April 5, 2021
In January, we at FanGraphs put out a call for radio broadcast ratings. Over the past few days, we’ve released a compilation of those rankings, as well as selected commentary from each team’s responses. This is the last installment of that compilation.
As a refresher, our survey asked for scores in four areas. If you’d like a thorough explanation of them, you can read the introductory article, but I’ll also recap them briefly here. If you’d like to see the rest of our results, those can be found here and here.
The “Analysis” score covers the frequency and quality of a broadcast team’s discussion of baseball. This isn’t limited to statistical analysis, and many of the booths that scored best excelled at explaining technical details of playing. This score represents how much listeners feel they learn about baseball by listening.
News 8 Throwback: San Diego Padres return for spring training season in Arizona
In this week s News 8 Throwback, we take a look back at the spring training seasons of yesteryear as the Padres kick off a month of play in Arizona’s Cactus League.
Credit: KFMB Published: 12:55 PM PST March 3, 2021 Updated: 12:55 PM PST March 3, 2021
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. Spring training kicked off Sunday for the San Diego Padres for a month of play at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona. It s the first time since March of last year that the Padres were able to play in front of fans and hear real crowd noise.
January 17, 2021
Chris Perez didn’t get many opportunities to swing the bat during his seven big-league seasons. As a short reliever who played primarily in the American League, that was to be expected. Somewhat less expected was what happened when he did have a chance to dig into the batters box.
“I had two [plate appearances], and I’m bitter about one of them,” Perez told me recently. “In 2008, my rookie year with St. Louis, we were in Florida at the old stadium, playing the Marlins. I came into the game in the eighth inning with one out, and got a double play with the bases loaded. When I went back to the dugout, Tony La Russa told me, ‘Hey, Chris, you’re still in there. Stay focused, because you’ve got the ninth.’”
Padres broadcaster Ted Leitner retires after 41 years with the team Leitner has been a Padres institution for the last four decades.
01/15/2021
Ted Leitner’s long and distinguished career as the voice of the San Diego Padres has come to an end.
On Friday, Leitner and the Padres announced that he was retiring from his broadcasting role with the team and would become a team ambassador.
“I will miss everything about the Padres broadcast that I have been privileged to be a part of for so many years,” Leitner said in a statement. “I’ve had the best seat in the house in San Diego for over four decades, and I’ve had the honor of working alongside Hall of Fame broadcasters while watching the greatest players to ever wear a Padres uniform.
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For 41 seasons, Ted Leitner has been an ambassador for the Padres as the radio play-by-play voice of the National League team.
Starting today, that ambassador role comes with a capital A.
Leitner is transitioning to the role of Padres’ Team Ambassador as he moves away from the radio booth to a front-office position.
Known affectionately as “Uncle Teddy” to legions of fans who followed “My” Padres, through his words, Leitner will become involved in team-organized events for the Padres, including community appearances and speaking engagements.
The new role with the Padres could be a fastball to Leitner’s wheelhouse. In addition to his radio duties with the Padres as well as San Diego State where he will continue to be the play-by-play voice of the Aztecs’ football and men’s basketball teams Leitner is well known throughout the San Diego community as the host and emcee of countless major events.