Your Voice is Your Fastball

Fastball – The Voice

Every broadcaster is immediately evaluated by their sound; every pitcher is immediately evaluated by their fastball.

So get right into the anatomy of it all! Pitching coaches work together with strength and conditioning experts and biometrics technology to aid a pitcher in best utilizing their body to maximize their stuff. (I think of Driveline Baseball and their work in helping pitchers tap into greater velocity and spin rate.) A broadcaster must similarly work on breathing, posture, resonance, and vocal range to tap into their fullest voice.

But like a fastball cannot be evaluated solely by its velocity – what is its movement? its run? its sink? its carry? its deception? – a broadcaster’s voice must be more than power; it must be comfortable and engaging.

Attempting to fire 100-105 mph with every pitch tests the health of an arm; attempting to do the same vocally tests the health of vocal cords. When the moment calls for it, a pitcher/broadcaster needs their best stuff. If a broadcaster is staying healthy and within their vocal capabilities, no reliever is necessary.

Vocal health begins before the first pitch. Just as a pitcher loosens up their arm before entering a game, a broadcaster should loosen up their voice before calling a game, making sure that they are breathing properly, getting their tongue ready, and opening up their diaphragm.

A fastball must be commanded in order to be effective. So must the voice.

Commanding the voice requires…

1. Understanding how to speak in a healthy manner, particularly in the biggest moments. Just as pitchers have different fastball identities, a broadcaster must learn their own vocal identity. “Stay within yourself” is universal advice.
2. Knowing when not to speak, working in partnership with the crowd and ambient sound.
3. Using the proper amount of vocal energy in each moment. A broadcaster with low energy will cause the listener to lose energy, but a broadcast with too much energy is exhausting. There is a proper fastball for each inning and moment; there is a proper voice for each inning and moment.
4. Using the proper vocal emotion to reflect what is occurring in the game, from humor to tension to sadness. How the broadcaster feels will affect how the listener feels. If the broadcaster is tapped in with the game, the on-field emotion (excitement, humor, frustration, thrill) carries over to the listener and elevates the broadcast.

Breaking Ball – The Words

A pitcher may be able to get through an inning with just a fastball, but that’s not a recipe for long-term success. A broadcaster may be commanding their voice, but how well chosen are their words?

Giving the score; saying a player’s name correctly; finding the right verbs and terms to call the action: These are the broadcaster’s breaking ball. They are not noticed as quickly as the fastball, but give the listener a moment and watch out. A 98-mph voice and a lazy breaking ball is a recipe for dismissal, while a 90-mph voice and a sharp hook has the potential to charm the listener.

Warming up a good breaking ball begins with preparing and practicing pronunciations. The foundation of respect begins with knowing the right way to pronounce someone else’s name. Another important avenue of warmup: Study how a game is talked so that its language comes naturally on the air.

Commanding the words requires…

1. Giving the score at regular intervals.
2. Being in front of every pitch. A pitcher has to stay on top of a slider in order for it to be sharp; a broadcaster has to stay on top of the game in order to be sharp.
3. Prioritizing player identification in calls, putting names in front of the action. (The “Joe Buck Cheat” is when a broadcaster says a player’s name right before a pitch, giving themselves the ability to launch directly into the call of a dramatic play. Brian Anderson and Joe Davis also use this tactic, readying their tongue as the pitch arrives.)
4. Utilizing lag, staying a beat behind a play to allow the brain to process.
5. Saying more with fewer words, rather than overtalking, and calling action in short phrases.
6. Keeping word choices diverse and accurate with the brain turned on, preventing the mouth from going into automatic. (Boog Sciambi tosses in one note of subtle observational description on calls of action, enhancing a routine out.)

• Pairing a fastball and breaking ball: Punch a key call, adding vocal emphasis to the most important word(s) to pull at the listener’s ear.

Change-Up – The Content

Not every pitcher has a good change-up. Sometimes it’s poor, sometimes it’s fair to middling, and sometimes it’s a true asset, arriving with dazzling effectiveness.

A broadcaster’s content – player background, stats, stories, partner interaction, listener interaction, and more – provides the laughs, the challenges, the eyebrow raises, and the nods of appreciation. It enhances the game when used well; it smothers the game when used poorly. It’s a rare pitcher who can throw change-up after change-up with effectiveness. (César Valdez, perhaps?) For a broadcaster, then, the content must be balanced by voice and words to keep the listener on their toes.

I have seen pitcher after pitcher spend countless side sessions working through different change-up grips, trying to find something that will succeed and elevate their game. In the same way, the broadcaster’s content prep is the most overt on a game-to-game basis, studying the teams, preparing trivia questions, diving into the stats, chatting up the players and coaches, exploring the stadium and city, and reading anything and everything for something that might come up on the broadcast that day.

Commanding the content requires…

1. “Finding the why,” a foundation of Ben Wagner’s broadcasts. Why is this game important to this team or this coach or this player? Why is this inning important? Why is this pitch important?
2. Bringing the full setting to life, taking the listener into the ballpark.
3. Taking the time to get to know the players, and then taking the time to introduce the fans to those players.
4. Balancing the story of the game and the call of the action, understanding when the game takes precedent and when it’s a good time to tell stories. Sometimes the game carries the broadcast. Other times, the broadcaster carries the game.
5. Engaging and listening to one’s broadcast partner, which engages the listener and brings them closer to both of you.

• Pairing a fastball and change-up: The use of voice is integral when it comes to telling stories or delivering information. Connect to the listener, draw them in, and surprise them.

• Pairing a breaking ball and change-up: Content details work hand in hand to drive the action. What is unique about this stadium and how does it affect the game? What is the connection between the batter and the pitcher? How does the current weather affect the next pitch?

Knuckleball – The Risks

A knuckleball carries with it a great deal of chance. The pitcher doesn’t know what it’s going to do, the batter doesn’t know, the catcher doesn’t know, and the umpire doesn’t know. It’s fun like that. Any or all of the four of them could end up getting embarrassed.

A knuckleball is a risk for a broadcaster. Sometimes it doesn’t go so well, but hey, batters have looked a lot worse swinging at the ol’ butterfly pitch. Kevin Harlan calling two games at once is a knuckleball. The Mets’ broadcast booth tosses knucklers. A certain balloon gave Jason Benetti and Steve Stone a knuckleball of a situation to discuss.

(The case could be made that Bill Walton feeds his broadcast partner a steady diet of knuckleballs, but I would argue it’s just Bill’s regular pitch by now, an eephus of a change-up.)

So dress how you choose, call a game from the stands, bring unusual guests on the broadcast, try a toasted grasshopper on the air, and challenge yourselves from time to time. It’s a knuckleball, it’ll never go how anyone expects.

Commanding a risk requires…

1. Not losing sight of the game action while having fun. I have seen a broadcast team miss calling a cycle because they were delightedly knuckleballing with crowd interaction after a baseball was swatted into their booth.
2. Balancing not taking oneself seriously with the baseline standard of professionalism of the broadcast. There is always a standard of professionalism, even through chaos.

This extended metaphor was first presented by Jesse Goldberg-Strassler in a talk at the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) Conference in Lansing, Michigan, on October 25, 2023.