‘VOICE OF HAMPTON WYTHE’
Edgar goes from announcing his son’s games to the Pilots
HAMPTON — Frank Edgar always had an interest in sports and broadcasting. But it was an unexpected development — his son’s baseball talent — that really led him to honing his craft and becoming the Peninsula Pilots’ announcer.
“When (Jordan) was about 7 or 8 … he was more talented than I could coach. I wasn’t that much of a baseball coach, being a trial lawyer,” he said. “I got out of coaching very early in his baseball career. I didn’t want to be one of the fathers that hung on the fence. I tried to find something else to do.”
Edgar offered to announce the Hampton Wythe Little League tournaments, which he did in the early 2000s. He called out the rosters during the “at bats” and players’ names during trophy awards.
“I did it for a long time. You get into it … two games a night for a week … four games on Saturday,” Edgar, a Hampton native, said. “The president down there still calls me the voice of Hampton Wythe.”
Fast-forward to 2020, Edgar has parlayed that passion into a
regular volunteer gig with the Pilots franchise, which plays in the Coastal Plain League, a woodenbat collegiate summer baseball league in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. For the past decade, Edgar has lent his melodic voice during their season.
“I get to work with a lot of young people,” says the 58-yearold lawyer. “There’s always been a slew of interns and others up here, that’s been fun to work with. This is kind of relaxing for me. When I come home, on the way home, I could stop here, call a ballgame and get home at 9-9:30 or 11, depending on how the game went.”
Edgar usually calls more than 25 home games, several nights a week.
The first time he did any announcing for the Pilots was in 2007, head coach Hank Morgan said. Edgar called an exhibition game against a Russian team.
“We threw all those Russians names at him … those are some tough names to pronounce,” Morgan said, adding Edgar did a really good job. “Hey you want to keep doing this?”
The trial lawyer also developed his skills by calling high school games that were broadcast on Hampton TV. Edgar even had a podcast for short while called the “Pen Sports Podcast.”
“When a young person wanders into the 7-11 (on Kecoughtan Road) and says ‘I heard you last night and you were great’ … if you can give a kid positive affirmation that may be the difference. That alone may bridge the gap,” Edgar said.
On a particular Tuesday, Edgar coming from his law office in Newport News — still in his work attire — settles at the microphone with a headset inside a cozy press box at War Memorial Stadium for another Pilots game.
It’s a mellow summer evening — right field is still bathed in light, as pop tunes reverberate in the background.
“This is Frank Edgar, coming to you from high top the ballpark here on Pembroke,” he says with an even cadence, and begins going over the night’s roster with his team of broadcasters — college interns David Cunningham and Troy Bracey.
The press box opened in 2012, has three rooms and can accommodate several people. When Edgar started, there wasn’t even a room.
“We sat in a tent in the bleachers, behind home plate … the P.A. announcer, the guy that ran the music, and me and maybe one other intern,” he said.
Fans can hear Edgar on the league’s website, which for years only had audio. In recent years, the Pilots’ franchise has purchased camera equipment to video stream the games and sometimes on Facebook Live, he said.
Or they can come to War Memorial Stadium and hear Edgar in person, for a while anyway
Pandemic summer
Like so many other things this year, the Pilots’ season is different thanks to the pandemic — it began July 2 and will run through the first week of August. With the Norfolk Tides and other minor league teams not playing, the Pilots are among the few teams suiting up.
War Memorial is open to fans, who are greeted at the entrance with a thermometer for a temperature check.
“We had to redouble our emphasis on gloves and masks. We are trying to support the governor’s policy,” Morgan said. “We need to keep operating or we are going to starve to death.”
Staff are wearing mask and gloves, especially those who are handing food.
“Trying to get fans to consider wearing masks, especially if they are up and around going to the bathroom,” Morgan said.
There are fewer games and fewer people allowed into the stands. Eight out of the 15 teams in the CPL are not playing.
The remaining teams are playing against the Tidewater Summer League, based in Norfolk, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which normally the Pilots would not play against, Edgar said.
On a Tuesday evening during the game against the Old Dominion Hitters, fans sat in a few clusters, spread out within the 3,500-seat capacity stadium.
And while one player had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the franchise is handling the social distancing seemingly with grace.
“If it weren’t for the COVID we would have a whole lot more people,” says Wayne Gianettino, dubbed by the franchise as “Super Fan Wayne” because he comes to every game.
“I’ve seen this place packed so full, they’re standing in the Tiki Bar … and in the fences in the outfield. You might have missed two innings of baseball if you go back for a snack,” Gianettino said. “I’m glad they are at least putting forth the effort to have a season.”
The Pilots won that game against the Hitters, 8-0. For Edgar’s part, he and interns wear masks, pulling them down when speaking, he said.
“We were really concerned and still concerned about it. Who knows what the governor is going to say?” Edgar said, referring to Gov. Ralph Northam’s afternoon coronavirus briefings. “But it’s worked, so far, so good. I think it’s going pretty well. The old faithful crowd is here.”