Play-by-play gig a dream for Schiavone
Tony Schiavone often addressed millions of television wrestling viewers live over the airwaves without ever suffering from a case of nerves.
Continue to Athens Banner-Herald - Play-by-play gig a dream for Schiavone
But the Gwinnett Braves' new play-by-play man will be feeling them today when he calls his first minor league baseball game in 24 years.
"I think one of the reasons they liked using me on TV was that I never got nervous," said Schiavone, who gained national celebrity in 15 years as a lead announcer on World Championship Wrestling. "I never saw it as, 'Oh you're talking to millions and millions of people.' I looked at it as I was talking to a camera and didn't get nervous.
"But this time, and the first broadcast is (today), I'm really nervous, because this is what I really want to do."
Although he has worked in a variety of roles in radio since WCW folded in 2001 - currently delivering morning sports updates on Atlanta's WSB-AM and Gainesville's WDUN-AM and filling numerous jobs on WSB's University of Georgia football and men's basketball broadcasts - Schiavone hasn't worked as a baseball announcer since he called Charlotte Orioles games in 1985.
In fact, it was that job that gave Schiavone his start in wrestling, as club owner Jim Crockett also promoted the wrestling organization that would become WCW. Schiavone pleaded to work part time as a wrestling announcer in addition to his full-time gig with the baseball team and began calling matches for the likes of Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes and the Four Horsemen.
"That was really kind of the heyday - back when it was real," Schiavone joked.
Because the wages were so much better in wrestling than in minor-league baseball, Schiavone eventually moved full time into WCW announcing when Crockett sold the Charlotte club in 1986.
Even when the announcing job began to make him unhappy in the WCW's later years, Schiavone said he felt trapped there because of money. He realizes now that the wrestling league's failure provided exactly the opportunity he desired.
A week after losing the wrestling job, he was broadcasting Atlanta Braves pregame and postgame shows for WSB, then the Braves' flagship station.
"I really did not like WCW at the end. It was just not a good place to work. The more successful you got, the worse it was to work," Schiavone said. "But I couldn't leave because the money was too good, the benefits were great and the kids were younger.
"When WCW folded, I really had a tough time because I thought, 'We're gonna go bankrupt, we're gonna lose our house and the worries you always have,' " he continued. "I started to do the Braves again and my wife said to me, 'Now you're gonna get back to doing what you really want to do and you didn't have to make that decision. It was made for you.' "
Schiavone had no designs on becoming the play-by-play man for the Gwinnett Braves' debut season, which begins today with an 11:15 a.m. game, oddly enough against the Charlotte Knights franchise that morphed from the club that employed Schiavone in his last baseball announcing job.
When he discovered the Braves' Triple-A club was moving from Richmond, Va., he contacted team general manager Bruce Baldwin, an old friend, and proposed becoming the team's official scorer. Baldwin had a better idea.
"He said, 'Well, have you ever thought about being my radio announcer?' " Schiavone recalled.
Schiavone didn't think such a position would be feasible, as he expected WSB to object to his taking a job with another station. It was only when he discovered that the Gwinnett Braves wanted WDUN - the Gainesville station where he already worked - to become their flagship station that he thought it might work.
He proposed a plan to his WSB boss, program director Pete Spriggs, that would allow him to cover his Atlanta Braves and morning show duties, even while on the road. To his surprise, Spriggs said yes.
"He said to me, 'This is what you've always wanted to do, isn't it?' " Schiavone said. "I said, 'Yes,' and he said, 'Sure, you can do it."
Schiavone was dumbfounded by his good fortune. After all this time, he never expected to have a job like this, calling games in the sport where he desired to work. It all came together too easily.
"I told (home announcing partner) Judd (Hickinbotham), 'You have to realize what has fallen in our laps here. We got a Triple-A job without even applying for one,' " Schiavone said. "I'm trying to think what I did in life to make this happen. I don't know what it is."
Whatever that is, Schiavone will be back behind the microphone today - even if he must battle an unfortunate case of nerves in the beginning.
"It feels like I'm getting back to what I was meant to do," Schiavone said.
► Hear all the Gwinnett Braves' games on WDUN-AM 550 in Gainesville or at wdun.com/gbraves.asp
© 2009 http://onlineathens.com - Athens Banner-Herald - All rights reserved.
Comment on "Play-by-play gig a dream for Schiavone"
