Dan Shulman is featured here in the Sunday Notes on June 21, the article covers the features he shares with his son Ben, who calls Toronto Blue Jays games on the radio. Today we will hear from the voice of the TV show “Team Canada” in non-family matters, especially how the wealth of the club influences the tone in the booth. The elder Shulman has been behind the microphone through good times and bad, but does the number of wins and losses — whether over multiple weeks or long periods of time — really matter in terms of the broadcaster’s style?
Shulman addressed that issue, and more, in a recent visit to Fenway Park.
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David Laurila: How well a team does affects the mood of the fans. How much does it – or should it – influence the design of games?
Dan Shulman: “I think that each broadcaster has their own internal balance. Some are very fluctuating. Some are neutral or determined. My job is to keep people interested in watching the team, whether it is playing well or not, but you cannot have the same voice completely when the team has a bad year, than when it has a good year. In 2020 it finished in the Blue Series, it ended in the Blue Series. The tone is very different.
“You always try to find the best. In 2024, after the deadline, they trade a bunch of guys and they have young players who come in who are very good and interesting. You focus on that a little bit. But again, the overall tone is different. You can’t wear everything. You have to be very honest with the audience. At the same time, you can’t say ‘these players are good’ and you won’t continue here. That’s not how the job is done.”
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Laurila: Basically, it’s worth criticizing, but only the point…
Shulman: “Also, everybody finds their own comfort level. Not once, not in sports or any network. There’s a difference between, ‘That was poorly read there,’ or ‘He got thrown in the wrong place,’ versus, ‘This guy doesn’t deserve to be on the big team.’ Those are two completely different things. So, you try to keep it on the micro bit by bit. He analyzes the game. That said, I am a play announcer. An analyst will do a lot of that, and my job is to say what happened.
“You can say things like, ‘The Blue Jays need more right-handed power off the bench,’ or ‘They need guys to help them out a little bit.’ He’s saying something there other than, ‘This guy shouldn’t be on the team and that guy shouldn’t be on the team.’ There are different ways of saying the same thing.”
Laurila: He did a lot of national work, not just baseball. Does that influence how you call Blue Jays games?
Shulman: “No. They’re very different. If I come in and do a Pirates-Cubs game for ESPN, it’s a 50-50 broadcast. Same with college basketball. If I do a Kentucky-Kansas broadcast, it’s a 50-50 broadcast. I might not see those players again for weeks, if not months, while I’ll see the Blue Jays even though we’re broadcasting the local national team the next day. I’m talking about the team – about three-quarters of our commentary is about with the Blue Jays That’s the way it works almost all people who are fans of the Blue Jays are fans of baseball, or fans of another team, so I have to give my audience a very different ESPN baseball game.
Laurila: How do you deal with first and last names when calling games for your local market? For example, some broadcasters tend to say things like, “José’s on deck,” or “Julio’s really into it.”
Shulman: “I probably jump back and forth. I might say, ‘Ernie Clement is coming. He’s hitting .295 on the season and he’s 1-for-2 today,’ and then I might call him Clement or I might call him Ernie. Sometimes it depends a little on the first name. If a guy’s name is John or Bob or Billt or Dave—you think the name is too small. Vladdy is the name that stands out, so I use it sometimes, but it’s not just the first name.
Laurila: Speaking of Ernie Clement, why has he become such a fan favorite?
Shulman: “Because he’s a great player. The fans take that. We don’t just talk about a good double play that hasn’t changed, we try to bring the background of these players to make them attractive to the audience. If the players tell me a good story, maybe it affects people, or someone tells me a story about them, I want to get that in the air. The fans can also see him in their Ermili. he loves to play baseball, and how much his teammates love him.
Laurila: Broadcasters certainly influence the opinions of fans…
Shulman: “Yeah, although I’m not trying to make them see it. I’m trying to say things on the air that are interesting to the fans, and how they run with them is their business. I’m not trying to say… I mean, Ernie’s a great guy. Do I want them to know that? Sure. But I don’t spend a lot of energy on that kind of thing. What’s the most important thing I’m thinking about in this moment? What’s the only thing I’m trying to think about in this moment? There are times when what’s important is what happens on the field. If it’s less than the eighth inning in a run game, and a big hitter at the plate, I’m not going to tell you a funny story about Davis Schneider. But baseball allows for those moments when you make those stories. I’m a big fan of that now.”
