Glenn Diamond is one of the best TV producers in baseball and for many years, including the Braves championship season in 1995, he was to Skip Caray as Ed McMahon was to Johnny Carson.
Except for Diamond, there was one major difference. He could never return Skip’s jabs on the air.
“Like Harry Caray did for (producer) Arne Harris with the Cubs, Skip made me a household name,’’ said Diamond. “Now Skip did it differently than Harry. There was the good with the bad. If he wasn’t happy with one of my promos or something else, he would give out my office number on the air so people could call me and complain. I remember one time I told him the movie after the game was “Encino Man’’ and he told the audience it was a good night to watch the competition and ESPN “SportsCenter.” Now that didn’t make the executives happy.’’
Diamond spent 31 years as a coordinating producer for Turner Sports and during ’95, spent every game in the truck when TBS was doing Braves games. But once the team pushed into the postseason, the games went to one of the three big networks, and Diamond put a film crew together and followed the team for what became a popular highlight film on DVD called: “1995 THE BRAVES WIN … IT ALL.’’
Today, Diamond continues to call Roswell home, but commutes to L.A. where he produces the Dodgers games for former Braves boss Stan Kasten.
Q: Who was your most memorable player from that championship season?
A: I was very close with the pitchers, with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Steve Avery. I had daily contact with all of them. But what I really remember was David Justice and how clutch he was. I grew up a Dodgers fan and followed a lot of good players. There were a lot of good players but not clutch ones. David was the ultimate clutch player.
Q: You have a great Smoltz story from that season.
A: I think it was 1995, but we were in L.A. and Smoltz was pitching. We were about 30 minutes away from the first pitch and I had to run down to the clubhouse from the truck where I needed to get something from our bag down there. I see Smoltz and he has his glove and spikes in his hand, but he is on the telephone making a tee time for the next day in San Diego when we were off. I came back to the truck thinking this might be a long day for John because he is not focused, but I think he pitched a shutout and gave up only a few hits. We still talk about that.
Q: Where were you during the clinching Game 6 in the World Series?
A: Actually, I came to the park four innings late. Our (TV) crew didn't do those games and our graphics person was Ashley Gallagher and she was getting married. But I left the reception and got there in time to see Justice's home run, the celebration and get with the camera crew and get everything.
