Nat Allbright
Nathan Matthew"Nat"Allbright(November 26, 1923 – July 18, 2011) was an Americansports announcerwho specialized in doing play-by-play radio broadcasts of games that he had never seen, using information sent usingMorse codefrom the stadiums where the games were played to provide listeners with vivid recreations of the actual games, in which Allbright would describe each pitch and play, combined with sound effects to make the depiction more vivid to listeners. Allbright was hired by theBrooklyn Dodgersto announce recreated games played away fromEbbets Fieldto a network of radio stations on the East Coast that included more than 100 stations, providingfacsimilecoverage of 1,500 Dodgers games, despite never having seen one in person.
Early life
[edit]Allbright was born inDallas,Texason November 26, 1923.[1]As a child, he moved with his family toRidgeway, Virginia,and would recreate games in his imagination using lineups that he had taken from the local paper.[2]He served in theUnited States Army Air Forcesduring World War II.[2]After receiving training in radio broadcasting, Allbright hosted musical and dance programs on the air, and covered baseball and other sporting events for stations in the Washington area, producing both live and recreated accounts.[2]
Dodgers game recreation
[edit]Walter O'Malley,owner of the Dodgers, wanted to create a radio network to reach fans of the Dodgers located on theEast Coast of the United States.[1]Someone who had previous experience simulating games was desired, as such broadcasts were far less expensive than sending announcers and the required support staff to various stadiums.[2]Assigned to find the right candidate, Dodgers presidentBuzzie Bavasihired Allbright, who was working at the time for radio station WEAM in Virginia. Invited to spend time with the Dodgers at spring training, he observed the players in action, with an eye for details of each player's mannerisms that he could use in his recreations. Allbright began his broadcasting career with the Dodgers in 1949, and his recreations were presented on more than 100 radio stations by the following season. During his time with the Dodgers, he broadcast 1,500 games from a studio in Washington, D.C., beginning each one with a statement required by theFederal Communications Commissionthat the contents of the radio program were a recreation of an actual game and then starting each game by stating "This is Nat Allbright, from Ebbets Field!"[1][3]
Allbright maintained notes and pictures in his studio of each National League ballpark to help make his descriptions as vivid as possible.[3]An assistant sitting outside his recording booth would take details from the play by play feed and prepare a script listing the details of each half inning. Allbright would be notified of any gap in game play so that he would be able to stretch out the material with added commentary until the typed sheets needed for the next half inning were completed.[4]Using the information transmitted about each pitch from the ballpark, Allbright would provide a running account of the game, using his knowledge of the players and their individual characteristics and quirks to provide a runningcolor commentaryfor a game he could not see.[1]Most of the sound effects he used were from recordings, though he had a knack for usingdental clicksto simulate the sound of a ball being struck by the bat.[3]He used records and tape recordings of the National Anthem, crowd murmurs, roars and jeers to help maintain the verisimilitude of the broadcasts, though sportswriter Leslie Timms of theSpartanburg Herald-Journalwould reminisce that he could never figure out why the same vendor was shouting "Cold Beer, Here" regardless of which stadium the Dodgers were playing in.[1][5]Allbright himself supplied the voice of the beer vendor, leaning away from the microphone to simulate the voice coming from the stands.[2]If transmissions were not received from the live game, he might add in improvised foul balls; extensive lags could be turned into an imaginaryrain delayto buy additional time, with thunder simulated by crinkling a piece of cellophane.[1][6]In a 1955 article, sportswriterRed Smithdescribed how Allbright never claimed to be broadcasting fromEbbets Field,but didn't make it clear that he wasn't, "kind of leaving it up to the listeners to decide for themselves."[4]
AfterFred Saigh,then owner of 90% of theSt. Louis Cardinals,was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in January 1953, Allbright was part of a group of prospective buyers that sought to buy the team from Saigh.[7]A month later, Saigh sold the team to a group led by the owners ofAnheuser-Busch,accepting a lower offer of $3.75 million to keep the team in St. Louis.[8]
From 1950 until 1961, Allbright did 1,500 broadcasts of games played by the Dodgers, though he never saw the team play in person.[3]Washington PostsportswriterBob Addiecalled Allbright the "king of the baseball re-creators", an art whose practitioners includedRonald Reagan.[2]He was awarded a ring when the Dodgers won the1955 World Series,their only championship inBrooklyn.[1]Improving technology and the move of the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958 cost Allbright many of his fans, with the team's evening home games starting at 11:00 PM in theEastern Time Zonewhere his radio stations were located.[2]
Custom recreations
[edit]In the years after he retired from broadcasting for the Dodgers, Allbright began a company producing simulated recreations of sporting events, in which he would insert names supplied by customers as part of the recording. One client wanted to have himself inserted as a catcher forDizzy Dean,pitching for the Cardinals in the1934 World Seriesagainst theDetroit Tigers,while another customer had his father's name inserted into a game in which he supposedly played alongsideBabe Ruthfor theNew York Yankees.Other recordings had couch potatoes playing for theBoston Celtics,boxing atMadison Square Gardenand playing golf at the U.S. Open.[3]
During the1981 Major League Baseball strike,Allbright produced a manufactured account of the All-Star Game that was scheduled to have been played that year atMunicipal StadiuminCleveland,but had been cancelled due to the work stoppage.The Washington Postlauded "the fantasy created by Mr. Allbright" that evening, noting that he "had listeners sensing a breezy, summer Ohio night perfect for baseball". Before the strike was settled after half of the1982 NFL seasonhad been lost, Allbright broadcast eight simulated games featuring theWashington Redskinsfacing their scheduled opponents, setting the imaginary pace for a season in which the Redskins would in reality go on to winSuper Bowl XVII.[2]
Death
[edit]Allbright died ofpneumoniaon July 18, 2011, inArlington, Virginiaat the Virginia Hospital Center.[2]He was survived by his wife, as well as by a daughter and a son.[1]
References
[edit]- ^abcdefghMartin, Douglas."Nat Allbright, Voice of Dodgers Games He Did Not See, Dies at 87",The New York Times,August 15, 2011. Accessed August 15, 2011.
- ^abcdefghiSchudel, Matt."Nat Allbright, announcer who relied on imagination to re-create ballgames, dies at 87",The Washington Post,August 6, 2011. Accessed August 17, 2011.
- ^abcdeviaAssociated Press."Want to play baseball with Babe Ruth? No problem!',The Nevada Daily Mail,October 16, 1985. Accessed August 16, 2011.
- ^abSmith, Red,viaNew York Herald Tribune."Radio Fakery Turns Up a Lovely Situation for Traveling Better: Nat Allbright, Sportscaster in Washington, Makes Listeners Think He's at Game",The Milwaukee Journal,October 29, 1955. Accessed August 18, 2011.
- ^Timms, Leslie."Remembering Joe Louis",Spartanburg Herald-Journal,May 2, 1976. Accessed August 16, 2011. "I remember listening to Nat Allbright recreate the Dodgers games from a studio somewhere other than the ballpark, and I remember I kept wondering how the same guy kept yelling 'Cold Beer, Here' in all of the different ballparks."
- ^Landphair, Ted."Re-Creations Not Going, Going but GONE",Voice of America,July 26, 2011. Accessed August 18, 2011. "One night when the Dodgers were playing in Cincinnati, Ohio, Heller relates," the ticker stopped working, and Western Union told Allbright it would take a half-hour to fix the line. No problem. "We had a ‘rain delay,’" Allbright remembered. "There was nothing else I could do. You know, if you take the cellophane off a pack of cigarettes and crumple it up near the microphone, it sounds just like thunder."
- ^Drebinger, John."Berra Signs as Yankees Raise Salary to About $37,000; Reynolds Defers Decision on Offer",The New York Times,January 30, 1953. Accessed August 16, 2011.
- ^Goldstein, Richard."Fred Saigh, Who Helped Cardinals Stay Put, Dies at 94",The New York Times,January 2, 2000. Accessed August 16, 2011. "Anheuser-Busch, whose owner, August A. Busch Jr., bought the franchise from Saigh in February 1953, would run it for 43 years.... Although he said the $3.75 million bid he received from Anheuser-Busch was lower than offers from interests in Milwaukee and Houston, he accepted it to insure continuing local control."