Dreamers vie for job of a lifetime
A few dozen answer ad to try out to be Marlins’ in-stadium announcer
Hyde: Dozens audition to become Marlins public address announcer.
This is for the dreamers out there. The schemers. The ones who remind us of the lure of sports, like Marcelo Metzelar, who is 46, a high-school math and physics teacher and drove 10½ hours from Myrtle Beach, S.C., for three minutes Monday night in a room at Marlins Park.
“Can you read script No. 1?” said Matt Mendez, the Marlins director of game presentation.
“‘The Miami Marlins would like to welcome you, your family and friends to Marlins Park,’ ’’ Metzelar read in a healthy baritone. “‘As a reminder, for your safety and those around you, please be aware of objects leaving the field of play and ... ’ ”
If you fear all the fun has gone out of sports, if you think games have become the playground of millionaire players and
billionaire owners, step in this line of a few dozen candidates at Marlins Park to become the team’s next public-address announcer.
Yes, that’s right, these dreamers and schemers, these lawyers and businessmen and high-school teachers — these 99 percenters who couldn’t run fast enough, jump high enough or throw far enough to live out most kids’ dream in sports now try a middleaged pathway into them.
They answered this ad for the Marlins’ in-stadium announcer. Don Krutzig, a 53-year-old athletic trainer, came from Charlotte, N.C. Lewis Davis is a 59-year-old chaplain, came from Lauderdale Lakes. Luis Perez, a 29-year-old from Hialeah, came from his day job as a professor in media production and speech at Florida International University.
They all had the same thought:
And so they lined up with nothing but a sturdy voice and read a few scripted announcements to Mendez and three other judges who work for the Marlins. Consider it American Idol, ballpark edition.
Many had some background for this. Perez, for instance, does work at FIU games and backs up the Heat. Jay Zeager, 50, does Florida State League games and Marlins spring-training games in Jupiter. Guillermo Hernandez, 27, announces Miami United soccer games.
“I do Savannah Banana games,’’ said Mark Ediss, 42, who drove from Savannah, Ga., where he indeed does a college summer league team between work as a disc jockey and karaoke host.
Rick Robb announced Fort Lauderdale Yankee games as a teenager. He’s now 65 and semi-retired as a newspaper editor who, once upon a time, actually was my editor.
“What are you doing here?” I said.
“Chasing the dream,’’ he said.
Isn’t that it? Doesn’t that explain the lure of sports and love of the game most of us carry? What made it perfect is as Robb waited for the gate to open Monday night he stood beside another hopeful candidate in Tyler Katz, a 17-year-old student at University School in Davie.
“I’m a senior in school,’’ Katz said.
“I qualify for social security next week,’’ Robb said.
For all the hand-wringing over what’s wrong with sports, this reminds us what’s right about them. Everyone wants in. And everyone gets an equal chance to read the scripts.
Here, for instance, stood Mari Montes, who in 1994 was the first woman to be the public-address announcer for the famed winter league, the Leones of Caracas, Venezuela. Now she’s a broadcaster for Venezuelan TV in Miami.
“My two sons were born in the Marlins championship years, 1997 and 2003, so I’ve always liked the Marlins and thought I should do this,’’ she said.
Major League Baseball has one woman as a publicaddress announcer, Renel Brooks-Moon, of the San Francisco Giants. Could it have another?
Anything is possible in sports, right? Everything is scripted for this night, too. The ideal candidate, Mendez says, is someone with a “unique voice – one that stands out from the crowd.” He said there will be callbacks for finalists in March before The Voice is picked before Opening Day.
No doubt there are some of you reading this who feel you missed a chance to get on the inside of games. But never fear. The Marlins will hold tryouts next Monday for another opening at their 81 home games:
Can you sing the national anthem?
pretty
Hey, that sounds neat. I’ll give it a go.