Doug Johnson was answering emails at the Miami East hotel on May 30 when his phone rang with the call he had been awaiting for more than two months: Major League Baseball was taking over San Diego Padres’ television broadcasts the next day from financially troubled Diamond Sports.
“Immediately headed over to the stadium and got a chance to meet for the first time with the game announcers,” said Johnson, hired in March as MLB’s senior vice president and executive producer of local media. “I had to call every single person that worked the Padres’ home games and basically introduce myself and hire them.”
