What does baseball sound like? It sounds like the crack of the bat. It sounds like an umpire ringing up a batter. It sounds like a crowd singing the seventh inning stretch. But for many, baseball sounds like a broadcaster on a television or the radio, the call of the home run as much or more important than the ambient sounds around it.
Broadcasters have a hard job. They need to explain the game, analyze the game, and effectively communicate what’s going on in a very short amount of time. Ryan Lefebvre, the Royals’ longtime TV play-by-play announcer, told me once that the driving force behind his style and decisions in the booth was in an effort to best serve the average baseball fan—the types of people who come home from work, have dinner, crack open a beverage and sit down for a few hours of entertainment.