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Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for July 27, 2020

Ballpark Digest squareJesse Goldberg-StrasslerMick Gillispie and Kevin Reichard discuss their experiences binging baseball, why cutout fans suck and the difficulties of calling a game from the studio in this week’s Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.

In this week’s chat:

  • Baseball is back, and we’re all binging on game broadcasts from ESPN, TBS and the regional sports networks
  • All agree that fans cutouts are the worst thing ever, while Mick and Kevin split on virtual reality fans; Mick doesn’t mind them, while Kevin says the images of Harry Caray singing from heaven to virtual fans in the Wrigley Field bleachers is one of the worst moments ever in sports broadcasting
  • Jesse warns that deepfake fans in the stands may become accepted
  • Why Mick and Jesse hate sensory assault at the ballpark
  • The difficulties of broadcast a game in a studio and why the crowd noise is so important when calling a game
  • Mick and Jesse discuss how they approach calling a game from a studio off monitors
  • Production values are better this season in the ballparks: images are sharper and more cameras are being deployed, with more emphasis player closeups. With MLB being a studio sport for 2020, the enhanced production values help
  • Patrick Mahomes becomes the newest investor in the Kansas City Royals
  • A Black owner buys an expansion team in the independent Atlantic League; it’s been years since there has been a Black in professional baseball, and now we have one in Gastonia, N.C.
  • Mick talks up Major League Baseball in Nashville
  • More positives on the Marlins are changing things quickly, as Washington Nationals vote to avoid an upcoming Miami series
  • Why MLB should consider placing players in a bubble moving forward
  • Why Toronto Blue Jays players should be happy to be playing games in Buffalo, especially those players who were destined to play this season in Buffalo sans COVID-19
  • Today’s Baseball Thesaurus term: how did the term switch hitter come about? Mick and Jesse tell their stories about switch hitters, how they develop and why they add so much to the game

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler is the Voice of the Lansing Lugnuts and the author of The Baseball Thesaurus and The Football Thesaurus from August PublicationsMick Gillispie is the Voice of the Tennessee Smokies and a spring-training Voice of the Chicago Cubs. Kevin Reichard is publisher at August Publications and Ballpark Digest.

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