Tom Nichols, Voice of the Dayton Dragons, joins Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard to share his favorite baseball stories, including the arrest of a player in the middle of a game, in this week’s Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.
Nichols began his career as a fill-in broadcaster for the Indianapolis Indians under Howard Kellman, then spent several years as the Voice of the Mobile BayBears and stints in Peoria and Fort Wayne before landing with the Dragons, one of MiLB’s best operations. In this week’s chat, Nichols shares some of the notable stories gleaned over his career, including a memorable series at Orlando’s then-Cracker Jack Stadium where a BayBears player tangled with a Disney mascot on the field and then was arrested the next day in the midst of a game, called in from his outfield position. He also tells tales of his most interesting broadcasting gigs, including a stint with the Kinston Indians, where he called his first game at Durham Athletic Park, where the broadcast area was basically a third dugout right behind home plate. The stories come fast and furious in this episode.
The Baseball Thesaurus term of the week: Texas Leaguer, dating back to the spacious outfields of the old Texas League, where outfielders played deep to prevent doubles and triples. That made it easy for a batter to bloop a hit over the infielders and far from the outfielders.
Jesse Goldberg-Strassler is the Voice of the Lansing Lugnuts and the author of The Baseball Thesaurus and The Football Thesaurus from August Publications. Kevin Reichard is publisher at August Publications and Ballpark Digest.
The Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat is also available as an audio-only podcast. You can subscribe to the Ballpark Digest podcasts here:
Subscribe at Apple iTunes
Subscribe at Spotify
Subscribe at Stitcher
Subscribe at Amazon Music
Subscribe at iHeart Radio
Subscribe at Pandora
Subscribe at Google Podcasts
Subscribe at TuneIn
You can also subscribe to the full videos at YouTube and Vimeo.
RELATED STORIES: Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for April 14, 2021; Tales from The Baseball Thesaurus: Doubleheader; Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for April 8, 2021; Tales from The Baseball Thesaurus: Purpose pitch; Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for April 1, 2021; Tales from The Baseball Thesaurus: RBI; Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for March 24, 2021; Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for March 17, 2021; Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat for March 10, 2021