Don Orsillo

From SoSH

Don Orsillo was born in Melrose Massachusetts and raised in Madison, New Hampshire. He has been the Boston Red Sox play-by-play announcer on NESN since April 2001, and is now in his sixth season with the Red Sox. Honored with 2 New England Emmy Awards the past two seasons, Orsillo was named the 2005 Massachusetts Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 The Sox Gig 3 DO's Awards 4 DO's Catch Phrases 5 Trivia

Overall Career

A 1991 graduate of Northeastern University (B.S. Communications), Don's first sports broadcasting job was play-by-play announcer for the Pittsfield Mets of the short season New York-Penn League in 1991 and 1992. Orsillo handled TV and radio play-by-play for the Class AA Binghamton Mets of the Eastern League from 1993 to 1995, and provided commentary for the nationally syndicated 1994 Class AA All-Star Game.

During the 1991-1996 hockey seasons, Orsillo was the play-by-play radio and television voice of the Springfield Indians/Falcons of the American Hockey League. He hosted "Inside the Indians," a weekly live television talk show, and worked as an analyst for the 1994 AHL All-Star Game.

Orsillo came to NESN from the Pawtucket Red Sox, Boston's AAA affiliate, where he served as the radio play-by-play announcer for over 140 games each season since 1996. In addition to his duties in the broadcast booth, Orsillo also served as the team's Director of Community Relations.

In October 2007, Orsillo got his first national network exposure, handling play-by-play on TBS for the Phillies-Rockies NLDS alongside Joe Simpson.

Don lives in Smithfield, Rhode Island with his wife Lisa, daughters Sydney and Madison, and pets Knopfler the dog and Arthur the guinea pig.

The Sox Gig

Orsillo was brought in to replace Sean McDonough and Bob Kurtz (Bob Rodgers was only employed for a short time) as Sox play-by-play announcer for NESN. He has been known as solid, yet sometimes generic, play-by-play announcer during his time with the Sox. WEEI has deemed him the "Dynamic One" or DO for short, due to his often pre-programed-sounding calls. Orsillo has also been deemed "Announcer Boy" by Tim Wakefield in an often-mocked series of Red Sox promos. Recently, the Announcer Boy promos have even spawned a line of clothing (pictured at left).

DO's Awards

• 2003 Emmy for Outstanding Sports Broadcaster (local Emmy, not to be confused with the national ones).
• 2005 Massachusetts Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

DO's Catch Phrases

• "Down by way of the K!"
• "Gets the bad news!"
• "Fisted to shallow right!"
• "Welcome to Boston, Kevin Millar!"
• "Wherever the Red Sox go, we'll take you there!"
• "Manny's back, and he's back big!"
• "Outstanding!"
• "Full bore" (the speed at which an outfielder runs after a fly ball)
• "That's gonna grab some wall!"
• "The player/infielder/runner/ball is equidistant between first and second (or any other pair of fixed points)."
• "....from an offensive standpoint"
• "The pitcher is in the midst of a meeting with himself behind the mound."
• "The batter carves one foul."
• Often speaks in circular sentences, perhaps thinking the listener has forgotten the subject of the sentence by the time he (Don) has reached the end of it, e.g., "Coco Crisp is 7-for-23 on the current road trip, with two home runs, for Coco Crisp."

Trivia

• Don Orsillo's first game announcing on NESN was Hideo Nomo's no-hitter on April 11, 2001.
• Did play-by-play for Cal Ripken Jr's final game.
• Bears a striking resemblance to Otto Pilot from the movie Airplane![1]
• Laughs like a little girl
• Believes that a lunar eclipse is when the sun goes in front of the moon
• Likes to get his picture taken with famous people according to Jerry Remy

Listen to Don call a walkoff win in 2005