The recent passing of Phil Rizzuto was a reminder that only a handful of the all-time great baseball announcers are still with us. Authors like Curt Smith have tried to keep the flame alive by writing colorful accounts of the broadcast booth's legendary characters. Now, Chicago Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes is going one step further.
With a nod to his Northern California roots where he grew up listening to Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons doing the San Francisco Giants and Vin Scully calling the Los Angeles Dodgers, or his travels to his parents' Missouri hometowns where he heard Jack Buck and Harry Caray with the St. Louis Cardinals, Hughes developed a deep appreciation of the profession he would ultimately become a part of. He spent 12 years as voice of the Milwaukee Brewers before joining Ron Santo in the Cubs' radio booth in 1996.
Hughes has translated his passion into a business called Baseball Voices. He is the producer, writer and narrator of a series of CDs that pay homage to some of the sport's Hall of Fame broadcasters.
Now available are the first three CDs, which are devoted to Buck, Caray and the Cincinnati Reds' Marty Brennaman. Appearing recently on a Cubs telecast, Hughes said he's currently working on tributes to Harry Kalas of the Philadelphia Phillies and former Brewers colleague Bob Uecker, and has plans for CDs honoring arguably the best ever in Scully, Mel Allen and Red Barber.
With the rare exception, they just don't make play-by-play guys like they used to. Thanks to Hughes and his Baseball Voices series, we now have more than just memories of the game's greats.
And being here in Chicago I get to listen to Hughes all the time. He is a fabulous play by play man--great wit, great voice and never, ever gets in the way of the game.
Posted by: The Zoner | August 29, 2007 at 01:23 PM
Agreed, Zoner, and he's the perfect complement for Santo, the emotional homer.
Posted by: Howard Burns | August 29, 2007 at 02:46 PM