Gades are Gonna Gade!

 

There will be new leadership at "The Dutch."

Steve Gliner is moving on but let's do this more professionally by quoting the release from the team:

The Hudson Valley Renegades, the High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, have announced changes in their senior leadership effective immediately. Steve Gliner, the Renegades President and General Manager, will be leaving his current role to become a consultant to the Renegades ownership group, Diamond Baseball Holdings. Renegades current Vice President and Assistant General Manager Tyson Jeffers has been elevated to General Manager, and Director of Corporate Partnerships Zach Betkowski becomes the Renegades new Assistant General Manager.

I met Steve back in my first run as a broadcaster for the team in 2001. I had the pleasure of working for him as Gades play-by-play broadcaster in late 2019 before shifting over to be a public address announcer in 2022. He's a quality man and a friend.

He's also a minor league lifer and I know many are thrilled for him. His personal statements on social media indicated his excitement to shift away from the day-to-day of running the team.

Now, what does this all mean? Well, it will sort itself out as it always does.

From my own perspective, I also know Tyson and Zach and think the team will be in great hands moving forward.

What's it mean for me? Who knows? If 2021 and 2022 taught me anything it was that I expect nothing. In all likelihood, that's exactly what this change will mean: nothing. If the team liked having me around this season then I might be back for more public address stuff. If not, well, then no.

After getting over the shock of the offer to be the co-PA announcer, I decided to jump in since I love baseball, I love the Renegades, and my son works there. I have friends there. I have family there. It was multiple wins for me.

My car probably wasn't thrilled and I was often exhausted. That was the downside. Even when I was willing to dip into my pocket to get a hotel room the prices were so exorbitant that I just elected to drive back to Greenwich.

But the hope was I'd laugh and embrace a different side of my skill set every time I was there.

I did both with Fish, David (R&D), Feldman, Davey, Mikey Beats, Zach, and anyone else crazy enough to join us in that PA booth.

Plus Zolz -- the true one and only Rick Zolzer -- endorsed my being a part of this plan. It doesn't happen without him. We blended well as the co-PA announcers. Zolz did the on-field stuff and most of the comedy. I tried to bring my inner snark out occasionally but remain the professional in-stadium "voice."

I know I was probably a little too stale at times. Yes, I do vanilla well, so I've been told. But I tried to be excited where appropriate.

Look, I was raised on Bob Sheppard, forever the "voice" of Yankee Stadium. But I knew I couldn't just be like him. Instead, I honored him by using some of his tricks, especially for a player's first appearance.

Following Vin Scully's death last month, I also began my reads before the ballgame by wishing everyone "a very pleasant good evening/afternoon." Vin himself would probably groan at me but I plan on continuing to do something like that. It was actually important to me.

I know great PA announcers. Eric Scholl immediately comes to mind. I'm not a great PA announcer.

OK, so let's deal with the elephant in the room holding a headset. How much did I wish I was a few doors down in the broadcast booth?

Come on, you know the answer. 

But, in truth, I didn't let it dominate me. I just went and did my job every night. This job wasn't about play-by-play. It was about game operations. Any feedback was positive and anything that needed adjusting got adjusted.

Standard operating procedure, to be honest.

I saw the positives in the whole situation.

I had fun. I laughed. I made people laugh a few times. You'll rarely know such power than to have thousands of people reacting to what you say. That happened whether introducing Jasson Dominguez or telling the crowd to cheer for a mascot race.

The crowd reaction is a pretty strong drug, friends.

But don't think that inner play-by-play voice wasn't talking in my brain.

I wish Steve Gliner well as the Renegades move into a new era, including improving Dutchess Stadium, which Steve will be involved in.

I wish Tyson and Zach well as they steer the organization into 2023.

There's still, of course, the little matter of the conclusion of the 2022 season, as the Gades are in Wilmington tonight and pushing for a playoff spot. If they clinch one, I'll be back at the stadium next week for one game. 

Then, officially, my 2022 baseball season will be over.

As I've learned over the years, who knows what will happen after that?

That's baseball for ya!