Orel Hershiser was a guest on Dodgers’ pitcher Ross Stripling’s Big Swing Podcast this past week talking about what fans could expect not only from the Dodgers in their pandemic-shortened season, but also from he and Joe Davis in the broadcast booth.
“We’re going to do every game from the broadcast booth at Dodger Stadium. Even when the team’s on the road, we will be doing it by monitors. We’ll probably have the same four, five people in the booth, so we’ll all be tested and we’ll always be like a family that has already been tested. We’re fine,” Hershiser said.
This news comes ahead of the Dodgers’ Opening Day matchup with the San Francisco Giants on July 23 at Dodger Stadium, before the team heads out on the road to renew its rivalry with the Houston Astros in a much-anticipated rematch of the 2017 World Series, where many feel that the Dodgers were cheated out of a World Series ring.
“We’ve got to trust each other when we go home to stay safe and not bring it to the booth,” Hershiser said.
Safety is clearly on the mind of Hershiser and the organization. At 61 years old, Hershiser is on the fringe of the age where he’d be at risk if there were an outbreak anywhere around the team.
The task isn’t going to be quite as easy as one might think though:
“We’re not going to know what’s popping up on the screen. We’re going to be trusting the director of the opposing team on the road games,” Hershiser said.
If you have ever tried calling a Dodger game at home, you understand how fun it could be, but how challenging that might become without aids such as public address announcers to announce substitutions, or pinch hitters suddenly getting called to bat without any notes ready to go. These guys will be winging it.
One has to think that the crew gave the final OK for this. Without their stamp of approval, this might be one step of the game that could sorely be lacking.
This story was originally published on July 8, 2020 at Dodgers-LowDown.
