BY STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com
“Let’s go on a cowhide joyride!”
It’s become the home run call for young baseball broadcaster Andrew Mild.
Bringing his love of the game and excitement to his job, the northwest Indiana native is in his first season as the play-by-play voice of the Atlantic League’s Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (Waldorf, Md.).
“Every game is a big game — it’s a baseball game,” says Mild. “I’ve listened to too many boring broadcasters.”
Mild, who was born in Hammond, Ind. the son of Mark and Becky Mild and the older brother of Breeann, grew up in nearby Crown Point as a Chicago Cubs fan.
Mom’s favorite from the 1980’s was Rick Sutcliffe. Breeann Mild (Crown Point, Ind., High School Class of 2020) is now a pre-med student at Purdue University.
Andrew bonded with his father with Len Kasper as Cubs TV play-by-play man. Pat Hughes and Ron Santo formed the radio tandem. Hall of Famer Harry Caray died before Andrew was born, but he appreciates his passion.
“He brought the excitement and was kind of like the No. 1 fan,” says Mild. “I grew up a baseball fan. My baby pictures were taken in a giant glove.
“I just want to bring that excitement and for people to be interested, laugh and have a great time. I want to build a connection. I don’t want to be the next Harry Caray. I want to be the first Andrew Mild.”
The young broadcaster has noticed that Hughes talks slow and gets excited when necessary.
“You listen to these guys over 100 times a year and you start to develop your own relationship with them,” says Mild. “Ron Santo was so invested.”
As an eighth grader at Col. John Wheeler Middle School, Mild went as Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams for “Wax Museum” day.
“I love hitting,” says Mild. “It’s the hardest thing to do in sports. You can fail 7 out of 10 times and still be the best hitter in the league. Ted had a passion for it and I have a passion for it.”
Andrew grew up playing baseball and Wiffle@Ball with cousin Riley Clark.
“He supposedly taught me how to hit left-handed,” says Mild. “I do everything righty except for golf and bat.”
Mild, who turns 24 in July, learned about the gig with the Blue Crabs through TeamworkOnline.com. He sent in an application and his reel developed during his seasons with the Frontier League’s Windy City ThunderBolts and Northern League’s Lake County CornDogs and went through a few interviews. He was offered the job and moved to Maryland in mid-February.
Mild does not have a broadcast partner at Southern Maryland. There is a producer in the booth at home, but he’s on his own for road games.
“You just have to be prepared,” says Mild. “The good news is that we have so many great guys on the team that I can talk to before the game. A lot of them are willing to tell good stories and I relay that.
“Fans just love the stories.”
Field staff for the Blue Crabs is manager Stan Cliburn, pitching coach Daryl Thompson, bench coach Ray Ortega and hitting coach Brandon Lee.
Aside from play-by-play, Mild prepares game notes, distributes lineups (at home), interviews players after a win and feeds social media and the online scoreboard.
FloSports.tv is the live streaming partner of the Atlantic League. The Blue Crabs use streamlabs.com software to produce their scoreboard and other video elements.
Mild typically has a team and a personal lap top open with his scorebook next to the mixer.
“It keeps me on my toes,” says Mild. “But I don’t know if I’d want to do anything else.”
A 2018 honors diploma graduate of Crown Point High, where he played baseball through his junior year, Mild got to broadcast for a league champion in his hometown in 2022.
“The CornDogs’ first season was so instrumental to the rest of the league,” says Mild. “The other cities can see just how well it did in Crown Point. I give all credit (CornDogs majority owner) Ralph (Flores). He built a really strong team in a really strong place.
“The nice thing about Legacy Fields in Crown Point is that it’s right on the border of Crown Point and Merrillville and Schererville is right there. We got a mixture of guys on that team. We had a packed house every night. I had a great time being the first voice of the team and getting my feet wet being the No. 1 (broadcaster) for a collegiate team. Winning the whole thing, that was great.”
Mild was an intern at Windy City in 2021 while making a transition from being a Sport Management/Communications double major at Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind., — where he was an outfielder on the baseball team — to a Sports Media major with a Marketing minor at Butler University in Indianapolis.
He partnered in the ThunderBolts booth with No. 1 broadcaster Connor Onion.
“I always came in ready,” says Mild. “I was always asking Connor and my boss — Terry Bonadonna — what I could do better. “They were always willing to talk to me about broadcasting. That’s why I was there — to learn and get better.
“They understood my passion. They knew whatever they told me wasn’t just going to be wasted air. What can I keep? What do I get rid of? Trying to slow down my talking was a big thing.
“Now I tell myself if you feel like you’re talking too slow you’ve got the right pace. I’m a natural introvert and I became a broadcaster. Good for me.”
Mild also got many practice reps on his friend’s MLB: The Show video game or by muting a contest on TV or online.
Lecturer/head of Butler+ Media Nick White presented many on-air opportunities while Mild finished up his degree in December 2022 — about two months before landing his current position.
“Life comes at you fast as Ferris Bueller once said,” says Mild. “I try to look around every once in awhile.”
Another way Mild sharpened his skills was to call games for Crown Point Babe Ruth. Andrew’s grandfather — John Pearson — is president of the league and was an umpire in the first Cal Ripken World Series. Grandmother Gale Pearson is always around the park. His parents are also board members.
“It was great, especially during COVID when fans couldn’t really attend the games,” says Mild of broadcasting games on Facebook Live. “They could see and hear everything.
“Helping them out during a time of crisis was my way of giving back to the game and the people who love the sport.”
His first partner was Alex Coil, who is a graduate of Valparaiso (Ind.) High School and Arizona State University and now a play-by-play announcer for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.
Onion introduced Mild to Bob Carpenter’s Baseball Scorebook.
“I like it because it gives you lots of space to write down notes,” says Mild. “It allows you to put the defense on top of the opposing lineup. If I forget the guys’ name I can look down and look back up and I know I have time to put together a sentence and call the play.
“The good part is that you spend so much time with your guys that you can just look at them and know immediately who it is. It might take you the first game of a series to learn the other guys. But after a few games you get into a rhythm and know who that is.”
Mild does not have a broadcast partner at Southern Maryland. There is a producer in the booth at home, but he’s on his own at the road.
“You just have to be prepared,” says Mild “The good news is that we have so many great guys on the team that I can talk to before the game. A lot of them are willing to tell good stories and I relay that.
“Fans just love the stories.”
Aside from play-by-play, Mild prepares game notes, distributes lineups (at home), interviews players after a win and feeds social media and the online scoreboard.
He typically has a team and a personal lap top open with his scoreboard next to the mixer.
“It keeps me on my toes,” says Mild. “But I don’t know if I’d want to do anything else.”
Rule experiments in the Atlantic League in 2023 include the designated pinch-runner, single disengagement limit and “Double Hook” designated hitter.
Each club will list a player who is not otherwise in the starting lineup as a designated pinch-runner. That player may then be substituted at any point into the game as a baserunner. The player who is substituted for, as well as the pinch-runner, may then return to the game without penalty.
South Maryland’s designated runner is switch-hitting outfielder and former collegiate track and field champion sprinter J.T. Reed.
The disengagement rule relates to the pitch clock and keeps pitchers from abusing the system while also leading runners to take more daring leads.
If the starting pitcher fails to make it through fifth inning, the club loses the DH for the remainder of the game and must either have its pitcher hit or use pinch-hitters when that spot comes up in the batting order.
Like Major League Baseball, the Atlantic League has a pitch clock, 3-batter minimum, wider bases, banned the shift and “ghost runner” or extra-inning free runner.
The broadcaster disagrees with a scoring decision that sometimes comes with the latter rule. He also understands why things like this have been implemented.
“If the ghost runner scores it should not be a blown save,” says Mild. “We’re getting to the point where there are so many things you can turn to that are streaming and at your finger tips, you need something that is going to interest them and keep their attention. That is scoring more runs at a higher volume even if it means changing the rules of the game.
“This pitch clock, I love it. We had a 14-2 game last night and it only went 2 1/2 hours. You could add a few seconds, but otherwise it’s a great rule.
“After awhile hitters and pitchers get used to it. Hitters are not stepping out of the box and pitchers are working a little faster.”
Mild is living his dream.
“I’d like to thank the game of baseball and my friends for supporting me throughout the whole process,” says Mild. “They challenged me to be better.”
Alex Cohen (right), the play-by-play voice of the Iowa Cubs, gets a visit in the booth on July 4, 2019 from Joe Biden. Cohen is a Philadelphia area native and graduate of Indiana University. (Iowa Cubs Photo)
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