■ Rosenthal: Hughes’ rare mistake doesn’t take away too much from historic no-hitter call for Cubs.
Hughes’ mistake doesn’t take away too much from historic no-hitter call for Cubs
When you get to the end of something special, you want the words to match the moment. You want to strike the right tone emotionally. You want to leave something behind that’s worth remembering.
Like the Cubs’ no-hitter against the Dodgers on which Zach Davies combined with relievers Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel on Thursday night.
“You have to have a sense of history that these things are going to be replayed for posterity by future generations, so you want it to be really something good,” Pat Hughes, who’s in his 26th season as the Cubs radio voice and 39th as a major-league announcer, said by phone Friday. “That’s the whole goal.”
With two outs and a 4-0 Cubs lead in the bottom of the ninth, Kimbrel was closing in on history and Hughes set the scene for listeners while watching things unfold on a monitor at Wrigley Field, two times zones away.
“Cubs fans are standing at Dodger Stadium,” he said on WSCR-AM 670 and the Cubs radio network. “Kimbrel always looks composed. The batter is A.J. Pollock. Pollock is 0-for-3, a right-handed-hitting outfielder. In fact, now even Dodgers fans start to stand. Kimbrel’s pitch to Pollock, a swing and a miss, a vanishing slider that ended up down near the ankles.”
“Kimbrel bends over at the waist, right elbow sticking out to the side. And the 0-1 pitch to Pollock, strike two called. The Dodgers are down to their last strike.”
You can see this. You can feel it.
There’s just one problem, and we’ll get to it soon enough. But first, let’s go back to Hughes’ call at the point where the clip to be played over and over for years to come likely will start.
“The Dodgers without a hit, two down, bottom of the ninth inning,” Hughes said. “Kimbrel is ready, and the 0-2 — swing and a miss! The Cubs have done it! A combined no-hitter for the first time in the long and legendary history of the Chicago Cubs!”
That last bit is exactly the workmanlike approach one expects from Hughes, excited but measured, a history report in real time.
The problem? It wasn’t Pollock whom Kimbrel struck out on three pitches for the final out. It was Will Smith.
Pollock came out of the game in the top of the eighth, replaced in left field by Steven Souza Jr., when Dodgers reliever Garrett Cleavinger substituted for Phil Bickford.
Souza led off the bottom of the eighth and, with Cleavinger set to bat with two down and one on in the ninth, Smith pinch hit in Pollock’s old slot.
It was a rare error for Hughes, who rightly prides himself on the high-level at which he calls games.
Kimbrel didn’t know he was in a no-hitter until the celebration began. Hughes didn’t realize he had made a mistake until he read game coverage Friday morning.
“No excuses,” Hughes said. “I thought it was A.J. Pollock and it was Will Smith. … You’re right, I do try to take pride on getting everything as precise and correct as I possibly can, but I was joking to myself, saying: ‘Boy, that’s how good Kimbrel’s stuff was. He even fanned me.’ ”
Hughes refused to write this off on the bane of remote broadcasting of road games, a challenge to quality announcing introduced last year as a COVID-19 precaution but still all-too-common despite ballparks opening to full capacity and other pandemic restrictions being lifted.
For an outsider looking in, however, it’s hard to see how the setup wasn’t a factor.
“I made a mistake. I was oblivious to it,” Hughes said.
“This whole business of broadcasting at Wrigley when the team is 2,000 miles away, it’s less than ideal. That should be obvious to anyone, but it’s better than nothing. And speaking of ideal, what exactly has been ideal in the world for the last 17 months?”
Hard to argue with that.
One bit of good news: Although the Cubs’ failure to reach the 85% vaccination standard continues to keep announcers off the team plane, the WSCR radio crew will be driving to Milwaukee to broadcast the Brewers series that starts Monday in-person.
“I tell people, even under the best circumstances — and I can only speak for myself, I can’t speak for anyone else who does what I do for a living — this is not an easy job,” Hughes said. “I feel like I have to be all in every day, every minute, every play of every game. Because if you’re not, it is so easy to make mistakes you wouldn’t believe it.
“The only people who say that what we do is easy have never done it. You have no script. You have no idea what’s going to transpire in front of you. You try to put the action into words as quickly as possible without being redundant. You try to have fun. You try to be prepared and dramatic.” But not too dramatic.
“For example, in the ninth inning (Thursday) night, I’m thinking about just trying to make a good call without being hysterical,” Hughes said. “This is the first combined no-hitter in Cubs history. They’ve been around since 1876, and I mean, it’s exciting stuff. So, I’m concentrating on just trying to not let my voice get carried away.
“I’ve heard too many calls … where they just got too excited and it lost some of the professionalism of the moment. … I don’t want to sound like an eighth grader who gets too hysterical, and my voice starts cracking, so that’s on my mind. And I’m trying to be precise, but I just did not realize that there was a pinch hitter in there. No excuses. It’s a mistake.”
Fortunately, it’s the final pitch people likely will remember, and he nailed it. There’s no mention of Smith, but there’s also no mention of Pollock, and in the end what mattered was the 27th out, not who made it.
“Zach Davies will get the win,” Hughes told listeners. “Zach Davies, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel combine on a no-hitter, the 17th no-hitter in franchise history, and you talk about starting a series and a road trip on a positive note … that’s the way to do it.”
Baseball is a tough sport, both to play at a major-league level and to announce. Hughes’ fielding percentage nevertheless remains very high.
“It’s humbling. That’s the thing. That’s the word I always use,” Hughes said. “This is a humbling job because of the fact it is so easy to make mistakes. Once you start thinking that you’re something special, you’re in real trouble.” That’s good advice for anyone, but especially in media. This is my last Tribune column after 16 years with the paper, and I hope my work will be well-remembered. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work for you readers and with the excellent journalists who work here.
I’ve volunteered to leave because the offer and timing were right. It’s a leap of faith and exciting to consider other options amid the shifting media landscape.
Also, the Cubs and Dodgers will be on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” this weekend, and I am ready to let someone else complain about Álex Rodríguez and the in-game interviews that aren’t as interesting as the action they supercede.
Farewell, and thank you for getting all the way to the end with me.