PawSox Radio Broadcasters Legacy of Reaching the Bigs

The question is what do Don Orsillo, Dave Flemming, Andy Freed, Dave Jageler, Dan Hoard and Aaron Goldsmith have in common with Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Jason Varitek, Jon Lester and Wade Boggs?    

The answer has nothing to do with their ability to hit a fastball over the "Batter's Eye" in center field at McCoy Stadium or their ability to throw a fastball that would light up radar guns.

But it has everything to do with the fact that their time announcing Pawtucket Red Sox games on the radio proved to be a stepping stone to a job in the major leagues - or, in the case of Hoard, the NFL.

Just like the PawSox have developed a reputation over the last three-plus decades of developing players for the Boston Red Sox, they've also done a seemingly-incredulous job of developing broadcasters who've hit the media equivalent of winning the Rhode Island Lottery. 

Following are profiles of the above-named sextet who have gone from the McCoy Stadium radio booth to the big time. (And for the purpose of this story we do not even include the first former PawSox broadcaster to strike it big as long-time New York Mets' radio and television voice Gary Cohen was with the PawSox in 1987 & 1988 before getting the call to New York).

DON ORSILLO

How many youngsters tell their parents they want to be a major league ballplayer but never make it past playing for the high school team?

In Orsillo's case, what he told his parents became fact rather than fiction.

"I grew up in Madison, N.H. and listened primarily to radio because we didn't have TV games," said Orsillo who broadcast PawSox games from 1996-2000 and now is in his 13^th season as Boston's play-by-play announcer for NESN. "I grew up listening to Ken Coleman. I told my parents at age 12 that I wanted to be an announcer for the Red Sox.

"But once I got to the minor leagues, I would have gone anywhere. It all amazingly worked out."

How true.

Among other things, Orsillo was on the air when Hideo Nomo, Buchholz and Jon Lester threw no-hitters and when Cal Ripken Jr. played his final game.

After broadcasting lower minor league games for the Mets, Orsillo was hired by Pawtucket prior to the 1996 season.

"Broadcasting PawSox games helped me in two ways," said Orsillo. "There was the relationship the PawSox had with Boston which was 50 miles away. Plus, I got to know the players who moved up.

"The difference with the PawSox is, first of all, you have great listenership but also viewership because I had a chance to do TV games. With the PawSox you have a chance to do both so it opens you up to a lot more opportunities."

Orsillo admitted that his "opportunities" were enhanced by broadcasting games at McCoy Stadium.

"The sound quality of what you're sending out on a demo tape is major-league quality," he said. "There's a (crowd) buzz you don't get at other Triple-A parks that you hear at McCoy."

But once Orsillo made it to Fenway Park, it was - at the risk of using a cliché - a different ballgame.

"The transition was difficult," he admitted. "It took me a year or more because even though I did some TV, I was mainly a radio announcer. When people like a producer and a director were talking in my ear, it was difficult.

"But I got great advice from (Boston's lead radio announcer) Joe Castiglione. He said…put a caption underneath the picture because everyone can see what's happening."

Orsillo was able to make a smoother transition from Pawtucket's clubhouse to Boston's because he was so familiar with various players.

"When I first walked into the Red Sox clubhouse as a NESN announcer, I was comfortable," he said. "I knew about 65 percent of the players. I had relationships with Jason Varitek, Lou Merloni, Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon. It was as comfortable as it could have been because of the people who came through Pawtucket."

DAVE FLEMMING

Dave Flemming, who was in Pawtucket's radio booth from 2001-2003, hit the jackpot last season with the San Francisco Giants.

Not only did he call Matt Cain's perfect game but he also called the final out of the Giants' World Series conquest of the Tigers.

"There haven't been two guys who've done that in the same year," Flemming said of his historic broadcasts. "In the back of my head, I probably thought it would be great to do that someday. But it likely would not have happened if the PawSox had not hired me.

"In my own mind, it validated my own dreams that I could make this happen."

Flemming was a mere 24 when he was hired by Pawtucket.

"I think for me the PawSox create an environment at the minor league level that feels more like a major league environment moreso than other clubs," he said. "What that did for me was make me think about broadcasting games in a different way - in the same way as a major league broadcaster in terms of what is the audience looking for?

"Young broadcasters where there aren't many listeners, they're question is 'How can I get better at this?' I think it should be what do people want to hear? I learned to think broadcasting in those terms instead of otherwise."

Flemming, admittedly, has had the good fortune of working with one of the best in the business, Jon Miller.

"Initially, I was nervous," said Flemming. "I was afraid I wasn't going to sound very good.

"Once I proved I could do a game with Jon and sound like I belonged, it gave me credibility with the fans. It gave me something I couldn't have gotten by myself.

"I thought it would have been a disadvantage at first. But I learned a ton from him about the craft. On the air, chemistry is different. A good broadcast is where you can play off each other. Jon and I have a very good feel for each other and that's why people listen to us."

Giants' fans really wanted to listen to Flemming during one particular moment in baseball history, but they were unable to do so because of a technical glitch.

The date was May 28, 2006 when Barry Bonds hit his 715^th home run and passed Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list. But just as he was making the call, his microphone went dead.

"In our headsets, it sounded normal," said Flemming. "I went through the whole call. I let the crowd noise take over. Only then did our engineer start throwing things and said 'We were off the air.'

"I thought this guy was crazy. It took about 30 seconds for me to figure out that nobody heard the home run call. After that, my mind was in a different place and I wasn't thrilled."

ANDY FREED

As far as Andy Freed was concerned, there was much to like about his tenure (2001-2004) with Pawtucket.

"It was a very good baseball atmosphere," said Freed who's been with the Tampa Bay Rays since 2005. "I liked the fact they stressed baseball more than most minor league teams.

"I happened to be there during Boston's ownership change. It was great to be there when Boston won the (2004) World Series.

"I also loved the ballpark," added Freed. "The renovations they made to McCoy provided for beautiful aesthetics. The roof creates a terrific sound. It sounds big league there."

Even though Freed broadcast minor league games for 11 seasons and now is in his ninth season with the Rays, he's never lost sight of one goal.

"In my time at Pawtucket, I learned a lot from (then-manager) Buddy Bailey," he said. "He's a baseball lifer and always was available for questions.

"To this day, my policy is to learn as much as I can. My goal is I never want to lose the ability to learn about baseball. Down here, the Rays have turned into a big deal but it's still a young baseball market. I received a great baseball education in Pawtucket."

Since he's been with the Rays, Freed has experienced the highs and lows of broadcasting games for what initially was an expansion team.

For example: During his first three seasons, the Rays were a combined 194-292; but in his last five seasons they've been a combined 458-352 and have morphed into a perennial playoff contender.

"Regardless of what happens in our careers, we'll always look back on this time as something very special regarding the transformation of a team that has the third-best record over the last five years," said Freed. "This place was a laughingstock at first. David Letterman would make a joke of the Rays on his Top 10 list.

"They've turned it into something where you can be as proud as you can be. The Red Sox model their style after what the Rays do. That would have been a punch line at one time."

DAVE JAGELER

Dave Jageler, who broadcast PawSox games only for the 2005 season, is in his eighth season with the Washington Nationals. But prior to joining Pawtucket, he also did radio for the Charlotte Knights.

But …

"I think the big thing was getting a chance to do baseball games on an every-day basis," he said. "I was Charlotte's No. 2 announcer and didn't travel. I only would do three innings when Charlotte was home. Pawtucket is one of the few teams that travel with two announcers.

"I had experience in the International League, but the PawSox gave me a chance to be the lead announcer at the Triple-A level and develop my style. It enabled me to get back in the game. When you're in the game on a regular basis, you get a chance to learn about an organization's prospects.

"But the thing I really appreciated is that they looked at the position as an announcer first," added Jageler. "The PawSox try to hire the best broadcaster and have been able to pick out guys that sound like major league announcers."

Jageler also benefitted from doing television games with Bob Montgomery and from making appearances in the community.

"There were different aspects in the job that helped me grow as a broadcaster and as a professional," he said.

Jageler admittedly will never forget his first PawSox game.

"I remember the first game was in Indianapolis with Curt Schilling pitching on a rehab assignment," he said. "It was his first game after the bloody sock game against the Yankees. It was pretty cool to have my first game be that big a deal.

"The other thing I cherish about that season was getting to watch some of the Red Sox prospects who helped Boston win the 2007 World Series, like Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis."

Jageler, like Freed, is now calling games for a team that's developed from a bottom-feeder to a team that won the 2012 National League East pennant.

"It's certainly easier when a team has a season like 2012 when compared with 2011," he said. "I didn't look at it as a tough job. I looked at it as a dream job. It was fun to come to the park and broadcast a game.

"The approach my partner, Charlie Slowes, and I take is we're going to broadcast a game. We're going to treat today's game like it's special. The great thing about baseball is you put two teams out of contention on the field and somebody can pitch a no-hitter or hit three home runs."

DAN HOARD

Dan Hoard, who broadcast PawSox games from 2006-2011, already was an experienced announcer.

For more than a decade now he has been the radio play-by-play voice for the University of Cincinnati football and basketball teams. He also was a TV sports anchor in the Queen City for 10 years. And prior to that, he did Syracuse Chiefs games for six years.

But in Hoard's opinion, broadcasting PawSox games proved to be an invaluable experience.

"I benefitted from my six years in Pawtucket because I was doing 144 games a year," he said. "No matter what it is, nothing prepares you for doing play-by-play like baseball.

"Say there's a groundball to shortstop that only takes a few seconds. You have to fill that time. You have to be a story teller and a statistician. It was tremendous training to be a broadcaster in every possible way."

Hoard, who's now the Cincinnati Bengals' radio voice, feels the difference between broadcasting games at McCoy and doing the same thing in other parks is the radio equivalent of the distance between Rhode Island and Ohio.

"To me, broadcasting games at McCoy was the closest thing to doing major league games because the focus was on baseball," he said. "At a lot of minor league parks the focus is on the high jinx taking place between innings.

"People go to McCoy to see the Red Sox of the future and the game of baseball. I think the PawSox do a great job of doing that."

Of all the players Hoard covered, perhaps his favorite was one who didn't come up through Boston's farm system: Mike Lowell.

"Mike was in his final year with Boston and was on a rehab assignment," recalled Hoard. "All or most of that week was spent on the road. Unlike a lot of guys, he totally embraced being back in the minor leagues. It was like coming full circle for him.

"We were in Toledo where they have a promotion where if an opposing player strikes out three times everybody wins something, in this case ice cream. Typically, they wouldn't pick somebody like Mike Lowell. But they made him the strikeout player of the game. That night he didn't strike out three times but he did hit three home runs.

"After the game, I interviewed him for my blog and he was great," added Hoard. "He apologized - tongue in cheek - to the Toledo fans for not striking out three times."

As well as Hoard remembers that game, he remembers even better his first meeting with the late PawSox owner Ben Mondor.

"Ben would call you in shortly after you were hired and say 'I've heard these major league guys with multi-year contracts. Yours is not by the month or by the game. You're on a pitch-to-pitch contract because I'm listening to every pitch.'

"There was an underlying message: take it seriously. There's a fan listening who loves the game. During a long game, it's easy for your concentration to wane. You have to fight that battle and stay on top of your game."

AARON GOLDSMITH

During the summer of 2008, Aaron Goldsmith did landscaping work during the day and at night broadcast games for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod League as part of an unpaid internship.

In 2013, at the age of 29, he'll be the youngest major league broadcaster when he calls games for the Seattle Mariners after spending the previous season with Pawtucket.

Goldsmith's big break came in 2009 when he was hired by the Portland Sea Dogs. Then, after two seasons with the Double-A Frisco (TX) RoughRiders he joined Pawtucket. Or, to put it another way, including the fact he majored in history at Principia College, he was late getting into broadcasting on a professional level.

"One reason my season with Pawtucket helped me was it's one of the most highly-respected and most sought-after jobs in the minor leagues," said Goldsmith. "I spent three years in Double-A so the chance to come to Triple-A was something I was looking forward to.

"Having a chance to broadcast on a large radio network with an organization with a great track record of developing broadcasters, I knew it would force me to become a better broadcaster to live up to those high standards.

"I was so honored to have been selected," added Goldsmith. "But after one season in Pawtucket it's still a 'pinch yourself' situation. I still haven't come down to Earth yet."

Just like minor league players put pressure on themselves to make it to the major leagues, so did Goldsmith when he sat behind a Pawtucket microphone.

"The thing I enjoyed the most was the pressure that came with being a PawSox broadcaster," he said. "Everybody in the minor leagues knows if you call games for the PawSox you're supposed to be one of the best in the minors. The pressure to live up to those standards was one reason I was able to get the job in Seattle.

"I had to live up to those guys - Don Orsillo, Dave Flemming, Dan Hoard - because you don't want to be the guy to drop the torch."

Which is something Goldsmith has no intention of doing.

"I think there's always a desire and need for any broadcaster to improve," he said. "I'm at the point in my career where I can improve on a game-to-game basis.

"The Mariners obviously liked enough of what they heard to give me this job. I don't have to re-invent my game. I want to be myself. I want to be the guy they heard on that CD. I want to be better in Game 162. I want to stick with the type of broadcaster I am with the thought that I'm going to get better every game."

No minor league game will be better for Goldsmith than his first one for Pawtucket.

"The thing I'll always remember is Opening Day against Buffalo at McCoy,"he said. "I never thought this might happen and it's happening. I wanted to get to Pawtucket for a number of years. When they picked me and I was on the air for Opening Day, it was a big thrill.

"Now, I'm experiencing that in a different form with the Mariners."