Dick Stockton retires

Phil Plantier

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 7, 2002
3,419
@ifmanis5 had the news first, but I think Dick deserves his own thread.

It's hard to imagine now, but he was so good in the 80s: one of the announcers that meant this was a Big Game. His NBA games with Heinsohn are what I remember first. But he was a very good NFL announcer too.

Like many, he stayed too long. Hard to blame him. But I'd like to judge people by their best work, not their worst.

Edit: link: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sportscaster-dick-stockton-retires-called-160815889.html
 

benhogan

Granite Truther
SoSH Member
Nov 2, 2007
20,111
Santa Monica
These veteran announcers never seem to retire. Good for Dick.

Stockton needs to call fellow Cuse alum, Marv Albert, and get him to hang up his pumps
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
SoSH Member
Apr 23, 2010
6,247
from the wilds of western ma
He was incorporated into the national broadcast just for the series, IIRC? '75 was really my first season of full blown sox fanaticism. Family moved back to MA from the DC suburbs in late '73, but '75 was the year I went all in. He and the Hawk were the soundtrack of that summer, along with Martin and Woods on the radio at the cape. Somewhere in my boxes of vinyl is a '75 season highlight LP, with Stockton and the Hawk prominently featured. For that, and all the huge Celtics games on CBS in the 80's, have always liked the guy, and the sound of his voice doing any game always invoked great memories.
 

ColdSoxPack

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
Jul 14, 2005
2,351
Simi Valley, CA
He was incorporated into the national broadcast just for the series, IIRC? '75 was really my first season of full blown sox fanaticism. Family moved back to MA from the DC suburbs in late '73, but '75 was the year I went all in. He and the Hawk were the soundtrack of that summer, along with Martin and Woods on the radio at the cape. Somewhere in my boxes of vinyl is a '75 season highlight LP, with Stockton and the Hawk prominently featured. For that, and all the huge Celtics games on CBS in the 80's, have always liked the guy, and the sound of his voice doing any game always invoked great memories.
Agree Dick and Hawk were tremendous on Red Sox TV games and Martin and Woods on the radio in the car were a treat.
 

E5 Yaz

Transcends message boarding
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Apr 25, 2002
90,014
Oregon
He was incorporated into the national broadcast just for the series, IIRC? '75 was really my first season of full blown sox fanaticism. Family moved back to MA from the DC suburbs in late '73, but '75 was the year I went all in. He and the Hawk were the soundtrack of that summer, along with Martin and Woods on the radio at the cape. Somewhere in my boxes of vinyl is a '75 season highlight LP, with Stockton and the Hawk prominently featured. For that, and all the huge Celtics games on CBS in the 80's, have always liked the guy, and the sound of his voice doing any game always invoked great memories.
Stockton and Ned took turns as the "local" announcer in the booth. Stockton drew the lucky straw and got the Fisk home run. Always that that if Ned had gotten that moment, the national attention might have helped his HoF chances
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
SoSH Member
Apr 23, 2010
6,247
from the wilds of western ma
Stockton and Ned took turns as the "local" announcer in the booth. Stockton drew the lucky straw and got the Fisk home run. Always that that if Ned had gotten that moment, the national attention might have helped his HoF chances
That's right, I had forgotten about Martin doing games as well. Rock solid announcer. HOF in my book.
 

ifmanis5

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2007
63,740
Rotten Apple
Stockton was the first NBA PxP guy to point out shot clock to game clock time differential. Another guy who stayed around well past his day but his prime was excellent. He and Lesley Visser are an all time media couple also.
 

jacklamabe65

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
During The Sports Huddle's infamous run at WBZ, they were replaced by Dick Stockton (who came from KDKA in Pittsburgh) on Sunday nights, whom Eddie, Jim, and Mark referred to as "Dick Stockboy." That was nearly fifty years ago folks. Dick has been around a long time.
 

E5 Yaz

Transcends message boarding
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Apr 25, 2002
90,014
Oregon
I love how little he talks during that call. Makes the call and then just lets there be silence for a good long time. Love that old school notion that you don't have to explain great moments.
Or have a clever cath-phrase in your back pocket to pull out for the climax.
 
I've never liked the way Stockton said "home run" in his call of the Fisk HR - the downward inflection is the opposite of the sort of excitement you're supposed to have in that sort of moment. (Ned's inflection is much better.) But staying silent after a big moment is usually the right decision.
 

thehitcat

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 25, 2003
2,376
Windham, ME
He was on with Maddog today just after 5 and it was an OK interview but after the break Chris came back with the full 75 call including Garagiola narrating the replay and some of the aftermath. Interestingly they didn't know it hit the foul pole until the watched the replay. I hate to disagree with a pro like @Conigliaro's Potential but it's one of my favorite calls because it's so simple, and I'm a bit biased.
 

runnels3

Member
SoSH Member
I hate to disagree with a pro like @Conigliaro's Potential but it's one of my favorite calls because it's so simple, and I'm a bit biased.
I am too, but towards Ned's call. It's a perfect call!
I have the tape of the radio broadcast. Listening to Martin & Gowdy in the aftermath is like old times. They did innings 9 thru 12.
Did you know the next morning Garagiola himself wanted to revoice the Stockton version for the highlight reel? Overruled!
 
Strictly on a technical level, Fisk's HR was an incredibly difficult play to call:

1) This was deep in extra innings of a World Series which stood at 3 games to 2. The stakes could hardly be higher, and you need to have that sort of dramatic impact come through in your call.
2) As soon as the ball leaves the bat, the commentator will want to convey that it's been very well hit.
3) He'll also want to convey that it's heading very close to the foul pole.
4) The foul pole is only 310 feet away from home plate, leaving very little time to make the call - and it was a line drive, not a high fly ball.

On top of all that, Stockton himself wasn't actually ready to make the call: he had just finished saying "...and the wind blowing out" when the ball arrived at the plate, whereas Martin had set himself with "The 1-0 delivery to Fisk - he swings..." and was braced for impact, so to speak. (That's not a criticism of Stockton as such, because no commentator will ever be perfectly set for every pitch in a long baseball game - sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.)

I don't think Ned's call was perfect either, simply because "if it stays fair, it's gone..." uses too much of the limited time available to him. He was of course on radio and so had to convey more information to his listeners; on the other hand, Stockton had to hit his dramatic peak just after his viewers saw the ball hit the foul pole, whereas Martin had a fraction of additional time to finish the call before the crowd noise carried over the radio and the result of the play would become apparent. Either way, I think a better construction - just deconstructing the play after the fact and thinking what I might say given unlimited time to think about it - on radio would be something more like, "Long drive, left field - will it stay fair? HOME RUN! Fisk hits one into the foul pole - the Red Sox win, and the series is tied!" (Or maybe, "Long drive, left field - toward the foul pole...HOME RUN!") And for Stockton, you could start with "There it goes - will it stay fair? HOME RUN!" ("There it goes - a long drive..." is redundant, really.)

Of course I'm nitpicking - I think the use of the word "perfect" to describe Ned's call probably set me off on this tangent :) - but I think both calls have become famous because of the moment itself, not because of the calls themselves. THIS is a perfect call (albeit an easier call to make, and one for which Scully was perfectly set):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0toCMwEBwLo

Anyway, in truth I never really liked Stockton's voice; he was a real professional in his prime (before age really started robbing him of his skills), but I'd struggle to think of a top play-by-play guy in his era whose pipes I liked less. And certainly I'm now glad that he's moving out and freeing up a new slot - hopefully for a good up-and-coming commentator - on Fox's NFL coverage in particular. But that's not to take anything away from those of you who remember him very fondly from his glory days.
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
Strictly on a technical level, Fisk's HR was an incredibly difficult play to call:

1) This was deep in extra innings of a World Series which stood at 3 games to 2. The stakes could hardly be higher, and you need to have that sort of dramatic impact come through in your call.
2) As soon as the ball leaves the bat, the commentator will want to convey that it's been very well hit.
3) He'll also want to convey that it's heading very close to the foul pole.
4) The foul pole is only 310 feet away from home plate, leaving very little time to make the call - and it was a line drive, not a high fly ball.

Anyway, in truth I never really liked Stockton's voice; he was a real professional in his prime (before age really started robbing him of his skills), but I'd struggle to think of a top play-by-play guy in his era whose pipes I liked less. And certainly I'm now glad that he's moving out and freeing up a new slot - hopefully for a good up-and-coming commentator - on Fox's NFL coverage in particular. But that's not to take anything away from those of you who remember him very fondly from his glory days.
Given who we've been subjected to on ESPN the last couple years on MNF; the jury's still out on how good Mr. (or Ms.) Up-And-Coming will be.
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
I love how little he talks during that call. Makes the call and then just lets there be silence for a good long time. Love that old school notion that you don't have to explain great moments.
Nothing beats Gil Santos' call of the SB 36 game winning field goal, but I have grown to appreciate Summerall's call over the years. There was also the Westwood One radio call by Howard David that has been lost over time, but it was damn good, too.
 

Tony C

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Apr 13, 2000
13,694
I've never liked the way Stockton said "home run" in his call of the Fisk HR - the downward inflection is the opposite of the sort of excitement you're supposed to have in that sort of moment. (Ned's inflection is much better.) But staying silent after a big moment is usually the right decision.
Yep, the downward inflection doesn't work -- as others noted it can be chalked up to a shot, the build up, and just how fast it went out. By the time he was saying "if it stays fair"....all the viewers had seen it go out, so he spits out the "home run" element with the wrong inflection, as you point out. That said, as I said before, what I love about the call is how he shuts up after that -- very Summerall-esque.

Nothing like some good baseball announcer talk and, yeah, nothing better than Scully's call (but he must have had a good second + to make it over Stockton's).
 

E5 Yaz

Transcends message boarding
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Apr 25, 2002
90,014
Oregon
Stockton story from Peter King's column

Stockton also did nine teams’ preseason games. Worked with John Riggins and Joe Theismann doing the Washington exhibitions, and new owner Daniel Snyder decided he wanted to go with an all-local crew. So Stockton, unbowed, went a few miles up I-95, and he and Daryl Johnston started to do the Ravens summer games. “I see Snyder at the Super Bowl,” Stockton said, “and he said, ‘I see you’re doing the Ravens games. You should be doing our games!’ I said, ‘Well, you fired us.’ “
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/28/urban-meyer-jaguars-trevor-lawrence-nfl-draft-trades-fmia-peter-king/?cid=fmiatw