FAMILIAR FACE AT HOME WITH BLUE JAYS
Canadian buys time from busy ESPN schedule for gig in Sportsnet booth . . . for a limited time only
It is funny to think how many Blue Jays fans were upset at the bigtime American broadcasters who called the team’s recent playoff run, when you consider Sportsnet just made many fans very happy by bringing in a big-time American broadcaster to call games next year. Of course, he’s Dan Shulman, who — despite his status as one of ESPN’s top play-by-play callers — is Canadian. He has been tapped to return to the job he did from 1995 to 2001, albeit on a part-time basis for upwards of 30 Blue Jays games the next two seasons. Shulman still lives in Toronto with his family. Reached Thursday, here are some of his thoughts on returning:
How did this come about?
I know a lot of people at Sportsnet, many of them from way back when — from either TSN or at the FAN — and every now and then someone would reach out to me and ask: What’s your contract like? Do you have any interest? And I would always tell them that it wouldn’t fit at that particular time. I have a very busy schedule at ESPN, but now my kids are getting older — two of them are in university — and I’ve got more time on my hands. Sentimentally, I’ve always wanted to come back and do some games. I didn’t know when or how, or how many. Right now, it fits. I was lucky that Sportsnet was in- terested on a limited basis, and I was able to do it on a limited basis. ESPN is OK with it, so it works out on all fronts.
How do you have time for this?
In the summers, most weeks I just do a Sunday night game. So, I’m busy, but I’m not quite as busy as some people think I am. I do about 85 events a year for ESPN between baseball and college basketball. Now, they all involve travel because none of them are in Toronto, but in a typical week, if I’m leaving Saturday and coming back Monday, I can do some midweek Blue Jays games. We haven’t worked out which games — it’s way too far out — but that’s not a problem.
Let’s talk about your style. I think you let the game breathe a little, and you are not afraid of silence. Is that difficult? Or has it become instinct?
I love it, actually, and I think it is in- stinct, and it is something that I’ve always tried to do. Sometimes I think the best thing that an announcer can say is nothing at all. . . . I don’t even know if that’s my style, if I’m a minimalist or however you would say it. But then again, I think it goes back to my nature that I think the game is the thing, and setting up my analysts are the thing. I don’t think I’m the thing. I’m there to just tie everything together.
Do you have to make any adjustments going from calling national games to being a hometown announcer?
I think it’s a balance and a lot of guys juggle local and national jobs. I think it’s human nature to get a little bit caught up in the home team. I know from doing the (Jays) games from 1995-2001 that I was perceived to be as neutral as a hometown broadcaster could be. And the reason I know that is several players would tell me about that, and they weren’t very happy about it. I think my tendency is to lean toward the neutral, but human nature will likely move the needle just a little bit (toward the home team).
What is the greatest call of your career?
I was lucky enough, through a scheduling conflict for another broadcaster, to do the Jays and Rangers Game 5 (for ESPN radio). That, of course, was the bat flip game. That was really fun to call the (Jose) Bautista home run. And it would have been really fun no matter what team hit it and in what ballpark. My first World Series for ESPN Radio was in 2011, and it was St. Louis and Texas. If you recall Game 6, the Rangers were one out from winning the World Series and David Freese hit a triple to tie it in the ninth and then hit a home run in the 11th to win it. That’s about as good as it gets.