Courtesy Charleston Post and Courier

(May 10, 2010) Danny Reed is only 24 but already is considered one of the best young broadcasters in minor league baseball. A native of Cumberland, Md., and a graduate of Waynesburg (Pa.) University, where he played fullback on the football team, Reed hopes to follow in the footsteps of RiverDogs radio booth alumni, including Houston Astros play-by-play and color announcer Dave Raymond. He took a break this week between games on a road trip to Lakewood, N.J., to chat with The Post and Courier's Gene Sapakoff.

Danny Reed, the Charleston RiverDogs play-by-play radio announcer.
Between pitches, describe the life of a minor league baseball broadcaster.

"At home it's a little bit different because it can get pretty hectic. Depending on what's going on at the park that night, you could be doing anything from prepping statistics to setting up player and coach interviews to working with larger media outlets. For instance, last year when we had (switch-pitcher) Pat Venditte on the team, we had ESPN here and the CBS Evening News. On the road, it's definitely a little bit nicer. You can kind of cool the engines and relax a little bit. But it's all about trying to find a balancing act. You have to find enough time to do your work but also enough time to recover, because when you go back home, you're kind of going a million miles per hour."

Your favorite part of the gig?

"I don't have to pay to watch sports. I get to sit solo and talk about a sport that I love for 140 nights a year from April to September. It's my time to completely zone in on what I love and find ways to not only help myself career-wise but also give people a mental picture of what's going on."

So what do you have for breakfast on an average morning in Lakewood, N.J.?

"I went down to the continental breakfast bar here at the Quality Inn. I think I had a bowl of Raisin Bran, a bagel with some cream cheese and some orange juice."

Yummy. OK, back to the booth. For all those things you said about how cool the job is, I have observed that professional sports broadcasting -- baseball in particular -- is one of the most difficult career ladders to climb. Is that exciting or frustrating?

"Definitely both. It took me almost a full year in college to get an actual job in my field, an internship in Hagerstown, Md. I knew I had at least a little bit of talent and I needed to find a break, and that's what Charleston was. I knew I was going to get to broadcast between 10-20 games with Josh Maurer still being there and get to do some studio work. But I could never have anticipated that Josh would take a job at (the University of Massachusetts) my first year here and that I would get to call the last 40 games of the season and get more experience than I could ever imagine."
Who are your favorite major league broadcasters?

"I really like Greg Brown of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I am a Pirate fan so I have heard him a good bit. He's just fantastic. You can't leave off Vin Scully. He's been doing it for 750 years it seems like and he could tell you a story about anything and it would just sound interesting. Then I guess Bob Uecker of the Brewers, how he combines humor and information. Also Harry Kalas, the late Phillies announcer. People would die to have that voice."

How much preparation time do you need for a single broadcast each day?

"Combined with putting our statistics together every morning, which takes almost an hour by itself, and then getting lineups and putting my book together, it's probably a good three or four hours a day just prepping. But when you have 25 players to learn about on each team, you have managers, you have what the teams have done against each other during the season, home-road differences, how the pitchers have done. ... You have to be basically the one guy who knows that series."

How about your three favorite South Atlantic League road trip towns?

"Definitely Greenville because of Fluor Field. That park is absolutely fantastic. I could call 200 games a year there, just like our park. Being a Fenway replica but with the touches of the Palmetto State is great. I love coming to Lakewood because they do things extremely well. And third-best would probably be Hagerstown, but I haven't been there yet as a visiting broadcaster. I like Asheville, too."

Least favorite?

"I would say Delmarva, but now they have a new hotel, so I won't throw them under the bus. There is not a place in the league that is really that bad."

Your favorite baseball movies?

" 'Field of Dreams,' obviously. 'The Sandlot,' 'Bull Durham,' Little Big League' and 'Rookie of the Year.' "
Favorite non-baseball movies?

" 'The Departed' definitely -- really liked that. 'Apollo 13' is a movie I've always liked. 'Miracle' was extremely well done for a Disney movie."

Where will Danny Reed be working in 10 years?

"I'll be 34 then, so I hope I'm in Triple-A. If not, maybe I'll be lucky enough to fall into the play-by-play position for the Pittsburgh Pirates."

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