Q&A: Baseball broadcasters at TBS

The hub of the divisional playoffs lies just beyond the northern border of Georgia Tech. There, on a studio set lit up like a Vegas hotel lobby, is the base camp of TBS’ postseason coverage. The network will carry every divisional playoff game as well as the National League Championship Series. Three dudes with a combined 66 years of major league service and one trained broadcaster review the action from parks hither and yon, bunkering in and watching games until their eyeballs feel as stitched as the baseballs.

This studio cast is a gumbo of personalities. Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is the steady one. Fellow HOF’er Dennis Eckersley is the kid at heart, whose 197 wins and 390 saves will not be noted nearly as much in the next couple of weeks as the home run he gave up to Kirk Gibson 23 years ago. David Wells is the wild card, the former starter whose biography contained the admission he was hung over the day he pitched his perfect game for the Yankees. (Wells also is the bow hunter who provides the venison for the crew cookout).

The host, charged with keeping the former players coloring between the lines, is Matt Winer.

Before they get lost in the games, they gathered in the studio’s green room last week and played a little verbal pepper:

Matt, do you have an easier or a harder job than Ernie [Johnson, Jr.] on the NBA set trying to keep herd on these guys? You don’t have the Charles Barkley factor.

Winer: I've had more guys to wrangle. Whenever the NBA does come back, they'll have Shaq [O'Neal] on the set, too, so that will make it more of a fair fight.

I’ve done the TNT show enough to get an idea what that is about. There’s a difference. The four of us have worked together a lot less than those guys have [11 years]. This is our second season together [he joined in 2010], so we’re still feeling each other out a little bit. I’m still interrupting Wells.

Who among you guys has kept himself in the best playing shape?

Eckersley (the oldest of the group at 56. Ripken is 51, Wells 48): I have.

So, when are you [Eckersley] going to succumb to peer pressure and shave your head like Ripken and Wells?

Eckersley: Not happening.

Ripken: He loves his moss too much.

Winer: I don't know if you've noticed, but the set is segregated by hair type. Eck and I are on one side. Those two are on the other.

Ripken: We should change seating arrangements so we have the hair in the middle. Keep the glare on the outsides.

When this gets cranked up here, you’ll obviously have some long days together. Maybe four games in one day. How do you handle that?

Eckersley: We get punchy. At 2 in the morning, you really got to be careful more than anything — you don't have a lot of control over yourself.

Ripken: The days do run together. Sometimes you're sitting there and you'll ask yourself, 'Did that happen today or did that happen yesterday?

Winer: And the answer to that is, "Yes."

Ripken: I was going stir crazy in the first couple years we had it, and I asked if we could put a TV outside. I love watching every single pitch, and the greatest part about this job is watching. We put a TV outside and got a chance to see some daylight. And last year Boomer [Wells] brought some venison in; he cooked out on the grill during the time outside. Those little things help.

Wells: I own a ranch in northern Michigan with Kirk Gibson. Buck Falls Ranch. Before we get going, I'm going to waffle a couple deer and bring back some vittles for the guys.

Eckersley: People don't realize the level of [concentration] watching every pitch. I feel like I can't miss anything; it almost becomes an obsession. The next thing you know you're grinding over every pitch.

Ripken: We're starting to sound like umpires now.

Wells: Neeeever. Eeeever.

Like in any clubhouse, is there a lot of busting of chops going on here?

Wells: Always. Like you said, this is like the clubhouse atmosphere, and that's what we do in the clubhouse. My first year here, Eck was getting upset because they kept showing the home run he gave up to Gibson [Gibson's famous limp-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the Dodgers and A's].

Eckersley: Like two years in a row. And now that Kirk's in the playoffs [as Arizona's manager], we might as well bring it back.

After awhile you get so you’re not sensitive to it at all. After all these years, it is one of the biggest World Series moments, if not the biggest moment, ever. And I experienced it — obviously from the negative side. But I’ll never forget it. It was an incredible experience, whether good or bad, to be a part of that, I’m telling you.

So, Mr. 2,632 consecutive games, have you called in sick yet after four years doing this?

Ripken: I thought about it once or twice. But it's the same commitment that you bring to anything you do. Once you commit to it, you want to try to do the very best you can, put in your time, prepare. This has been really cool. Ultra-professional, everyone knows exactly what they're doing. It makes it really easy to come in. You don't even think about if you're feeling under the weather.

Eckersley: Ultimately it's about the passion for this game with all us. I love this game. I watch it ridiculously through the season, and finally you get to watch it when it really matters. That's what sustains me. Boomer makes it light. You need someone to make light of all this. ... And I learn something from Cal all the time. You're seeing it through the eyes of someone who really knew the whole game throughout.

Matt, what has it been like watching baseball games with these guys?

Winer: It's fascinating. And I find this with a lot of athletes, what they pick up that I never would because they've been out there on the field. So many little things.

How critical do you allow yourself to be?

Ripken: My personal feeling is that you should never forget how hard the game is. Now, if you can identify someone's mental lapse, that's part of what you should do. But you should never cast judgment without remembering how hard it is.

Is there a team that will surprise people, one way or another?

Ripken: Maybe Arizona. They've surprised us all year long, going from worst to first. They started playing with fire and effort and the intangibles that are really hard to measure. They grind out their at-bats, find a way to do it one way or another, and [Justin] Upton is a superstar in the making.

Wells: The experience factor plays a big role, too. ... You just don't know who's going to do what. You look at the Yankees, their veteran status. You look now at Texas and their experience.

Ripken: So is Arizona going to surprise 'em?

Wells: Maybe, with the manager they have.

Eckersley: Yeah, that's [Gibson's] buddy talking there.

Wells: And your nemesis. I'm wearing that out this year.