Mark Grant has been calling San Diego Padres games since 1996. Before that, he was a pitcher in the major leagues for eight seasons. So he’s no stranger to baseball road trips. And yet, Grant remains in awe of the fact that you can just hop on an airplane and go play a baseball game in some faraway place.
In the eighth inning of the Padres’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, Grant went off on a tangent, telling broadcast partner Don Orsillo just how fascinated he is with the fact that they’ll be back home in San Diego in no time.
Padres broadcast is tripping out just thinking about air travel pic.twitter.com/UGsEn16z1I
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 21, 2024
“Isn’t it amazing, Donny? [Sideline reporter] Mariluz [Cook] was just in San Diego. We saw Petco Park,” Grant said after the broadcast aired Cook’s report from back home. “We are on the other side of the planet. And after this game, we’re gonna get in a big metal tube and fly for 11 hours and be in San Diego. Isn’t that incredible when you get down to think about it?”
Orsillo’s response was gold: “Yeah, it’s far away!”
The Padres won the game to split the two-game overseas series. They’ll return home and resume regular season games on March 28. Their first road trip of the season is to San Francisco. Grant should have an easier time wrapping his head around that one.
