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August 07, 2007

“The Heckler” on a Fan Speaks Out

An Interview With Pat Hughes

Pat Hughes is one of the most respected baseball play by play men in the game, and plays the straight man to his radio partner Ron Santo. In this interview, he relates why he became an announcer, tells us a couple of his favorite Ron Santo and Bob Uecker stories, and gives his opinion on the difference between Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella.

The Heckler: How did you get your start in radio?

Pat Hughes: I was sitting on the bench in college basketball (San Jose State). I wasn’t good enough to play so I entertained my teammates by doing play by play. I wanted to be a pro athlete, but I realized at about the age of eighteen when I was picking splinters out of my behind that I was not good enough to play in the NBA or the NFL or major league baseball, so I thought the next best thing was to become a broadcaster.

TH: I’ve heard you’re still a pretty good basketball player. Is there any truth to the rumor that you schooled Jon Scheyer (starting guard for Duke) in basketball?

PH: No, I didn’t school him. We’ve shot more than once. We play games of horse and its all long shots, from eighteen to twenty-two feet. We have a lot of fun and we laugh, except when we he calls “all net” and makes back to back shots.

TH: You worked for a long time with Bob Uecker. What was it like working with Bob?

PH: I learned an awful lot from him and I think he’s one of the greatest announcers ever. As funny as he is being a professional stand-up comedian, and an actor and a movie star, he’s a rock-solid baseball radio man. He’s also the best during a rain delay that I think I’ve ever heard in my life. He’s a wonderful ab-libber. He exaggerates his stories but you don’t even care.

TH: What’s your favorite Bob Uecker story?

PH: Here’s one that surprises people when I tell it to them. There was this kid who was dying, a Make a Wish child. His last wish was to meet Bob Uecker. He came in and Bob was stunned and started crying and the kid was crying. It was not a typical Bob Uecker moment, and I think it really affected him deeply. That’s the one I always remember. When he was in Hollywood, he would bring back from the prop department a bunch of stink bombs. When they explode they make a horrendous smell. He would wait until the visiting television guys were doing their on camera open, live of course, and he would explode one of these stink bombs behind them. These guys would blame each other, saying, “What did you have for lunch?” “Boy you stink!” It was quite funny.

TH: You and Ron (Santo) have been together for twelve years now. Were you comfortable with each other from the start, or did it take you awhile to mesh together?

PH: I think any entertainment partnership is an evolutionary process. You’ve got to test to see what works with another guy and what the audience seems to like. Ronnie has such an amazing gregarious nature to him, and we’re very different people. I think we know each other pretty well right now and I think the audience likes what we do.

TH: Do you and Ron hang out together much when you’re not working?

PH: Not all the time, but we play golf, and we’ve had many, many dinners together. I have a family and I work full-time, so when I’m home, I spend as much time as I can with my family. Ronnie socializes a lot more than I do. I’m a thinker and a reader and a music listener, and Ronnie’s more of a talker and a storyteller, and likes to be the life of the party.

TH: What’s your favorite Ron Santo story?

PH: It would have to be the hairpiece in New York. He burned his hairpiece in Shea Stadium. I heard him say shoot. There’s another word that sounded like shoot. Smoke is billowing out of the top of his head. He said, “I think I just burned my hair.” I said, you really can’t tell. It doesn’t look bad. Of course I’m lying. It looked like Tiger Woods had taken an eight iron and whacked one off the top of his head. There’s a big divot in the middle of his head. It was hilarious. That’s about the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. But there was another time many years ago when he had both of his legs. We had many beverages, all of us, at the end of a trip getting home. He walked down the steps from the airplane, and somehow, he gets one of his feet tangled up with Ferguson Jenkins shoulder strap on his carry-on bags. Ronnie is being pulled along on one foot; he’s hopping along swearing, inebriated. We are all laughing watching this. He was still such a great athlete that he did not fall over. But just to watch him hopping along yelling, swearing, on one foot, with his foot tangled up in Fergie’s shoulder strap was just hysterical.

TH: Do you think Dusty Baker was unfairly judged by Cubs’ fans?

PH: Yea, but if you don’t win, you go. As a manager or a general manager, that’s the name of the game.

TH: How would you compare Lou Piniella to Dusty Baker?

PH: I don’t know if there’s any great difference in their managerial style. To tell you the truth, I think winning managers get a little too much credit, and losing managers get too much of the blame. When Lou Piniella won 116 games in Seattle and then went to Tampa and lost 97 of 98 games, he was the same guy. He had completely different ballplayers. I’ve always thought the blame and credit were overrated regarding managerial assessments.

TH: Do you have any thoughts why the Cubs have so much trouble winning at Wrigley Field?

PH: No, it’s very disappointing because we have such great fans and you get the home field advantage. In football they always call it the 12^th man, and at Wrigley it should be like a 10^th man. And it’s not just the wins and losses and their record, but it’s the manner in which they’ve lost them, and the heartbreaking agonizing games.

TH: What would your reaction be if you ever get to call a World Series clinching win for the Cubs?

PH: It would be great because nobodies ever heard it before. In 1908 there was no such thing as radio or television. And even in 1945 when they last won the pennant, there was no audio tape to my knowledge of anybody saying the Cubs win the pennant. If there is, I’ve never heard it and I’m kind of a broadcast historian. So it would be the first time and it would be exciting, so I just hope I get it right.

TH: Since you mentioned it, I know you have different audios of some of the greatest announcers in the history of baseball.

PH: Yes, www.baseballvoices.com. I’ve always been entertained and informed by baseball announcers, and nobody had ever put a comprehensive set of audio tapes together, so I’m going to keep on doing it for awhile and ride the little wave. I have Harry Caray, Jack Buck, and Marty Brenneman right now and some more on the way.

SportzNutz Columnist Darrell Horwitz isn’t shy when it comes to “A Fan Speaking Out”… he holds nothing back and tells it like it is, from a fan’s perspective.  A Chicago native, Darrell is a lifelong Cubs and Bulls fan. Along with his “A Fan Speaks Out” column, Darrell is the fan writer for the Chicago Cubs, here on SportzNutz.  If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email Darrell at darrell.horwitz@nutzworld.net