Dan Baker has been the public address announcer at Citizens Bank Park for a generation. Before that, he was the public address announcer at Veterans Stadium for a generation.
The Philadelphia Phillies honored Baker for 50 years of service as the franchise’s PA announcer Friday in a ceremony where he — to no surprise of anyone that has ever met him — talked as much about his love for his family and the team as he did about himself.
In the same way that many people of a certain age grew up saying the names of Phillies stars in a Harry Kalas-esque voice, if you’ve watched the team over the last half century, it’s impossible not to think of how Baker introduced them as they walked to the plate.