Hello, (new) friends

We'll both be part of the Gades' family in 2021
(2008 in Aberdeen, MD)

We're just four days away from the opening of the 2021 Minor League Baseball season.

Eleven days away from opening up at Dutchess Stadium.

My stomach churns with questions unanswered.

I greet each nugget of information with unfettered excitement as if a new portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been unearthed.

The umpire assignments were emailed to me today and couldn't print them out fast enough.

Yet, I realize that some readers might be new to these parts, so I thought a slight reintroduction might be necessary.

I'm your new/old broadcaster, Renegades fans. I've been around on and off for 20 years. It's a long story. It's also a good story but it's for another time (give this post a read).

I'll be up there...somewhere...

I'm one of you, Hudson Valley. This is my home. It's always been that way. I know the nooks and crannies from each of the counties.

Fishkill and Wappingers Falls will be where I hang out a lot between now and late September and yet, in truth, I've been hanging out there my whole life. I spent too many hours with family in Fishkill and Wappingers and Beacon.

I knew the Dutchess Mall when it was a mall! 

My son (look for someone who is a lot like me at Dutchess Stadium this season) went to John Jay. He's one of you also.

But I'm going to give you the best broadcast I know how to do. That's why I'm here.

What will that entail? It will be honest, first and foremost. Honest and accurate. I'm a reporter. I report, inform, educate, enlighten, and entertain.

I like to have fun, so long as it's not in the way of the game.

I'm not the star. The game is. The players are. The coaches. The trainers. The fans. 

I'm literally a conduit but I'm the one doing the most talking, so it's easy to get confused.

I'll tell stories. Sometimes they won't even seem like they have anything to do with the game, but it's about the flow for me. Hopefully, you'll just go with it.

There's nothing contrived in my broadcast. It's all meat and no filler.

I don't have a list of witty one-liners.

It's all been done before by countless voices before me. So I'll just be me. 

I just call the game. I don't live off statistics. In fact, I have a quote about them: "Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination." Vin Scully said that and you should know that he's simply the greatest ever. He's in a whole different world.

Road games? Well, that's all part of what makes this time so unique, isn't it?

I hope to get to Brooklyn, where Vinny first started and where Red Barber became iconic. Sitting in the catbird seat there is something special. 

I hope to get a lot of places but patience is still needed. So it's home games on Z93 for now, but trust me, everyone knows how I feel. They know I want to do as many games as I can because you should have coverage of those games.

It's why it's gnawing at me to not drive down to Jersey Shore on Tuesday night. Your broadcaster should call that game but these are the parameters.

But understand I have your interest in mind. I love the whole process. I love the grind of the road. I'm exhausted when the game is over. But I love it.

Oh and I should mention that when you see the game recap online, that's probably going to be my work.

I've been obsessively thinking about this since the summer of 2019 and even more intensely since I was offered the role that October. Like you, I've been waiting for over 600 days.

What I hope is that you'll find that I'm OK with what I do. I care about every broadcast. I care about the listeners. I care about the families that are listening. I try to create a community and invite you into the booth for a conversation via the radio or the internet.

And when I'm bad or have an off night? Trust me, I'll know it long before anyone else. Because I rarely say I've had a good broadcast. My standard is set that high.

I'm hoping you'll understand when my voice gets excited over something the other team does because the very nature of the beast is that exciting plays are just that. But I'll also be excited when the Renegades do something. Because that's how it should be. Scoring plays are great. So are great defensive plays and pitchers duels and...everything.

My hope is also that I can open the booth up and introduce you to some friends who would like to join me from time to time. I have years of working with fantastic analysts who have earned the chance to be on a broadcast. They've called football, basketball, ice hockey, and, yes, baseball with me.

Over 20 years of calling sports in the Hudson Valley, New England, and elsewhere has created some great relationships.

Those friends of mine know my style and we know each other's cadence and we all know how important chemistry is in the booth.

As for us? We'll learn from each other and it won't be that difficult.

Because, Hudson Valley, I'm one of you. I'm born and raised here.

I carry Renegades history with me. I've got the past and present, as we dive into the future.

Me, almost born a New York Yankees fan, will be your tour guide as the Gades switch affiliations to the Bronx Bombers.

If we haven't met yet, we will.

Soon.

This is our time, Hudson Valley.