Newberry: Talking baseball with the great Eric Nadel

Eric Nadel is entering his 40th season broadcasting as a broadcaster with the Texas Rangers. He’s already a member of many hall of fames including the Rangers' own hall.

I was there that August night in 2012 when the voice of the Rangers got to take a ride around the diamond. But many nights myself and Ranger fans can’t be at Globe Life Park and with few exceptions Nadel’s voice is always there if you tune in. He’s been there when they’re losing 100 and for great accomplishments, including the back-to-back World Series appearances.

It was great to spend some time catching up with Nadel when the team’s Winter Caravan made a quick stop in Wichita Falls. Nadel isn’t unlike other fans of the great game in that spring is a time for optimism but I’ve always found him to be very realistic over the years.

He’s aware the Astros just won the World Series. And they’re supposed to win 100 games this year. The Rangers aren’t even expected to be close enough to find in Houston’s rear-view mirror. Here are some highlights of our conversation.

Thoughts on new season, even as a Hall of Famer in your 40th season?

Nadel: You realize that every year is different. Every year is unpredictable. As much as we think we know about baseball it’s always different. I think it’s the most unpredictable sport in the world.

Newberry: Every team just needs arms to stay healthy, two or three relievers not being paid much to give positive win value and a regular or two to make an adjustment and take the next step.

Nadel: Every year there are two or three teams who get the positive answers to that. Every year there are surprises they weren’t even thinking about.

What about the AL West, looks like the Angels made big moves?

Nadel: The Angels made a lot of moves with (Ian) Kinsler and (Zach) Cozart in the infield and (DH-pitcher Shohei) Otani. We know how good Houston is and now they’ve added Gerrit Cole. I think Seattle adding Dee Gordon (in center field) is a really good piece. Their lineup is going to be hard to pitch to. I don’t know about their starting pitching.

What about the Rangers?

Nadel: Obviously they need those three new starting pitchers, at least two of those three of Doug Fister, Matt Moore and Mike Minor to have good years. We say it every year but we do need Martin Perez to take some sort of a next step and be more consistent. And (we) need something of a bounce back from (Cole) Hamels. And need to get the bullpen sorted out.

Newberry: Yeah they’ve struggled to have a guy break camp and get to May 1 as the closer.

Nadel: Yeah, three years in a row. They don’t know who the closer is. Claudio goes in as the incumbent. More managers now are willing to get rid of the traditional roles. And bring in their best guy even if it’s not the ninth.

Newberry: They do that in the postseason.

Nadel: I think that’s going to bleed over into the regular season. Jeff Banister is very open to it. We’re going to have (Jake) Dikeman back and him being healthy changes a lot. Him and Claudio as lefties and (Matt) Bush and Keone Kela as righties.

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How do you see Banister as a manager?

Nadel: Jeff is a traditional hard-nosed guy but he’s totally open minded to any sort of idea that might make the team better, that might make him a better manager. Even though he has this John Wayne persona he’s really open minded. I think he’s the best prepared manager that I’ve been around in terms of using all the available information around him. The best lineup to put together and what’s the best way to construct his defense? What’s the best way to pitch to a team and a certain lineup? He’s got piles of pie charts and graphs and rankings in his office on things I’ve never heard of. He’s talking about swing planes and doesn’t want to play a player against a certain pitcher, that sort of stuff. Buck Showalter was very prepared and was a nut about information, too, and some of this wasn’t available. Jeff is not stubborn at all in what he thinks. He’s an interesting blend of old school and new school, using the new analytics."

On that last point I think you’d have to say the same of Nadel, who has stayed energized in his craft year after year. The voice of the Rangers has great appreciation for the tradition of the game but is still trying to make himself better in year 40.

The mediums have certainly changed – newspapers know that all too well – but radio’s obit certainly was premature even when every game went to TV.

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How does Nadel still try to interact and make it great for fans?

Nadel: There’s still a lot of people who want the more detailed description they get from radio. You know on TV there’s a lot of dead air because there’s pictures. I know from listening to a lot of baseball on radio. I want to hear the pace. The game is so slow, so much extra time that wasn’t there even 10 years ago.  The same sort of rhythm going. A lot of announcers aren’t even trying, they’re just leaving dead air. Now 25 seconds between pitches, used to be 18, and they’re just leaving dead air. You hear the vendors and PA announcer but that can get boring if there’s nothing going on. For me it’s always a matter of trying to keep it interesting and keep it lively and I think a lot of fans want that, they don’t want the dead air.”

Newberry: What feedback do you get?

Nadel: You get a lot of feedback with social media. They can tweet me and I see it. I read it. It used to be you have to write a letter. And the fact that you can listen to games in the car and on satellite radio (and the MLB App), I get feedback from guys all over the world, guys in the military and guys out on ships out in the Pacific. It’s a little daunting to realize all the people listening to you aren’t sitting out on a porch in East Texas somewhere.”

One thing we both shared is that we love listening to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman with the Yankees, “it’s like two old time radio personalities who just happen to be at a baseball game. I love that.”

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the 66-year-old Nadel will again be among baseball’s elite in 2018. That daunting task will be handled with grace, style and humility.

The team he is covering isn’t expected to be among the AL’s best, but maybe they can be one of baseball’s pleasant surprises. “Somebody is going to be the Twins this year. Who knows who it’s going to be?” Guess you’ll have to tune in to find out.

More: Texas Rangers remain almost exclusively on FSSW in 2018