Courtesy MLB.com

(July 3, 2009) Eric Nadel has been watching Rangers baseball for more than 30 years, and what he sees he immediately describes in rich and precise detail for people listening across Texas and beyond.

When he sees a Rangers batter hit a baseball beyond the outfield fence, his listeners from the endless highways of West Texas to the endless beauty of an East Texas piney wood know that it's a home run when Nadel says, "That ball is history!"

Nadel saw and described Nolan Ryan's 5,000th strikeout, three division championship teams and the night the Rangers set a Major League record with 30 runs in one game. His words and descriptions have resulted in Nadel winning four Texas Sportscaster of the Year Awards.

With the possible exception of Tom Grieve, Nadel has probably seen more Rangers games than anybody. Now he finds comfort in the words sent to him by a listener.

"In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," Nadel said.

Nadel still has two eyes, but right now is using only one to do the job that he has loved for 30 years. He is still recovering from not one but two surgeries to repair a detached retina in his right eye. The problem has temporarily left him with blurred vision in the eye and he must wear a patch over it during the broadcasts.

It is weary work. Long John Silver jokes only go so far.

"This whole thing has given me great appreciation for people who have serious vision impairment and have to deal with it," Nadel said. "I've always been gifted with good eyesight. I had cataract surgery last year, and that was fine, but I've never had to deal with anything with this."

The problem began a month ago on a Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. Somewhere around the fourth inning, he began seeing black dots. By the next day, the vision in his right eye was blurred. On Thursday morning, having broadcast 3,176 consecutive Rangers games, he was undergoing laser surgery to repair a detached retina.

"I don't like being away from the microphone or the ballpark," Nadel said. "I'm not used to this. A lot of announcers miss games every year as part of their deal. I get five months off [in the offseason]. I don't need to take time off."

Nadel missed six games because of the surgery. He returned on June 10, but his doctors told him that a second surgery was likely to reinforce the reattachment. He was hoping to hold off until the offseason. Then he readjusted to the All-Star break. But weekly checkups suggested he should not wait even that long.

"With each successive visit, the doctors urged me to have surgery sooner than later," Nadel said.

He had the second surgery on Monday and missed two more games. He was back on Wednesday but only through the weekend. The surgery left him with a gas bubble in the right eye to help with the recovery and needs seven to 10 days to dissolve. Until that happens, he can't fly. He is not expected to join the Rangers on their upcoming road trip to Anaheim and Seattle.

"That's going to be really hard," Nadel said. "There is still a possibility I could fly to Seattle and do some or all of the games, depending on when the gas bubble goes away. We won't know until next week. If there is any risk, I won't fly at all."

Nadel and his wife Jeannie -- who love the outdoors -- at one point considered staying in the Seattle area for the All-Star break to do some whitewater rafting. The surgery has zapped that.

"Whitewater rafting is out," said Nadel, who has to sleep on his back and right now can't bend over to put drinks into his mini-refrigerator in the KRLD broadcast booth.

But all of that is nothing compared to doing a nine-inning, three-hour baseball game with an eye patch over his right eye. Nadel is a self-described perfectionist who isn't thrilled about doing Spring Training games because of massive and haphazard late-inning substitutions.

But a one-eyed game?

"Much tougher," Nadel said. "I have to concentrate much harder. It's tough to judge the ball coming off the bat. I have to wait longer than I like to wait to describe the trajectory of the ball when the ball is in the air. Other than that, I'm just really tired at the end of a game.

"Normally I'm not tired, but at the end of a one-eyed broadcast, I'm very tired."

Just a quick glance around the booth suggests the importance of good eyesight beyond seeing what's going on out on the field. He has a computer laptop to his left, a detailed and precisely-kept scorebook in front of him and a television monitor to his right. Daily statistical sheets are taped to walls and windows for quick reference. There is also a collection of bobblehead dolls.

"I don't worry about seeing the bobblehead dolls," Nadel said. "The right eye is still really blurry, so I have to wear an eye patch when I really need to see. Once the gas bubble goes away, eventually I'll be able to see close to the 20-20 vision I had before this whole episode began."

Dave Barnett, in his first year on the Rangers radio broadcasts, steps up as the No. 1 guy when Nadel is gone. Scott Garner, the voice of Double-A Frisco, filled in earlier this week and Steve Busby will work with Barnett next week on the road.

"They are unfilled shoes," Barnett said about trying to replace Nadel. "We're just trying to do the impossible as well as we can."

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