Talking baseball with Hank Greenwald
The best broadcaster you won't hear on the air talks about umpire arrogance, the home-run chase and "the Viagra of baseball."
Topics: Baseball, Entertainment News
The San Francisco Giants closed out 40 years of baseball history in windy Candlestick Park last week with a moving family reunion. Some 59 former Giants — from stars like Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda to players who had the proverbial cup of coffee on the Giants roster — streamed out of the dugout, and the scene became a real-life Field of Dreams, as older players in yellowing uniforms, hobbled by age, mixed with admiring current Giants in their bright white jerseys and all their youth and health.
There was only one bitter omission: As the Giants honored past owners, managers, broadcasters and staff, the team left out Hank Greenwald, the legendary and beloved broadcaster who was the voice of the team from 1979 through 1996, except for a two-year stint with the New York Yankees in the late 1980s. After an unhappy contract negotiation, Greenwald retired three years ago, prematurely, and with some bitterness at his treatment by Giants Vice President Larry Baer.
Earlier this year he vented his spleen — tastefully — in a sweet memoir, “This Copyrighted Broadcast.” The book is a love letter to the Giants, singling out president Peter Magowan and manager Dusty Baker for special praise. But because he devoted a handful of pages to his complaints about Baer — and a couple of paragraphs to disparaging superstar player Barry Bonds — the Giants have frozen him out of the organization. He used to occasionally fill in behind the mike as needed, broadcasting weekend home games with his former buddies, but now the team leaves some broadcasts understaffed. When it was time to hold a book party, it was hosted by the Oakland A’s, not the Giants.
Greenwald attended the Giants’ final Candlestick game last week, making his way down to a seat behind the dugout, thronged by fans. His classy successor in the broadcast booth, ESPN star Jon Miller, did the right thing and asked him up to call the game’s fourth inning on the radio. But he was never recognized out on the field that day.
Greenwald isn’t bitter, he says. He’s enjoying his retirement, and more time with his family. But when I talked to him before the end of the season it was clear he’s still an avid fan, catching every Giants game and well-versed on the team’s late-season stumble.
You’ve been a pretty vocal critic of the current umpiring situation. What was your reaction to the umpires’ ultimatum — threatening to quit, and then having their resignations selectively accepted?
Well, it’s not anything that I couldn’t see coming. What they are essentially is a group that is willing to be paid by Major League Baseball but doesn’t want to be ruled by them. And somehow society doesn’t work that way. And I think it’s time that they learned that they are not an entity unto themselves, and that there has to be some conformity with some sort of order. And right now I think they just feel that they can do whatever they want and don’t have to be governed by the rule book, by the definition of the strike zone, by any kind of code of behavior — that it’s OK for players to be suspended for their behavior, but you can’t do that to an umpire. And they’ve got a lot coming to them and I don’t feel at all sorry.
Has it gotten worse in the last couple of years, or is it just that I’ve gotten more impatient?
No, I think it’s gotten worse over the last several years, because they feel that they’re untouchable, that nothing can happen to them, so their arrogance on the field knows no bounds. And I’m maybe the first person who’s called into question the integrity issue. I mean, they always, “Well, you can question our judgment, but you can’t question our integrity.” Well, hell.
Yes, we can.
Yes, we can! And we are.
I was at a Giants game recently where they threw out Mark McGwire in the third inning. I’m not saying any player should be God, but it was a questionable strike call; he questioned it, and within five or six seconds he was gone. And the stadium was packed to see McGwire. What’s the resolution in your mind?
Well, I think the resolution is that you set up a code of conduct that they have to adhere to, and that they have to realize that when they get out of bounds in their behavior they’re going to be treated like ballplayers — be suspended. And they can be fired for their actions. There has to be a showdown, as painful as it may be. It has to be seen through to its conclusion. Because there’s a lot at stake here. I mean, this is a game where you can ban Pete Rose because you question his integrity, but you let the umpires work who will do things that will influence the outcome of the game because of a certain spite they may be carrying inside of them.
So, you’ve retired from broadcasting. You seem to still follow it very, very closely. They can’t take that out of your blood, I suppose. Are you still following the Giants?
I sure do. I listen or watch the games all the time. You know, I’m a great Dusty Baker fan.
I know. Let’s talk about his greatness just for a minute. I talk about it every chance I get.
[laughs]
What is it about Dusty? How does he accomplish what he does — sportswriters have picked the Giants to finish near the bottom the last three years, and they’ve been on top or close to it every season?
Well, I think that Dusty has not lost the feel for what ballplayers go through, even though he’s been removed from that situation himself for probably 15 years. But he has never forgotten the day-to-day frustrations of a ballplayer. He sits down with them. He cares about their families. He knows what’s bothering a player. And guys feel that he cares about them. And they play hard for him.
What’s the best news for baseball in the last few years? Since you’ve left?
I think the new stadiums that are going up are the best news. Because baseball went through a stage where they all wanted new stadiums, and so many cities got them. And they were awful. The Astroturf. They were circular. They weren’t made for baseball; they were really made for football. Multipurpose stadiums. And they now suddenly realize that the concept of the old ballpark was really what baseball was about, in terms of the fans.
And the downtown ballpark.
Yeah, and having them downtown, I think is a very important thing. And now you’re going to have some — how do I put this? — instant nostalgia. People who saw pictures of the old ballparks now are going to get to go to games and be there in person.
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