Life At The Ballpark

John Frost
Life At The Ballpark

For those who love baseball, Life At The Ballpark gives you an inside peek into the game with entertaining stories from those who play it, scout it, and broadcast it every single day. Life At The Ballpark is hosted by John Frost, a veteran broadcaster who has enjoyed over 20 years as the public address announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins at their Spring Training home and minor league clubs in Jupiter, Florida.

  1. 23/05/2023

    In Memory of Hall of Fame sportswriter Rick Hummel

    This podcast with Rick Hummel was recorded during Spring Training 2019.   I'm reposting at the news of his passing because of how elequontly he reflects on his life.  You'll hear Rick share about his love for baseball and how he became a sportswriter.   You'll hear about his receiving the phone call informing him that he had been elected the the writer's wing at the Baseball Hall of Fame, the year that Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. were inducted.  He shares stories from his (then) 42 years of Cardinals' Spring Trainings, first in St. Peterburg, then when they moved to Jupiter in 1998.  His nickname was “The Commish”, partly for his organizing the NCAA basketball lottery each year but also from the respect he had from his colleagues in the baseball world.  I hear that two former baseball commissioners even referred to him as “The Commish”.   Rick was a very kind man with an encyclopedic knowledge of Cardinals baseball.  I sat within 20 feet of Rick for 23 spring trainings and he always made a point to visit our portion of the press box to say goodbye when spring training wrapped up and he was on his way back to St. Louis.  The 4 “Life at the Ballpark” podcasts we recorded together are some of my favorites, and this is the first.  When I visited Busch Stadium in St. Louis for my birthday a couple of years ago Rick, who the press box is named for, insisted that I have the microphone to announce the game time temperature.   That’s the kind of guy he was.   Honored to know you, sir.

    19min
  2. 02/12/2022

    Pt 2: Texas Sports Radio and TV Legend Bill Mercer

    Bill Mercer is the original announcer for the Texas Ranger. He also called games for the original Dallas Texans in the old AFL which eventually became the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Dallas Cowboys, including the Cowboy's first Super Bowl.  Bill shares behind-the-scenes stories from the earliest days of the Texas sports world. You'll hear Bill talk about what it was like to announce the historic Cowboys/Packers "Ice Bowl" in 1967 in Green Bay where it was 30 below zero. It was so cold the inside of the glass in the press box was iced over and they couldn't see the field. You'll love hearing Bill recount one of the greatest football games of all time as he shares what he did to not lose focus on the game. Bill even announced wrestling matches at the historic Dallas Sportatorium. He talks about how he was hired to announce the matches on KRLD TV even though he had no experience with wrestling. Bill is very honest and transparent about how nervous he was to take on this gig. It eventually became a big part of his life. One of the biggest events in Bill's life happened at 12 Noon on Nov. 22nd in 1963. He was doing the local "Noon News" when President Kennedy was shot and killed. Bill was assigned to go to Dallas police station to do one of the nation's very first live broadcasts. He was there as Lee Harvey Oswald was brought into the station. At 1 o'clock in the morning, the police decided to do a press conference with Lee Harvey Oswald. It was here that Oswald heard for the very first time, from Bill Mercer, that he was being charged with the murder of the President of the United States. You'll even hear Bill Mercer discuss his insight on the theories that Oswald didn’t act alone. He shared an incredible recounting of Oswald's actions following the assassination of Kennedy. From Oklahoma to Okinawa: 18K Miles on the LCI(G) 439: A Signalman's WWII Naval Memoir is a book Bill Mercer just released that was a fulfillment of a promise he made to his shipmates who wanted him to write about their experience in Okinawa Japan from 1943 to 1947. Catch up on previous episodes of Life at the Ballpark with John Frost. Follow the Life at the Ballpark podcast on: Facebook Twitter

    30min

Sobre

For those who love baseball, Life At The Ballpark gives you an inside peek into the game with entertaining stories from those who play it, scout it, and broadcast it every single day. Life At The Ballpark is hosted by John Frost, a veteran broadcaster who has enjoyed over 20 years as the public address announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins at their Spring Training home and minor league clubs in Jupiter, Florida.

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