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short thread (Eric Nadel don’t read this)
When I was a kid, we traveled all summer, every summer. My dad was a pro rodeo cowboy/itinerant preacher and summers were the busy season.
I was a happy kid, but even though I didn’t know anything else, I remember not fully fitting in.
When I was a kid, we traveled all summer, every summer. My dad was a pro rodeo cowboy/itinerant preacher and summers were the busy season.
I was a happy kid, but even though I didn’t know anything else, I remember not fully fitting in.
When I finally discovered baseball, it was like a lifeline to a different world. With WBAP at full signal at night, I could sit in the truck and listen to Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel introduce me to this new and intricate world.
I learned the rules of the game, the characters…
I learned the rules of the game, the characters…
And it all made sense. Baseball has always made perfect sense to me, even when nothing else does.
Credit Holtz and Nadel for a lot of that; they explained it in a way that invited a misfit kid in a rodeo parking lot to come on in and enjoy it, even if the team wasn’t great.
Credit Holtz and Nadel for a lot of that; they explained it in a way that invited a misfit kid in a rodeo parking lot to come on in and enjoy it, even if the team wasn’t great.
When I wasn’t listening to games, I was playing in the contestants’ parking lot. When we got home, I was playing with the neighborhood kids. Baseball game me a framework to ...well, to *play*.
And most home runs got the call: “that ball is history!”
And most home runs got the call: “that ball is history!”
When it was time to go to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I panicked when it was time to write my admissions essay & kinda picked on the spot.
The prompt: if you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?
I picked Nadel, and a communications degree
The prompt: if you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?
I picked Nadel, and a communications degree
A year later, I got to meet Eric at spring training. I don’t know if he remembers this. I was 19 and star-struck. I’m not sure I said ten words in the inning I got to spend in the booth.
[20 yrs later]
You’ve probably heard “never meet your heroes”. It’s prob usually good advice, but in this case I’m glad I ignored it.
Eric is a radio legend, sure, but he’s also a genuinely caring, intellectually curious, open-minded dude and I’m honored to call him a friend.
You’ve probably heard “never meet your heroes”. It’s prob usually good advice, but in this case I’m glad I ignored it.
Eric is a radio legend, sure, but he’s also a genuinely caring, intellectually curious, open-minded dude and I’m honored to call him a friend.
Anyway, here’s the story about how he got the Rangers job, and I guess in a roundabout way it’s a story about how I got my job, because with no Nadel on Rangers games, I’m not sure kid-Levi loves baseball enough to come back to it as an adult. https://theathletic.com/2232709/2020/12/22/eric-nadel-rangers-janitor-nhl/?source=emp_shared_article
