Kenny Albert (Transcript)

Robby Incmikoski: Kenny, you're a guy that does every sport known to man and then some. What makes the game of baseball special in your experience as a broadcaster?

Kenny Albert: One of the things I love about baseball is going to the different ballparks. They're all different, and I had the great honor and pleasure of working in a lot of the older ones that are no longer with us.

When I think back to all the years I've been involved in baseball, just being able to do games at Fenway Park and Wrigley Field and two different Yankee Stadiums, and so many other old-time ballparks - it's special. Funny enough, I often judge ballparks by the location of the broadcast booth, which probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind for most people. Fans certainly have other criteria, but I think back to the old Tiger Stadium where the broadcast booth felt like you were right over home plate. There are others that are pretty high up and not nearly as good for broadcasters.

Just being outside for the most part - obviously some teams play indoors - but being outside in the summer, the smell of the hot dogs, the cracker jacks, and the peanuts, there's just something so special about baseball. The fact that some games are timeless - obviously now with the pitch clock games are a lot quicker, but I once worked a 20-inning game in St. Louis which went close to seven hours. It might be one of my claims to fame: I never left the broadcast booth to go to the men's room during that game. I went 20 innings without going to the bathroom.

Just being able to experience so many different great ballparks and cities around North America has really been one of the fun parts of working in broadcasting.

Robby Incmikoski: That game in St. Louis - what iteration of Busch was that?

Kenny Albert: It was the current one. I actually worked the last game at the old Busch, believe it or not. I was the sideline reporter for the Cardinals-Astros playoff series in 2005. Pujols hit the home run the game before in Houston to keep the series alive. I was the sideline reporter and did postgame interviews. In fact, I interviewed the losing manager, Tony LaRussa, after that game. So that was the last game at the old Busch Stadium.

The 20-inning game in 2010 was at the new Busch. I had Tim McCarver to my right and Eric Morris doing stats to my left.

Speaking of being at the last game at stadiums, I was also at the last game at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, and the first game at Camden Yards. Memorial Stadium was in the middle of a neighborhood near Johns Hopkins University, north of downtown in Baltimore. I was 23 years old at the time when I moved there, but I quickly got the sense that the fans that would go to Orioles games back then were like family to each other. They would all sit in the same section, and I remember people crying at that last game because of all the memories they had.

Meanwhile, Camden Yards was beautiful right from the start. As soon as it opened, people quickly learned to love that ballpark. But Memorial Stadium - wherever you went, if you sat in the stands, you could sense that it was family and it meant so much to the people in that city.

Robby Incmikoski: Kenny, how quick did you pee after the 20th inning?

Kenny Albert: Probably after the game ended. In other sports - in football you have halftime, in hockey you have intermissions, basketball has halftime - so for the announcers, it's somewhat mental. You kind of know when you can go. In baseball, there's only two minutes between innings, sometimes less, sometimes 90 seconds. So if you're the play-by-play announcer, you can't really leave for more than a minute and a half.

In St. Louis, the men's room happened to be close to the booth. I could have gone if I needed to - it wasn't far, just a quick trip. But you never expect a game to go that long. In the 10th inning, you think, "Alright, it's gonna end soon," then 11th, 12th - you never think it's gonna go 20. So a lot of it was psychological. I think Tim McCarver only went once or twice.

It was a three o'clock game and ended around nine, so it's not like it went into the early morning hours. It sort of ended at a normal time because it was an afternoon game, but I think it was six hours and 53 minutes without a bathroom break.

Robby Incmikoski: This is incredible. I never thought I'd be asking somebody when they peed for my book, and I'm really glad...

Kenny Albert: And when I send you my book, that story is prominent. There are a number of baseball-related stories.

Another one along the lines of what you're looking for - when I was about eight years old, my parents took me to Yankee Stadium for the first time. I'll never forget it. It was the previous Yankee Stadium, the one that opened in '76. So that year I was eight, and I was a Yankee fan at the time. They were about to go to three consecutive World Series.

I went with my parents, and they didn't tell me where we were going. I think it was a Saturday night, and I was in the backseat of the car, just the three of us. I remember it like it was yesterday. I didn't really recognize where we were driving, but we wound up on the Cross Bronx Expressway which leads to Yankee Stadium. I started seeing signs that said "Yankee Stadium" on them. I was eight years old and kind of figured it out. It was just so exciting.

I'll never forget walking in for the first time. At the old Yankee Stadium, you had those vestibules where you'd walk by the concession stands, and then walk through and then all of a sudden you'd see the field, you'd see the entire stadium. That was a magical moment for an eight-year-old, seeing Yankee Stadium for the first time.

Robby Incmikoski: That's a great story. I want to transition a little bit to current ballparks. I've been to all 30 of them. I would assume you have been too, right? Have you been to Rangers Globe Life Field?

Kenny Albert: I've been to Rangers Globe Life. I worked the World Baseball Classic at Marlins Park - that was the first time I was there two years ago. I have not worked a game in the new Atlanta Braves stadium, but Eddie Olczyk and I were in Atlanta for a Turner function early in April this season, so we actually went to a game and visited the press box. I think there are no new ones in the last couple of years, so I'm pretty sure I've been to all of them.

Robby Incmikoski: What makes a good broadcast booth specifically in baseball? What makes a good baseball broadcast booth to you?

Kenny Albert: The biggest thing to me is how close it is. In other sports, like hockey, you don't want to be too close to the ice. Even in football, you don't want to be too close - you want to have a little depth, similar to baseball. A lot of booths that are in the press box area are pretty good.

I don't want to trash any stadiums, but there are a couple where the booth is really high up. We don't have to name them.

Robby Incmikoski: We already know it's Washington and Pittsburgh.

Kenny Albert: Texas is pretty high too, actually - the new Texas stadium. But as long as you have a pretty good view of the field, the comfort is obviously important. If you have enough space between you and your partners, but for the most part in baseball, especially in the new ballparks, they're all very good as far as location.

Some of the old football stadiums were really high. Hockey booths can be really high in a lot of buildings. Sometimes for national TV they have a lower location, but you get used to it - it is what it is. In baseball, for the most part, they're all very good locations.

Robby Incmikoski: Do you have a favorite Major League Baseball broadcast booth? If there are a couple that stand out, can you tell me what they are and why?

Kenny Albert: As far as favorite stadiums, I always get excited about going to certain ones. Whenever I get an assignment in Baltimore - as you know, I kind of grew up working in Baltimore, my first five years as a professional. So I was there when Camden Yards was built and worked some games there in the early years both as play-by-play and sideline reporter.

I have great memories of Camden Yards, went to a lot of games there the first few years. It still feels like a new ballpark even though it's over 30 years old. When you walk in there, I always love Camden Yards. The broadcast booth is in a great location.

Among some of the newer ones, San Francisco is a place I always enjoy going to - great broadcast booth. The Fenways, the Wrigleys - there's nothing like doing a game at those places, just looking out from the booth to the Green Monster or to the ivy at Wrigley. I haven't been to either one in a couple years now, but those are always very, very special. I love those places.

My home ballparks - I've always enjoyed both Yankee Stadiums. Shea Stadium held a special place. As I also wrote about in my book, if not for Shea Stadium, I wouldn't be here. My parents met at Shea Stadium when they were both working there, believe it or not. My father was about 23 at the time. He was doing the pre- and post-game show on the radio, and my mother was 19, and she was an usherette. They had female hostesses to help people find their seats. My mother took a job as an usherette at Shea Stadium, and that's where they met. He interviewed her on the air in May of 1964 at Shea. So that's a true story. Shea Stadium is really my favorite ballpark ever because I wouldn't be here if not for Shea.

I like Citi Field. I think they did a great job with it - a lot of similar features to Ebbets Field, where I never had the opportunity to go as it was before I was born. But in pictures, the front area where you first walk in - the Wilpons were big Brooklyn Dodger fans, so they brought over a lot of the characteristics from Ebbets Field. There's a coziness to Citi Field. It's not as big as some of the other ballparks.

Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park - I've worked a lot of games there. That's a beautiful ballpark. I'm leaving out some, but when I think about Baltimore, San Francisco, and Philly among the new ones, I put those high on the list.

Robby Incmikoski: In your opinion, why has Baltimore's Camden Yards stood the test of time? Despite being over 30 years old, why is that ballpark still a gem?

Kenny Albert: It's probably hard to pinpoint one aspect. I think the look with the warehouse out in right-center distinguishes it from really any other ballpark. Just the upkeep, I guess. The Orioles back in the '90s - you couldn't get a ticket there. They sold out every game. They went through a rough patch in the early 2000s, and now they're back as one of the top teams. But it's just a magical place. In my opinion, every time you walk into Camden Yards, it feels special.

Robby Incmikoski: Is anything different working with baseball analysts as opposed to analysts from the other three sports? Are there any differences that fans may not realize? Is there a common thread between their personalities, their demeanor? Baseball's such an everyday sport where you don't get as high and low when a team loses, whereas football - you're riding high for six days. Hockey you get a day or two of adrenaline. In baseball, you have a walk-off homer, they celebrate for five minutes, and then it's shower and go home.

Kenny Albert: I think the biggest thing is there's a lot more storytelling because there's more time - not necessarily as much now with the pitch clock over the last few years.

In hockey and basketball, the ball or puck is in action for the full 48 or 60 minutes. So as the play-by-play announcer, you're describing the play for that entire time. Yes, there are whistles and stoppages, but especially on the radio (TV is a little different), you can leave more room for your color analyst to come in those sports. But the action's ongoing for 48 or 60 minutes.

Football is one play, then 25 seconds where the analyst is usually describing what happened on that last play and talking about the replays.

But in baseball, there's so much time - again, not as much now, but there's still a lot of time between batters. The average in a baseball game - I've been told there have been studies - the ball's in play for 8 to 12 minutes. From the time it leaves the pitcher's hand into the catcher's mitt, or if it's hit and being thrown around in the field - 8 to 12 minutes total, for the most part, the ball's in action. So there's a lot of time to fill.

With the pitch clock it's a little different, but I think that's probably the biggest thing. There's more time for storytelling. The analysts are so great at looking ahead to the next pitch and what's going through the lineup.

I remember back in the day working with Jeff Torborg, for example. We did a lot of games together, and Kevin Kennedy and Steve Lyons and the great Tim McCarver. The stories they would weave in about their careers, about games - there's a lot more time for that in baseball than the other sports.

Robby Incmikoski: In TV, one of the biggest things is escaping - getting out of there as quick as you can after the game. I don't know how much it applies in baseball, but I think it does to an extent. Do you have a crazy escape story? Does one stand out?

Kenny Albert: You're right, in baseball it's a little different. In football, the game's gonna end in three hours. So with a one o'clock game, if you have a six o'clock flight, you're pretty safe. In baseball, the game could go two hours and 15 minutes or can go four hours - you never know.

I remember in Denver once, a game went a little long, and the airport is a bit of a distance - about a half hour from downtown. I remember having to run through the airport in Denver in the altitude to catch my flight, and I was so out of breath when I got on that plane because of the combination of running through the airport and obviously the altitude. That's one that comes to mind. That was almost as close as I've ever come to missing a flight after a game.

There were probably other games where it might have been a four o'clock start on a Saturday, so we didn't even try to make a flight out. We would stay over until the next day - just common sense. But the Denver one, trying to catch my breath for the first 15 or 20 minutes of that flight, that would put that towards the top of the list as far as an escape heading to the airport type story.

Robby Incmikoski: You and I are in a lot of people's dream jobs with regard to baseball. This book is geared toward the avid to die-hard baseball fan. There are a lot of fans out there that want to see all 30 ballparks. We get paid to do it - I got paid for 16 seasons to travel to ballparks and talk baseball. How would you describe the experience of seeing all 30 ballparks? We're trying to give people a tour of every stadium through pictures and stories. What makes ballparks special to you?

Kenny Albert: It's been so much fun to travel around the country, really in all the sports. I've seen most of the stadiums in all leagues. I think I'm missing only two or three between the four major sports - haven't been to Oklahoma City or Portland for NBA games. I've been to both states for other events, but I haven't been to the NBA arenas in those cities. That might be it - I'm not sure if there are any others I'm missing. I made it to SoFi Stadium and some of the other recent, newer stadiums.

With regard to baseball, it's been a lot of fun. I would guess I've been to between 50 and 60 Major League ballparks when you count all of the previous stadiums in the various cities. Again, I'm a traditionalist, so I always love the older stadiums - the Fenways, the Wrigleys. I worked games back in the day at the Vet in Philly and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, the old Shea, Candlestick Park, right on down the line, the Astrodome, the Kingdome in Seattle. Really any stadium that was in use from the mid-90s on, even if they're no longer around, there's a pretty good chance I worked a game there at least one time - Cincinnati, Cleveland, the old stadiums.

Just having the opportunity to visit them all - they're all unique, they're all different, whether it's the dimensions of the field or the ivy in Chicago, the Green Monster in Fenway, different configurations, Tal's Hill in Houston. There are just unique characteristics in all the ballparks.

The food is different too. I've had the opportunity to have Dodger Dogs, and Fenway Franks, and the garlic french fries in San Francisco, and Shake Shack at Citi Field. Getting a chance to experience the various cuisines is always fun.

We talked earlier about the different broadcast locations, some not so good from a working standpoint. Even the clubhouses - Robby, you've been through it all - just seeing clubhouses, some of the older ballparks, the visiting clubhouse at Fenway for example is pretty small and tight, not easy to get around. In some of the newer ballparks, they're spacious - they're like six-bedroom apartments. The players can live in these clubhouses.

For all those reasons, it's just been a lot of fun. And the people you meet, whether it's the security guard who's been at Camden Yards up in the press box for 30 years - you see the same people over and over: the clubhouse attendants, the trainers, the team staff. You go to a certain ballpark and you're going to see some familiar faces, even if you haven't been there in five or six years.

Robby Incmikoski: That's true. I don't have much else. I feel like this is going to be a nice little intro. I feel like I'm gonna put you at the beginning of this book, Kenny.

Kenny Albert: Must be alphabetical order.

Robby Incmikoski: That too! It's gonna be great. We got some cool stories in here. I interviewed Mike Bacsik - does that name ring a bell?

Kenny Albert: Yeah, he gave up Barry Bonds' record home run, right?

Robby Incmikoski: He did, and we interviewed him. He told the story of what it was like - they paused the game and went into the dugout. He told us about waiting and getting a taxi after the game and all that. We got some good stories going in this book. It's gonna be really cool.

Kenny Albert: Just thinking about that - 2003 ALDS, Game 7, the Aaron Boone home run, Yankees-Red Sox. I was doing the clubhouse interviews. I had to wait down in the clubhouse in the middle behind home plate to see which team was gonna win. I had to go either left or right. Boone hits the home run - I'm listening to Joe and Tim in a little earpiece and it's on delay. I'm watching with these New York City policemen on the monitors, probably a two-second delay. So I hear the home run, and now I have to run down towards the Yankee clubhouse to go in to do the interviews. I almost got run over by all the folks that were coming out to celebrate.

Just moments like that, that aren't necessarily part of the broadcast or that fans wouldn't be privy to - I can still kind of smell and have the sense of what the smells are. Just great memories.

Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, we're giving people a tour around baseball. It's been really good so far. Kyle, you got anything for Kenny?

Kyle Fager: Kenny's getting pretty good at anticipating my questions. We're all set. That was great.

Robby Incmikoski: I don't want to keep you. I appreciate you, Kenny. Thanks for doing this.

Kenny Albert: No problem. That was great.

Robby Incmikoski: We're good.

Kenny Albert: Good luck.

Robby Incmikoski: It should be good, man.

Kenny Albert: Good luck with everything, Kyle.