Joe Garagiola is one of the most respected and revered baseball announcers in sports and after nearly six decades in the broadcast booth, the Arizona Diamondbacks broadcaster announced his retirement on Wednesday.
According to USA Today, Garagiola officially announced his plans on Wednesday and said that it was the right time to step down from the broadcast booth. Garagiola originally got into broadcasting after playing professionally, but he never proved the skills on the field to be an everyday player, instead, his best days were left above the field in the broadcast booth.
"I've had a great ride," Garagiola told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday.
The 87-year-old Garagiola worked with many legendary broadcasters, including Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Red Barber, Curt Gowdy and Vin Scully. And he also spent years working NBC's national game of the week and on the "Today" show, where he made jokes about his mediocre playing career, saying: "I went through baseball as a 'player to be named later.'"
Garagiola grew up in St. Louis on the same block as Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra and eventually made it to the Cardinals in the same position, finishing his career with a batting average of .257, with 42 home runs and 173 strikeouts.
He also spent time working the Westminster Kennel Club dog show and many other important games. Garagiola started off working Cardinals games with Buck and Caray in the 1950s and later on he worked games for the New York Yankees before going national with NBC, where he stayed until 1988.
Garagiola said to USA Today that he first had the idea about broadcasting after colliding at first base with Jackie Robinson, which left him with a bruised shoulder. The Cardinals wanted him to play, but the medical staff didn't rule him eligible to play.
"Good thing he wasn't a baseball fan. He told them he was worried about the rest of my life," Garagiola says. "And I realized I wasn't going to play forever."
Garagiola's style in the booth kept the focus on baseball, stories and history, not always the statistics that dominate the modern airwaves.
"What I tried to do was talk baseball. And the big thing I learned was to stay with the ball, stay with the game," he says. "Statistics weren't my line. Statistics are like a lampost for a drunk. If you don't know what to do, say what somebody hit in Paduka. But who really cares?"
