The third inning of Sunday’s MLB Little League Classic between the Red Sox and Orioles began with a ball hit deep into the right field corner. Baltimore right fielder Austin Hays sprinted for it. He pulled up just short as he saw it would be foul. And then he continued his conversation—because he’d been wearing a microphone to communicate with the national television audience the whole time.
“That would have been awesome right there if I could have made a diving catch,” he sighed as he walked back to his spot.
“I forgot to tell you,” ESPN broadcaster Karl Ravech responded. “Once you’ve committed to the earpiece and microphone, every ball will be hit to you.”
“I love that,” Hays countered. Naturally, two batters later, the ball found Hays again, this time in fair territory. He ran back and made the play for the final out of the inning.
AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar
This is the first complete season when players have worn microphones for on-field, in-game interviews during Sunday Night Baseball games. After a few years of experimenting in spring training, ESPN brought the microphones to the shortened regular season in 2020, when stadiums were empty due to the pandemic. The practice was sidelined for ’21 but has been brought back in earnest for ’22. It’s part of a larger wave of networks and leagues trying to make sports more accessible for fans—more interviews on sidelines, dugouts and benches, with more microphones on the field and the court. But there’s a unique advantage for baseball: The structure of the game means that players can do more than simply wear a microphone.
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With no clock, an easy, meandering rhythm and distinctly segmented action, fielders have the space and time to actually have a conversation.
“Baseball—the nature of the pace—it offers spaces that are wonderful and really important to the character of the sport,” says Phil Orlins of ESPN, a senior coordinating producer for baseball coverage.
The network says it’s pleased with how the on-field microphones have gone so far this year. While players initially had to be approached to participate, there are now some who offer voluntarily, after months of seeing (and hearing) that it can be a good time. For them, it can be a chance to do something new and show a bit of personality to a national audience. And for the broadcast, it’s a chance to give viewers a fresh window into the game, while leaning into the natural cadence of baseball.
“I look at the sport as something that benefits from conversation,” Ravech says. “I think that’s how most people consume baseball when they’re watching a game.”
But the practice does come with a few challenges. Perhaps the biggest one? The booth is trying to have a conversation with guys while they do their job on national television. There’s somewhat of a benefit here from self-selection: A player who feels like he needs to shut out any potential distractions while on the field won’t volunteer to put on the earpiece. But even for players who are excited for the mike—and who feel suited to holding a conversation while tracking a ball—there’s still a balance to strike between talking to them and giving them space.
“They’re doing their job,” Ravech says. “We don’t ever want to interfere with that.
“We trust them to speak when it makes sense, and they trust us to ask questions and realize, look, there may have to be a pause here.”
A good conversationalist can be found anywhere on the diamond. (Ravech and Orlins emphasize that it isn’t only the superstars who have stood out here.) But for an on-field interview, his position will dictate some of the terms of the discussion. A first baseman will naturally chat with anyone who reaches base. A middle infielder might have some interaction with his double-play partner. And the booth can be “a little more liberal with outfielders, who are further from the action,” says Orlins.
Another thing to watch out for? The language on a ball field isn’t exactly family-friendly. The player who’s volunteered for the microphone knows what he’s getting into. But in many of the situations where more colorful language might arise—two guys running for a ball in the outfield, a bit of action on the base paths, and so on—there will be other players near the mike who may not be so diligent. Yet there haven’t been any major problems there so far. And if any strong language should drop? “From a tactical standpoint, we actually do have a way to eliminate the player microphone for a few seconds without affecting the rest of the audio,” Orlins says. So if someone does swear, chances are, you’ll never hear it.
Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo was miked up for Sunday Night Baseball against the Yankees last month and enjoyed it enough that he volunteered to do it again Sunday night against the Orioles. He donned a microphone for the fifth inning of the ESPN2 KidsCast.
“I feel like I have a really good filter,” Verdugo says Friday at Camden Yards. “It was fine, knowing that it’s live and knowing that I can’t really drop any f-bombs or mess around.”
(To that point: As if to demonstrate the capacity of said filter, Verdugo seamlessly transitioned to “f-bomb” after using several variations of the word itself immediately before this conversation, during a clubhouse game of rubber darts.)
“Plus I love to talk,” he says. “So it’s fun.”
And as for what it means to hold a conversation while trying to do his job? It’s actually kind of nice, he says, to have something else to focus on while standing by himself in the outfield.
“I’m always all over the place,” Verdugo says. “Like, I’m focusing on the game, but I’m always looking at everything, right? So this was cool.”
