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This is Retro Sports Radio.

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Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.

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All right, the Atlanta Crackers, you're going to get your first chance to do play-by-play.

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What did you do to get ready for your first broadcast?

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Well, to begin with, the problem with my first broadcast, I didn't know whether they'd ever

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be one or not because when I was in the Marines, I'd done maybe one or two games for Earl Mann,

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the owner of the team.

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He'd asked me to maybe fill in, they couldn't find an announcer, and I said, well, I don't

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really want to do it in uniform, but if you clear it with a colonel, I'll do it and I'll

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give my check to the Red Cross.

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I didn't feel like I should do it, but I went ahead and did it anyway, and he told me then,

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he said, if you ever get out of the service, I want you to be my announcer.

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So I was sort of basing my future on that promise to some degree, although I know a

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lot of things can happen.

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Well, what happened was that Wheaties bought the games on the radio station.

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The radio station had a good sports announcer named Stan Raymond, and they wanted to use

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him because, number one, he was established as their announcer on their staff, and number

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two, they wouldn't have to pay anything extra.

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I told Earl Mann about the problem and he said, well, Wheaties and WATL, they probably

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want to use Stan Raymond, but I tell you what, I'm going to give them a battle because I

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made you this promise and I'm going to give you a battle.

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So the thing went back and forth for a long, long time, and a month or so before the season

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starts I still don't know.

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Now we get up to a couple of weeks before I still don't know.

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Now the last week before the opening game I don't know, and now we finally get up to

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the day before the opening game, and Earl Mann calls and says, I'm going to hold out

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for you as much as I can.

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Well, I figured, you know, in most cases in that situation in radio, the guy would say,

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well, Ernie, I did my best and I'm sorry, but we couldn't do it any better.

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Earl Mann hung on and he finally called me the morning of opening day.

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And he says, come on down, you're going to be my announcer.

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So I really didn't have much time to get ready.

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But I love baseball so much, it was sort of natural for me.

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And I never had any real problems doing play by play.

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I did the best I could.

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And my idea was I'm going to tell these people what I would like to hear if I were a listener.

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And I just did it that way.

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And it seemed to work okay.

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The first walk out Tommy Thompson, put a man on first, nobody down, and Hal Jeffco, who

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has a single in one trip, is a batter.

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He had the first hit off Thompson, a bouncing ball over the hill in the first inning.

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Jeffco hitting 366.

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He's a pitch, fast ball, strike one call, right down the middle about felt high.

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No balls and one strike on Hal Jeffco.

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45 RBI to this fellow during the season.

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I'll feel deep to left.

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He's a pitch, fast ball, slam down to first base.

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Ducola sketches and touches the bag.

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Double play.

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That one rocketed off the bat of Hal Jeffco and direct into the hands of Vic Ducola at

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first base.

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Vic smacked the ball.

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It was just a matter of reflex and stepped on the bag for the double play.

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And that is the 60th double play for the crackers this season.

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Radio advertising and sponsorships and television has changed so much over the years because

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when you started doing those Atlanta crackers games, Wheaties was the entire sponsor.

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They had it in its entirety.

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Wheaties was the sponsor, no question about that.

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They sponsored, I'd say, 90 different broadcasts, some of minor leagues and some of them in

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the major leagues.

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And they even had a little trade paper about broadcasting and they would bring in the broadcasters

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to a convention once a year, talk about the techniques of announcing how to do the commercials.

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And during the first season that I worked for Wheaties, the company made us write our

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own commercials for one week.

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We had to do a commercial every half inning and we had to write a different commercial

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for each half inning.

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So they made us do a lot of things that were a little bit extra from just announcing.

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But it was a great outfit.

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General Mills had an idea about marketing that was excellent and also they had a good

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product and it was wonderful to work for Wheaties.

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So not only did you have to do the games, you also had to read the commercials that

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you yourself had written.

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Did you have to get that copy approved by General Mills?

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No, you didn't.

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You just did it and they trusted you and you winged it.

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All right, let's go back to the cracker games.

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You got that first one under your belt.

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Did you have a feeling of accomplishment or a rival?

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I've done it now, I are one.

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I think Bob, what happened was I had done a game and I was glad the first one was over.

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And I think I got through it okay.

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It seemed to be all right.

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The reaction was favorable, but I knew that I was going to have to get better and I made

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an intense study about what I wanted to do and I began to collect anecdotes that I could

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use, put them down on the index cards and I used that throughout my broadcasting career.

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I also had the idea that I would get the information about each player.

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And in the Southern League in 1946, there was no such thing as a PR man.

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You didn't even get a roster from the teams.

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You had to get the stats that you did get out of the Sunday paper, which went through

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the Thursday games.

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So I would get them out of the Sunday paper, then I'd bring them up to date as the games

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went on and to get information about a player, I'd go down to the hotel and as the players

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would come into the lobby, I'd collar them and we'd sit down there and I'd take out my

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index cards and I'd say, how tall are you?

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What are your weigh?

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Where do you live and what do you do in the off season?

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And also where did you play last year and where did you start?

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Now they give you these books and all that stuff is automatic so you don't have to worry

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about it.

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But in those days, you had to dig for every fact that you got.

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Wow, you had to be not only your play by play man, you had to be an advertising man, a copywriter,

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a public relations director for both teams, a statistician.

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When did you have time to sleep?

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At the same time I was doing the cracker games, I was doing a major league game of the week

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on WAGA.

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We get a telegraphic report, maybe the Cub Cardinal game in St. Louis.

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I'd be in a studio at WAGA in Atlanta and I'd recreate the game that afternoon.

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I might go out to Ponce de Leon Park that night and do a double head of live.

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But you didn't mind that, you enjoyed it, you know, it's part of the business and you

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love what you were doing.

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Now you mentioned the word recreation.

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There may be a lot of people who have absolutely no idea what it means to recreate a ball

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game.

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Take me through it.

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That was a fairly common process back until I'd say in the major leagues recreation went

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out around 1952 or 3.

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Pittsburgh Pirates were the last broadcast team to do recreation.

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But basically what an announcer did in a recreation went this way.

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Let's say the Atlanta Crackers were playing the Birmingham Barons in Birmingham.

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I'd be in a studio in Atlanta with a telegrapher.

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He'd have his telegraphic machine and he'd have a typewriter.

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He'd have a cohort from Western Union in the press box in Birmingham who'd have the same

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equipment and he'd send the dot dashes to my guy in the studio.

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He would write it down on a typewriter and he'd write down the play by play of the game.

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Now generally the announcer when he did a recreation he'd stay maybe an inning or an

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inning and a half behind because a lot of things would happen.

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You'd lose a line or something would happen that you couldn't continue and you'd have

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to fill.

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So you wanted a little bit of a cushion to fill with.

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But what would happen, my telegrapher, he would write out say Jones up for Atlanta.

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He's leading off for Atlanta.

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He'd say Jones up.

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B1W that's ball one wide.

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S1C strike one call.

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F-L-O-G-S fouled over the grandstand.

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And then he'd say Jones out short to first.

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One out.

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That's all you'd get.

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So the announcer would say Smith's out there on the mound.

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He's looking into Brown to get the sign now.

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The infield's in a little bit.

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The outfield's around toward left.

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Now wait a minute.

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Jones is going to step out and go back for the Rossen bag.

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Now he's back in the batter's box.

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Now so-and-so looks in, gets the sign.

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Here's the wind up.

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Here's the pitch.

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Ball one outside or curveball just missed the outside corner.

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Ball one to count on him and then you go through the other pitches and foul one over the grandstand

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and so forth.

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And then you'd say here's the pitch.

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Ground ball hits you short.

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He's back.

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He has it long.

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Throw the first base to Smith and he's out by a step and a half.

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Now all you got was out the shortstop.

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But you had to sort of be an actor more than you were the announcer.

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And if you had a lull like Ronald Reagan told a story at the White House about this.

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He said he fouled off 17 pitches.

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You know they lost their line.

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The guy fouled off 17 pitches.

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Or you'd have a dog run on the field.

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Dog would run on the field.

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They'd have to call time.

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Or sometimes you'd get a sprinkle that really didn't happen.

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And the guys had come back from the road trip and their wives say what about that dog.

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Oh no that wasn't a dog.

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What are you talking about?

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And another thing that would happen.

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You'd get down to the ninth inning and the announcer wanted to go home.

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Now he was an inning and a half behind so he'd catch up in a hurry.

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And usually in the ninth inning the batter went zam zam zam.

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They hit the first pitch whether they really did or not.

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But it was a lot of fun and you know there were some guys could do a real good recreation

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and couldn't broadcast a live game.

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And there were others that could do a game live very well but they couldn't do a good

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recreation.

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You can actually do a better broadcast knowing what has already happened.

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But did you use sound effects with it?

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The only sound effect we had we took up from the guy who preceded me because people were

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used to it.

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When a guy got a hit we would hit a gong like the NBC gong.

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Bong.

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He got a single we'd give him one.

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Bong-bong would be a double.

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And that would create an interest for people that weren't quite listening.

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You know they'd hear this and this.

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There was something happening.

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But the only thing I had other than that was just slap a ruler on the table and that was

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a ball hitting the bat.

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But some guys had very intricate crowd noise and press box PA.

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And I know when I worked with Red Barber in Brooklyn we did some recreations in 1948 and

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49 and he didn't use anything.

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He just gave it as it happened.

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And there were guys in bars you know who could interpret those dots and dashes that you hear

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in the background and they'd bet say hey this guy's going to hit a home run.

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Give me some odds and make a little bar money.

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Now he didn't succeed you in Brooklyn but there was a company later in Brooklyn in the

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50s because that's how I grew up a Brooklyn fan who did the recreation with the soundtrack

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with the xylophone hammer on a block of wood for a hit.

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And I wondered why I always heard about every four minutes attaboy Duke.

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Whether Schneider was at the plate or anything.

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That's your recording and Nat Albright was that guy wasn't it.

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Yeah that did a good job.

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He had a network down there toward your home in Carolina.

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Absolutely.

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But now you did not travel with the team at all with Atlanta.

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No not at all.

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And all the home games live but the recreation on the road.

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We did one road game.

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It was in 1948.

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We went to Birmingham and I thought that was really a big shot going on the train with

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the team and getting over there to Birmingham and doing the broadcast direct from Birmingham

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live.

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But that's the only time I ever did one.

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Everything else I had a picture of the ballpark.

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I'd say it hit the Coca-Cola sign in right field something like that.

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But I'd never seen those parks.

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You actually turned down the first major league broadcasting job that you had offered to you

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didn't you?

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I didn't really turn it down but I was unable to accept it.

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I had signed a contract with Old Gold to do the Atlanta Cracker games in 47.

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And really I thought I was a big shot now.

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Finally signed a contract.

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I've never even seen a contract before but I signed.

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I felt real good.

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I'm going to do the games.

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They're going to pay me X number of dollars and that's great.

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And then the Giants had an interest in me the New York Giants and they sent a guy down

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and said that they'd like for me to come and broadcast the giant games with Frank Frisch.

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Big had been doing the color with a guy named Ellis and they wanted to replace him.

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So I said wow I'm going to the big leagues this is great.

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But I did have a contract with Old Gold.

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However they had agreed not in writing but they had agreed that if I got a big league

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offer I would be released and I could get out of my contract.

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So I was very anxious to go and I found out that they weren't going to let me out of my

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contract and I talked to Earl Mann my patron saint there the owner of the crackers and

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he said well I'm going to do everything I can.

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I don't want to lose you but I want you to get to the big leagues.

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And he said we'll try to fight this and I'll talk to him and see if they'll release you

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although it's not written into the contract.

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Well they wouldn't budge.

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They said no.

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So it was very disappointing that I had to stay at least another year and do the cracker

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games.

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I didn't get a chance to go to the big leagues and that's when Brooklyn came down and scouted

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me and got me and then I did go to Brooklyn and work for Old Gold.

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You mentioned the Dodgers.

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They came looking at you.

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Branch Rickey who owned the team was the guy who pulled all the strings.

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He was an innovator to the nth degree.

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Give me your recollections of Branch Rickey.

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Branch Rickey was about the smartest man I ever saw in baseball.

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He was ahead of everybody.

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He was a man who really brought the farm system to fulfillment.

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He was a guy that first really put paddings on the walls around the ballpark.

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He was the first executive that insisted that the players wear batting helmets.

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A lot of things that now we take for granted were innovations brought into the game by

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Branch Rickey.

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He was also the best man as they say of putting a dollar sign on a muscle.

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He could look at a guy as a prospect and figure out better than anybody else whether this

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guy would develop into a true major leaguer.

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He had success wherever he went.

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He was probably the most brilliant baseball man that ever ran a front office.

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He did have an eye for talent and it wasn't always on the field.

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Sometimes it was in the broadcast booth.

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Unbeknownst to you, he had some of his scouts listening to you do the Atlanta Crackers games.

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That's true and it was quite a surprise to me.

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I think what happened in relation to Mr. Rickey and me was that first of all there was a sports

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writer named Kyle Crichton, sports editor to the Cuyahs magazine.

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He's the father of Michael Crichton, the famous novelist.

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He came down to do an interview for Cuyahs with Frankie Sinkwitz, a great Georgia football

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player and in the process I guess he heard me broadcast.

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He went back and told Mr. Rickey about it and Branch Rickey I found out just recently

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also sent Buzzy Bavasi who had been the general manager at Montreal, later became the GM at

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Brooklyn, a lot of other places.

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He sent him down and he listened to me.

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He talked to the cab drivers and the fans and the ball players and people like that

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and he sent a report back.

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And then he had another guy named Arthur Mann who was sort of an advisor on public relations

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and media relations and he came down and talked to me.

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So I was really surprised that Branch Rickey took that kind of an interest in me.

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But he did scout me quite thoroughly.

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If anything Branch Rickey kept things close to the best.

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He didn't want anybody knowing what he was doing, nobody messing in his business.

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That also involved you in your first scheduled meeting didn't it?

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Oh it sure did.

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I was contacted by Arthur Mann, the man that I mentioned and he said Mr. Rickey wants to

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meet you at the battle house in Mobile.

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He gave me a certain date.

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He said can you make it?

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And I said yeah I'll be there.

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So I was in spring training in Gainesville with the crackers.

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I caught a little puddle jumper, went through a storm, got to the battle house early in

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the morning and we were going to meet about four or five o'clock in the afternoon.

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I was ready.

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I waited.

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And Branch Rickey didn't show up.

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I waited, I waited.

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Five o'clock's gone, six o'clock, nine o'clock, ten o'clock.

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And I finally got in touch with Arthur Mann.

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He said well Mr. Rickey couldn't get away.

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He's sorry but he'll see you sometime probably in Atlanta.

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So I was very disappointed and that waiting almost killed me but I figured something good

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is going to happen.

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I got back to Atlanta and I played sound that ball for a little guy who was a hunchback

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named Rach Bell and he'd been sort of a bird dog scout for Branch Rickey.

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And one morning at my home in Atlanta I got this phone call and the voice said I'm not

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going to tell you who this is but somebody wants to see you at the Anthly Hotel.

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You'll be in the coffee shop at 8 a.m.

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Be there.

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So I had heard all these stories about Branch Rickey, you know, how hard he wants to talk

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to and so forth and what a tough guy he was and negotiating and things like that.

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I went down to the Anthly Hotel and I got to the coffee shop and he was there and we

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sat there and he said you know I've got a plane to catch.

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I've got to get out of here pretty quick but we'll get to the point.

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Well we stayed there about an hour and a half I guess and he did all the talking and I was

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enthralled by him.

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I was hypnotized almost and he told me then that he wanted me to come up to Brooklyn and

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the theory at that time was that Red Barber, the chief announcer, was going to have to

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do the Olympics for CBS Radio.

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The Olympics that year were in London and Red was going to have to be gone for maybe

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a month or three weeks and they would bring me up and I would take his place while he

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was gone.

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Well later on they decided they'd do it another way that they'd have guest announcers come

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on and be the announcer they wouldn't need me.

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In the meantime in late July Red Barber got stricken by a bleeding ulcer in Pittsburgh

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and I guess that's another story.

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But then you ended up going to Brooklyn?

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Mm-hmm.

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What happened was Branch Rickey called Earl Mann, my boss in Atlanta, and said I'd like

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to have Ernie come up and replace Red Barber as my announcer.

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And Earl Mann said well Mr. Rickey that's fine but I've got Ernie under contract and

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if you're serious about that if you really want him you're going to have to make a deal

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with me.

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You send me your catcher Cliff Dapper from Montreal and you can have Ernie Harwell to

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announce your game.

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So I was traded for minor league catcher.

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That has never happened before nor since.

341
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No I think that's the only time as far as anybody knows.

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You go to Brooklyn to do your first game.

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Was this your first major league ball game to see?

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No I'd seen a game before in Chicago back in 1934.

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My Uncle Lauren who lived in Evanston wanted me to come up because he knew I was a great

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baseball fan.

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I had started working with the sporting news but I never seen a big league ball game.

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So he brought me up and the first game that we were scheduled to go see was rained out.

349
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And I was so anxious to see a game I was going crazy.

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It kept raining and it rained again the next day.

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And he said don't worry about it.

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I know you got a ticket to go home but we're going to change that ticket and you're going

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to stay here.

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I don't care how long it rains.

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You're going to stay here and you're going to see a big league ball game.

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00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,640
So finally we went out to Old Comiskey Park.

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The Yankees were in town.

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They were playing the White Sox.

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Red Ruffing against Ted Lyons two great Hall of Fame pitchers.

360
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And the Yankees had Babe Ruth playing left field.

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He made a great running catch in left field.

362
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It was his final America League game in Chicago.

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Lou Gehrig was in the lineup.

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Lou Gehrig got two doubles that afternoon and he did something I've never seen in my

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whole broadcasting career.

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He ducked a pitch.

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It ricocheted off his bat over the third baseman's head for two bagger and he did it again the

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next time up.

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Two straight times he got a double the same way.

370
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Trying to get out of the way.

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And the Yankees won that game.

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The crowd was probably about two or three thousand people on that September afternoon.

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But do you remember it well?

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Oh absolutely.

375
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:26,720
Yeah.

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Good paper.