed Yankee public address announcer used to pick up some off-season shekels by teaching speech at St. John's. And, for overtime pay, he would do the PA for these stupid little football contests. As each play unfolded, Shepherd would announce it to the intimate crowd of friends and relatives.
"Tack-le by..."
Late in the game, Fordham put in one of the reserve running backs, a dude named Steve. He had a long Polish last name, which I would not divulge here. It was one you needed to try a few times before you pronounced it correctly. But, I certainly knew. Because the guy sat next to me in French class and we had worked together on a project. So, I made sure that nobody on the WFUV crew would mess it up. It was my early contribution to radio history. Making sure that we got Steve's last name right on the air.
As fate would have it, Steve carried the ball for an eight yard run. And, next door, Bob Shepherd noted it to the crowd.
"Eight yard run by Ford-ham's Steve...er,...."
Shepherd totally botched his name. Almost instantaneously, I sprang to the defense of my buddy from the land of French conjunctions. I yelled through the wall with the correct pronunciation of Steve's last name. I acted so abruptly that the WFUV guys looked at me with confusion. What the hell had I done? There was a ten second pause that felt like a year. And, then, from the other side of the wall...
"Cor-rec-tion. Eight yard run by Ford-ham's Steve..."
He got it perfectly.
Len 1, Bob Shepherd 0.
Dinner last night: Italian sandwich.
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