No two days are the same for a minor league broadcaster
“We race around a lot on a normal game-day,” said Springfield Cardinals Broadcaster Andrew Buchbinder.
The job takes game prep, working with the front office, and even some manual labor.
“We don’t talk about the R-word, ‘rain’, but a few tarp pulls get sprinkled in there inevitably as well,” Buchbinder said.
With nearly a decade of experience in the Springfield booth, not much surprises Buchbinder.
Yet, even he couldn’t have expected this.
“I’ve built a pillow fort around the laptop to try and have good sound quality,” he said.
It’s a makeshift broadcast for a makeshift game, simulated through PlayStation’s MLB The Show video game.
As you might expect, it takes some getting used to.
“I haven’t played a video game in like 15 years,” Buchbinder said.
You can’t tell when you hear Buchbinder calling the Spring Cards virtual games.
He says behind the scenes might tell a different story.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for an hour and a half game-time,” Buchbinder said. “But man they are moving in that [game].”
With hardly any time between plays, Buchbinder and his broadcast partner Nate Lucas need to stay ready at all times, while trying to mimic their normal in-booth routine.
“He always sits to the left of me in our home booth at Hammons Field,” Buchbinder said. “So I set the phone up to the left of me so I have Nate over there.”
It’s a small resemblance of the real thing, which Buchbinder hopes is helping everyone get by until the real thing returns.
“We’re just trying to provide a little escape for ourselves and hopefully for everybody else out there,” he said.
As for this do-it-all play-by-play man, he’ll take the buzz of Hammons Field any day of the week.
“I miss even the most hectic of days at the ballpark,” he said.” I definitely miss those right now.”
Just as the rest of us miss hearing the games on the radio.
