A few hours before the telecast, the person who runs our graphics and I were talking about three different sponsored items on our show. These features are; the trivia question, this day in history, and the poll question in which the audience participates. We were trying to make these segments more interesting. It is not as easy as one may think when trying to come up with 153 trivia, “this date”, and poll questions throughout the season. We agreed that these three pieces should all have a tie in and, in the telecast, we did just that
There happened to be a player on the visiting team who, exactly one year ago, hit a grand slam homerun in his first major league at bat. The Producer happened to have video of the homerun which was presented during the telecast as a flashback. Our trivia question was, “Name the only two players to hit a grand slam in their first major league at-bat. Our “This Day in History” occurred in 1993 when Gary Gaetti, who had hit a homerun in his first major league at-bat years earlier, homered to become the all-time major league leader in home runs by players who had homered in their first ML at-bat. Our poll question was, “What is the most exciting play in baseball? A – Grand Slam B – Inside the Park Homerun C – Suicide Squeeze D –Bases Loaded Triple E – Other. The answer turned out to be A – Grand Slam.
So, we had a flashback, trivia question, “This Day in History, and the Poll question all tied in with the homerun. It worked well and we are going to continue, hopefully, with a theme for these items the rest of the season.
It was during the poll question that one of the funniest moments of our season occurred. When the play-by-play announcer finished reading the possible answers, the Producer said to both of the talent (announcers) in jest, “I think the most exciting play is the check swing.”
(We, in the TV truck, are able to talk to the talent and they are able to talk to us without their audio going out over the air. We talk to them with what is called the IFB and they talk to us, without going on the air, by pushing a “talk back” button located on the headset control box.)
On the first pitch after the Producer commented to the talent, there was a check swing by the batter. The timing could not have been written better in a Hollywood script. The talent started laughing, explained what was said to them in their headsets from the Producer, and demanded a replay. It was one of the lighter moments of the season and one of those moments that is really helpful to the production team because moments such as these help relax the crew. I think better decisions are made in a fast-paced, high-strung, live TV sports environment, when the crew is relaxed. Obviously, it is very important to remain focused on the job at hand when split second decisions are constantly being made. And, I believe, a relaxed atmosphere creates better focus.
The first segment of our Open detailed the starting pitching match-up. Both of the starters had pitched well of late.
The second segment dealt with the home team’s closer. If the theme of segment one played out, there would be a good chance that the closer would be an important factor in the game.
In the third segment, we showed a graphic which depicted the schedules for the next ten days of the first and second place teams in the division.
The game couldn’t have played out better. Each starting pitcher performed brilliantly, the home team closer saved the victory, and the home team picked up a half game on the idle second place club.
There was another memorable moment in the telecast as well.
In the bottom of the eighth inning with the home club down by a score of 2 – 1, a pinch hitter blasted a long home run on the first pitch he saw leading off the inning. This home run hitter is playing on a team where one of the coaches is his father. After showing three angles of his home run, we were shooting him in the dugout and the talent was talking about this young player playing on a team where his father was one of the coaches. The Producer then called for an additional replay. Our camera in the left field corner was shooting the left-handed batter in the batters box. The batter swung, hit the ball, and the camera followed him out of the box, up the first base line until the player’s father came into frame. This camera operator pushed to the coach/father for a wonderful reaction to the home run.
This focused camera operator, felt the moment, got the shot, and created a memory.