He's come off the bench a few times, but Jamie Campbell is a rookie in the business of baseball broadcasting.
Campbell, who was announced yesterday as Rogers Sportsnet's voice of the Toronto Blue Jays, knows the fans are going to take a wait-and-see attitude to the new guy in the booth.
"Because I am a hard-core baseball fan, I know how a lot of baseball fans are going to react to this announcement," he said. "Baseball fans are an interesting bunch. And, for the hard core, this might not be a popular choice.
"They want a voice they're familiar with. I'm a tried-and-true rookie."
But few broadcasters know the Jays as well as 37-year-old Campbell or have followed the team as closely.
Growing up in Oakville, about 40 kilometres west of Toronto, he used to catch a commuter train to Toronto after school 30 to 35 times a season to watch the team play.
"As a kid, I was a bit of a 'freak,' " he said. "My parents can certainly attest to that. As a kid and young person, I really have been at all the most important moments in Blue Jay history.
"I was there in 1978 when they turned their first triple play. I was there a few years later when Otto Velez hit four home runs in the afternoon against Cleveland.
"I saw [pitcher]Dave Stieb play left field for the team. And I was sitting 50 feet away from Devon White in 1992 when he made that spectacular catch in centre field [during the World Series against the Atlanta Braves] This job is the culmination of all those childhood moments."
It had been speculated that Vancouver-based Jim Hughson would call the Jays' West Coast games, but Campbell will be in the booth for all of Sportsnet's 100-plus games.
Campbell says he doesn't know who his broadcast partner will be. Former Jays Tom Candiotti, Pat Tabler, Rance Mulliniks and Darrin Fletcher have been mentioned.
Sportsnet's previous colour commentator, John Cerutti, died suddenly last September of arrhythmia. The network subsequently decided to replace announcer Rob Faulds.
Campbell called a few Jays games two years ago. Last summer, he did play-by-play for a handful of Canadian Football League games on Sportsnet. And he's announced Arena Football League games.
Vin Scully, the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer, tops his list of favourite baseball voices.
"What impressed me was the fact he's more of a storyteller than he is a stats guy," Campbell said. "I love hearing him tell stories about players, either modern-day or from the past. And I've always been a huge fan of Dan Shulman [who called Jays games for TSN before joining ESPN in the United States]"
Campbell's style, of course, has yet to be developed. But enthusiasm for the job shouldn't be a problem.
"As much as I dreamed about it, I never envisioned this," he said. "When you're young, you tend to be in awe of certain things. I remember with great clarity watching the old Blue Jay broadcasts with Fergie Oliver and the boys, and Don Chevrier calling the games.
"The fans aren't familiar with me as a baseball broadcaster, but I wish them to know I've loved this game passionately for almost 30 years. I hope they will have patience."
More curling on CBC
Curling fans spoke. Actually, they screamed bloody murder. And the CBC listened.
After the uproar last week over the fragmented and reduced coverage of the Scott Tournament of Hearts, the CBC has improved its TV schedule for the Tim Hortons Brier.
The Brier will start tomorrow and the CBC will carry the 4 p.m. EST telecast. Originally, it was scheduled for CBC Country Canada, a digital channel distributed to only 500,000 homes.
The important changes have the evening draws for Thursday and Friday of next week moving to the CBC's main network from CBC Country Canada.
The evening draws on Sunday and Monday will be carried by The Score television network, which is in six million homes. Without digital TV, curling fans won't see the prime-time Tuesday and Wednesday telecasts on Country Canada.
Throughout the tournament, the CBC will air the afternoon draws live. As well, all tiebreakers will be carried.
Last week, NBA TV and the Turner Broadcasting System announced an agreement whereby both networks will distribute all NBA TV programming and game coverage in high definition 24 hours a day beginning in the fall.
That won't happen at Raptors NBA TV in Canada. Raptors TV is not licensed for HDTV and the market in Canada isn't large enough yet to make it work economically.
TSN has signed a five-year rights deal with Formula One that will keep F1 races on the network through 2009. TSN's coverage will start tonight with the Australian Grand Prix qualifying race at midnight EST. The race will start at 9 p.m. tomorrow.