Tulsan Bob Carpenter Honored in Washington
By DAVID JONES
Editor at Large
VETERAN BROADCASTER: Bob Carpenter, who continues to make Tulsa his home, is entering his 10th year as the television voice of the Washington Nationals. A sports broadcaster for 39 years, Carpenter may see his Nationals team go all the way to the World Series this season.
Bob Carpenter enjoys the moment. For the first time in his 39 years of broadcasting, he was named Co-Sportscaster of the Year (with Joe Beninati of hockey’s Washington Capitals) for the District of Columbia area. “I guess,” he laughs, “the longer you stick around the more you start collecting awards.” As pleased as he is with his award, he seems equally happy with a similar nod given Tulsa Golden Hurricane voice Bruce Howard. “In Oklahoma, I just don’t think Tulsa-area sportscasters get their due. I’m happy for Bruce.”
In almost four decades of broadcasting Carpenter has covered the gamut from teams vying for championships to teams that would need a ladder to climb to the cellar.
This time the portents look wonderful for Bob Carpenter. Carpenter, who maintains his home in Tulsa, has for nine years been the television voice for the Washington Nationals. It has not always been the most rewarding of jobs; for two consecutive years he relayed the on-field exploits of a team destined to lose over 100 games in the season. Bad teams get top draft choices, and the top draft choices in those years were a pitcher named Steven Strasburg and a catcher converted to outfielder named Bryce Harper. Neither is a lock for the Hall of Fame yet but both have gotten off to highly promising starts and are looked upon as the centerpieces for future Nats (for Nationals) success.
“Whether the team is winning or losing my job is the same – tell the fans what is going on in the field. I don’t go for the rah-rah stuff.” Those nuances Bob leaves to his broadcasting partner F. P. Santangelo with whom he has been paired for five years. “F. P. knows the game as well as anyone I’ve ever worked with. Over seven years he was a utility guy with Montreal, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. He has an incredible sense of the flow of the game.” Between the two of them they have become, for Nats fans, part of the family. “There is an intimate relationship that becomes established between you and the viewer. After so many years you become part of their daily routine.”
Part of Carpenter’s job is to maintain relationships with the players that give him access to information that fans will want to hear. He won’t whitewash a botched play but will quickly tell the player what he said and why he said it. “I always want to be up front with them. I’d rather they hear it from me than from someone else. It must work because I don’t really have any problems with any of the guys.” A lot of the credit for this he gives to Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. “With Mike, a player’s character can make all the difference; a player may be gifted athletically, but if he has a reputation for being a problem in the clubhouse Mike won’t be interested.”
One thing Carpenter is always aware of is that players are people who have friends and parents and siblings and occasionally children listening to the broadcasts. Ballplayers, he knows from personal experience, aren’t just figures to be cheered or jeered but people with all the emotions the rest of us have. “I remember when I was broadcasting for the St. Louis Cardinals and they made the trade with Oakland that brought them Mark McGwire. Everyone in St. Louis was celebrating, and I can’t remember what made me do it, but I reminded the audience that the futures of the three young men who had been traded to Oakland to get McGwire had also been radically altered. One of those traded was T. J. Mathews whose father had played for the Cardinals, who had been raised a Cardinal fan, who had signed with the Cardinals farm system, come through the ranks, made the major league team as a relief pitcher, and was suddenly cut loose from the team. I asked the fans how he must be feeling. The next night, his wife, who had gone to the ballpark to say goodbye to all the other baseball wives, spotted me and ran over and threw her arms around my neck and thanked me for highlighting what her husband was going through. It was an emotional moment.” (Mathews overcame the moment; he went on to pitch for Oakland, the Cardinals again and Houston in a career that lasted seven years and ended with a winning record.)
Just a few years ago, the Nationals went to spring training unsure of who the third, fourth and fifth starters in the pitching rotation would be. This year, Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister are joined by 2013 Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. This loads the starting pitching so much that last year’s starting sensation Tanner Roark (15 wins, 10 losses, blistering 2.85 ERA) was pushed back to the bullpen. The Nationals are the overall favorite to win the World Series.
“I’m excited about the chances of what the team can do but I’m not going to wave pom-poms in February.” Many a pre-season favorite has been undermined by injuries and slumps. The next six months will find Carpenter flying all over the country (charter plane: players in back, broadcast crews in middle, coaches, manager and trainers in front with very little intermingling) as the Nationals try to fulfill what many experts believe to be their destiny. There will be lots of opportunities for drama.
There will be the quiet moments as well. Shortstop Ian Desmond and his wife Chelsea met and became an item in grade school and Bob remembers her showing a picture of herself and Ian dressed for their junior high school prom. It’s little human moments like these that add depth to the job.
Desmond is a free agent this year and might be gone in 12 months. “He’s a leader in the clubhouse,” Carpenter says. “He’d be missed.”
It’s all part of the dynamics of baseball. Bob knows there’s a lot more to the game than balls and strikes.
Updated 03-03-2015
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