“HOT DOGS!” “SODA!” “BEER!” “PEANUTS!” – if you’ve ever been to a major league ballpark, those familiar calls from vendors instantly transport you back. The scent of fresh popcorn lingers in the air, the crack of the bat electrifies the crowd, and the collective roar rises as a deep fly ball takes flight.
There’s something undeniably special about being at a game in person. But there’s also something magical about baseball on the radio.
Baseball and radio share a deep, enduring relationship— one that has spanned generations. So many of you have told us how you bring your CC Pocket radio to the ballpark, tuning in to the live play-by-play as you take in the action. Many stadiums even display the local radio station on their electronic displays around the field so fans can tune in and listen in real time.
It’s an experience that modern technology still can’t replace. A recent fan shared how she tried listening to a game on her phone through an app while in the stadium, only to be frustrated by the delay—plays were over before she even heard them. Radio, on the other hand, is immediate, immersive, and woven into the fabric of the game.
But it’s not just about keeping up with the action—it’s about the storytelling. The best announcers don’t just report the score; they bring the game to life. They share the backstories of players, the struggles, the triumphs, the rivalries. They remind us who’s in a slump, who just got called up from the minors, and who’s playing through an injury. These voices become part of our baseball memories, as familiar as the crack of the bat or the seventh-inning stretch.
And even if you can’t be there in person, radio is the next best thing. It transports you to the ballpark no matter where you are—whether you’re driving down a quiet highway, sitting on your back porch, or working in the garage. You can close your eyes and picture the field, feel the anticipation of a full count, and hear the excitement in the announcer’s voice as the game unfolds.
For so many of us, baseball is more than just a game—it’s a tradition, a connection, a shared experience. Whether it’s memories of playing in the backyard, your first visit to a stadium, or the thrill of hearing your favorite announcer call a game on the radio, these moments stay with us.
With Spring Training in full swing and Opening Day set for March 26, a new season is about to begin. And just as it always has, radio will be there, connecting fans to the game they love.
Do you have a favorite baseball memory? A story about listening to a game on the radio? Please share it with us in the comments below!
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Great. Radio photos.
Jeremiah Olson
Pastorolson@comcast.net
“Bouncer over the mound, over second base…Mantilla up with it…throws, low and wild…Hodges scores…and we go to Chicago!” – Vin Scully 1959, Dodgers beat the Braves in a playoff game, earning a trip to the World Series where they beat the Chicago White Sox.
I recall that classic call often. I was 14 at the time. How lucky I was to grow up listening to Vin on the radio. He is the best ever.
Baseball and radio are the perfect marriage. I have the MLB app so I can watch the games, but once in a while I’ll keep the video but switch the audio from the TV broadcasters to the radio announcers.
If I’m outside doing yard work or in the car driving, doesn’t bother me because I might not be able to watch, but I can listen.
Great article!
When I was a child ((1948-1950’s) I used to listen to baseball games and other faraway radio stations most evenings on my radio (positioned on my nightstand) until I fell asleep.
Now… I am 81 years old and still do this often on my CRANE 2E super reception radio. Fond memories like this keeps me smiling.
As a kid one night when my parents sent me to bed, I had a radio under my pillow and I was listening to a Dodger game. Sandy Koufax struck out 18 to tie a MLB record. When he recorded that last strikeout I let out a big yell. My mother came rushing into the bedroom thinking something was wrong. I told her I was just having a nightmare!
The C Crane radios are great for listening to baseball games near and fall due to their excellent sensitivity and selectivity. Great work C Crane.
In the early 60’s I lived in New York City, so of course we rooted for the Yankees. We had a 19 inch black and white TV, but my dad and Uncle Tommy preferred to sit out in the yard and listen to the games on a small transistor radio. My uncle said it made the game better, and revived memories of listening with my late grandfather.
Back in 1974-75, I first heard Vin Scully doing the NBC Game of the Week on television with Joe Garage-eeola and was so impressed even as a kid that this “announcer” could interject a Shakespearean reference even into a ground-ball double play. Then, in the L.A. area in the 1980’s, I turn on my AM radio, and there is Vin again (!)) doing the Dodger games just about every night! Do the people here realize how lucky they are? He was on just about every night; what a joy listening to the best there ever was.
As a kid growing up in the early 1960s, bedtime was always around 8pm. I have been a huge Detroit Tiger fan forever and received a six-transistor pocket radio for Christmas in 1961. Every season that little radio was tucked under my bed pillow for every night game that the great Ernie Harwell called. You could hear the vendors calling out their wares; “Beer Here”, “Popcorn, peanuts, cotton candy” , “Scorecards!”. You could almost smell the cigar smoke wafting in the air around you. “A young man from St. Clair Shores caught that foul ball” Ernie would broadcast to all believers. Sometimes my Mom & Dad would have to buy me a couple more 9 volt batteries because I fell asleep with the radio still on, not knowing if the Tigers won or lost that night until Dad revealed the news at breakfast. Radio created fond memories and vivid pictures of what actually happened. Thank you Ernie for all of your “Long Gones” and “He stood there by the side of the road and watched that one go by!” Nothing like baseball through the radio!
Thanks for posting. It brought back so many memories of my nights with the radio under my pillow case listing to Vin. I wish I could have listened to Ernie Harwell, but being in California it was not possible back in those days. I now have the MLB app so that I can watch the games, but it is not the same. Every once in a while I will listen to the radio broadcast, usually when the Dodgers play the Padres since the video is blacked out with me living in the Saan Diego area. Happy to say that my son also has an appreciation of games on the radio. He loved listening to Bob Uecker with our MLB subscription.
I was twelve in that summer of 1972 .I had a brand new portable radio, this one of much better quality than the others from my past. I had my earphones as I went to bed that night. For the last three seasons I had become a huge Cincinnati Reds fan as my hometown Phillies struggled from the basement again. Always having trouble falling asleep, I tuned around on the AM dial that ran from left to right on the face of the radio. Suddenly out of the earphone came the sound of a baseball crowd buzzing and the voice of Marty Brenamen (I would discover later) and the play by play of a distant ballgame. It took only a few seconds for me to realize that I had found the Reds’ radio home. Oh, what this meant. I could now tune in to my team any time I wanted. I listened to the remaining innings and probably the post game show but I was ever so careful not to move the tuning dial so I would always remember the exact spot on the dial where my team “lived”. Of course radio fans will already know that I had found WLW 700. The next day I nipped off the very corner of paper, fashioning an arrow and taping it fast to that very spot on the dial, forever marking 700. I think my love of sports radio began that very night.
As a kid in the 60’s and 70’s I used to listen to the Minnesota Twins on WCCO radio Minneapolis-St Paul. Radio brought in the excellent announcers like Halsey Hall and Herb Carneal and the famous Minnesota Twins jingle song. Today I listen with my Ccradio 2E and a recently purchased Skywave, both excellent radios with crystal clear sound for the broadcasts.