In case you missed it, Vin Scully has agreed to return to the Dodgers’ broadcast booth in 2014.
Vin Scully’s not the only broadcaster working on a streak
Yeah. Think about that one for a second. Come up with your own superlative comparisons.
But let’s save just a bit of attention for Toledo Mud Hens broadcaster Jim Weber. To wit:
Raised in the south end, Weber went to work at Jeep right out of Bowsher High and devoted spare time to playing in a band when he began dabbling in radio in 1969, helping a buddy out on high school football and basketball games.
The Hens, meanwhile, dropped off radio in the early 1970s and Weber, sensing an opportunity, approached general manager Charlie Senger.
“I introduced myself and I told him I thought I could broker a radio deal for him,” Weber recalled.
Senger laughed in his face. But Weber knew the station manager at WTUU, a rather obscure AM station, and, sure enough, he came up with a deal for 52 games to be aired.
First it was 52 games on WTUU, then 80 games per season on WSPD, and since 1985 it’s been every game every season on WMTR. Sunday, Weber worked his 5,000th straight scheduled broadcast.
According to John Husman, the Mud Hens’ official team historian, “it is very likely that Jim Weber has done more consecutive scheduled broadcasts, for the same team, than anyone else ever has-major or minor league. Comparisons are difficult, especially for the minor leagues, as records are not kept but it appears that Jim Weber’s streak is unmatched.”
Among the other great streaks Husman points out:
- Harold Kellman, Voice of the Indianapolis Indians, has worked 4,629 straight games;
- Harry Caray reportedly didn’t miss a game from 1945 through 1987, a streak consisting of more than 6,000 games;
- Ernie Harwell missed only two games from 1960 through 2002;
- John Sterling hasn’t missed a Yankees game since 1989.
These days, broadcasters -- and for that matter, coaches and managers -- will take a day or a weekend off, to attend a son’s graduation or a daughter’s graduation or whatever. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Purely as an outside observer, though, I can’t help respecting someone who just keeps coming back to the office, day after day after year after year. After year after year.
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