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00:03This is Tuesday, January the 20th, 1981, with Matt Sapitka speaking at the Hotel DuPont
00:15where the 32nd anniversary banquet of the Wilmington Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association
00:22appears being held.
00:37I'm speaking with Richie Ashburn, in the hospitality room at the Hotel DuPont, let's see, we bought
00:47our tea.
00:53Rich, what was the most difficult part, adjusting to the broadcasting booth after 15 years as
00:59a major leaguer?
00:59You went directly, there was no span of time in between, a moment over, as soon as you finish
01:04your career, I believe it was 63 when we went into broadcasting.
01:07What was the toughest part you found adjusting to broadcasting?
01:11Well, it had to be establishing some kind of technique or style, whatever you want to call
01:18it.
01:19It's not that easy really to just sit down behind a microphone and start telling people
01:24about a baseball game.
01:25I was, I was thrust into the play-by-play right away because one of our watchers took sick
01:32and missed about a leap, but that was the hardest thing, the play-by-play.
01:36I never really had that much problem during the color because, well, I mostly knew what
01:46I was talking about as far as baseball was concerned, but establishing a rhythm, a timing,
01:53working with somebody, that was the most difficult part of it.
01:58When you were in a broadcasting booth, were you able to keep scoring a book using K's
02:02for strikeouts and, you know, the other indications there for different things?
02:07Were you able to follow the scorebook?
02:09Yeah, I could do that.
02:11That was never a problem to me, although it's been a big problem with Tim Carver who just
02:18made the change himself because he had never kept score.
02:21I don't know, I think every guy in the booth has his own style.
02:28There are certain basic things you put down, as you mentioned, K for the strikeout and things
02:34like that, but that was never any problem for me in keeping score.
02:41Did you have anybody, not idolized, but did you like your style in the broadcasting booth
02:46when you were playing, although you never knew that at that time you were going to be in the
02:50broadcasting booth?
02:51Is there anybody you really liked, you thought had a good style as a broadcaster, sports broadcaster?
02:56I didn't hear that many games, obviously, because I was playing in most of them, but when the
03:02Philadelphia Athletics were in town, I used to listen to their games occasionally.
03:06And I liked by some style and his voice.
03:12He had a nice, easy way to broadcast the games.
03:18He had a laid back style, I guess you'd say it.
03:22And he, I don't know, I liked his delivery, but I never tried to emulate him because I never had
03:31his voice.
03:33And, you know, I worked with Guy for, I think it was about 15 or 16 years, and yet I
03:41don't think that I did anything the way he did it in the broadcasting booth.
03:48When you first started broadcast, I remember I hear you and I said, this guy's never going to last.
03:54There was the trying there and so forth, but now you relax, you're a real pro.
03:59How about that first year?
04:00Were there any negative comments or letters or people sending negative letters to you or any comments about your broadcasting
04:07that first year, 63?
04:08Well, I suppose they were. I didn't really, I didn't hear much about it.
04:14But that's one of the things that helped me in Philadelphia is that I think people were patient with me.
04:19They, I think they were rooting for me to do well.
04:25They liked me there as a player, and I think they probably overlooked some things that they might not have
04:32if it had been somebody else.
04:34But that's one thing that did help me with the fans. I basically got a lot of encouragement and occasionally
04:43some good advice from them.
04:45What would you name a couple of people who helped in you making the transition from the playing field to
04:50the broadcasting field?
04:52Very instrumental. Give me a start.
04:55Well, really nobody helped me. I was pretty much on my own. That's kind of odd that in that business
05:03you don't seem to get that much help from the people you're working with.
05:08Now, see, I was the first color man in Philadelphia, so there wasn't, I couldn't go to another guy who
05:15had been there before and asked him what he should do or what not to do.
05:18And I think the best piece of advice I ever got was from the guy who hired me and fell
05:23over the name of Les Qualey, who at that time hired and fired the broadcaster.
05:29Just one moment. Is that QUA, isn't it?
05:32That's Qualey.
05:33Yeah, right.
05:34Qualey with an EY on the end of it.
05:36Les Qualey told me when I first started, he says, he said, for crying out loud, if you don't have
05:42anything to say, don't say it.
05:44And I think that's the best piece of advice I ever had.
05:48All right, this afternoon, did you watch the inauguration or did you listen to the news about it? What did
05:54you do this afternoon?
05:55I watched the inauguration and I watched all of it.
06:00Now, if Richie Ashburn didn't be coming out to say any professional baseball player, what kind of a career would
06:06Richie Ashburn have pursued?
06:09Good question. I went to college. I did get a degree in English. I don't know. I probably would have
06:23been possibly a school teacher. I've always had an interest in politics, at least an interest enough to work for
06:33people in politics.
06:35But I really don't think I would have been involved actively in politics. I've thought about that question and what
06:44I might do, but I can't give you an honest answer. I probably would have stayed in Nebraska and taught
06:52school.
06:53Yeah, I understand you have a CB radio. Your handle is Cornhusker. Is that right?
06:59That is correct. I use a CB occasionally in my driving. And I know where you got that information right
07:08from Delaware.
07:08That's right. Because I think probably you're talking about his handle is the Blue Max.
07:15That's also originated in Delaware, Blue Max. The guy who worked for the DuPont company, Jack Hunter, wrote Blue Max,
07:22which later became a movie.
07:23Rich, why do you always wear a hat when you're broadcasting that?
07:28I don't know. A lot of people ask me about that. I like hats. I've always liked them. I wore
07:32them a lot as a kid. I don't really collect them.
07:36And if you put all the hats together that I have, I don't think they're worth a hundred dollars in
07:41total, but they're mostly floppy tennis hats and rain hats and golf hats and that kind of thing.
07:49I started wearing hats as a kid and I liked them. When I was younger and I worked out on
07:57the farm in the hot sun in the summer, you had to wear a straw hat or some kind of
08:03hat.
08:03That's in Nebraska. Yes. This is Nebraska. Tilda, Nebraska.
08:07That's right. Tilda, Nebraska. I don't know. I don't. In the wintertime, I wore them. We keep from catching cold
08:16because I catch cold. Head cold.
08:20Yeah, but in baseball, you're secluded from the sun up there in the broadcasting booth, right?
08:26Generally, yeah. We don't have a sun problem, but it's just a habit I got into and I feel comfortable.
08:34Did you wear a hat here tonight?
08:35Well, I wore a hat, but I checked it somewhere.
08:38How many Twinkies and Tasty Cakes do you consume during one baseball season?
08:45I like Tasty Cakes, one of our sponsors. I do like their product. I have favorites.
08:52Twinkies. Twinkies is not made by Tasty Cakes, incidentally. It's by a rival bakery.
08:57But I like almost everything they have. I love their cakes. I suppose their cupcakes and their, I like their,
09:09what they call, Tandy Cakes.
09:12So, you know, I'm a, I, I, I've been to their place and I've been to their, I've seen their
09:19operation.
09:20So, I think they make the best baked, the best package baked goods of anybody I know.
09:27And it's nice to work for good people. It's nice to work for good people who have a good product.
09:33What was your immediate reaction, which when you found out that here you broadcast, you stayed with the Phillies all
09:40through the 1980s season, they won a, they're going to the World Series.
09:44You find out you and your, uh, uh, uh, broadcasting booth buddies couldn't, uh, couldn't air the World Series.
09:52Disappointments are really, uh, maybe some frustration to go that far and then not really take part in the, in
09:59the big event.
10:01But we knew it was coming, uh, so it wasn't any shock to us.
10:06I don't think it was as hard on me as it, as it was on, uh, say Harry Kellis, who,
10:11who really was upset by it.
10:15But I, uh, after the initial disappointment wore off, I, I kind of sat back as a fan and enjoyed
10:24the games.
10:25You know, in every season, you know, like for example, the Phillies in 1980 or many great plays during the
10:30season, but there's always one play that stands out.
10:33Oh, just like your play in 1950 and the last game of the season against Brooklyn Dodgers, the Dodgers stadium.
10:41And you threw out Kyle Abrams at home plate with the run that would have won the game for the
10:46Dodgers, which would have necessitated a playoff.
10:49And that had enabled the Phillies to go in the World Series.
10:51Now, everybody remembers that play.
10:52What do you remember?
10:53Any, one particular play like that during the 1980 Philly season?
10:58I'll tell you, there were so many big plays and clutch hits, particularly in the last month of the season
11:04that I recall, that it would be hard really to say one play did it.
11:11I think one.
11:12No, not did it.
11:12Just one great play.
11:13It was a fantastic play.
11:15Had that lump by wanting, wanting to enable the Phillies in the World Series.
11:19Well, one of the great, there were a couple of great defensive plays late in the season.
11:27Actually, they were relay throws from a drag to trio, two of those, that cut down what could
11:35have been winning runs and they were executed perfectly.
11:39That's kind of a, you know, that's the kind of play you practice on.
11:43And it, for one, oh, one plain old glove play, I don't think, you know, there was one that saved
12:02the game or there were a lot of them that saved runs.
12:08And, you know, it caught a little short there.
12:11I don't know if I can key on one particular play, but it was, I think that was one of
12:17the interesting things about the end.
12:19You could look back on it and you could think of plays, you could think of hits by almost everybody
12:27on the ball clock.
12:28Where you could say, well, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for that one situation.
12:33And that was the nice thing about it.
12:35It was really a team effort.
12:36Do you do any preparation before you go to the broadcasting booth to broadcast the Phillies game?
12:42Do you prepare at all?
12:44Oh, sure.
12:44I prepare in the, I will, you know, get down the field and talk to players and talk to the
12:51managers and both clubs.
12:53And just by hanging around and visiting, you can pick up a lot of little things that might help in
13:02the color part of that.
13:03Outside of that, I don't do that much.
13:06I follow the box scores very closely and I see what other teams are doing and what other players are
13:14doing.
13:15But I think that's, I think everybody will do that.
13:19Do you follow pro football at all, Rich?
13:21Oh, yeah. I'm a great fan.
13:23Have you seen the Eagles either on TV or in person this year?
13:27Oh, sure. I've seen them. I've seen them in person probably half a dozen times and I've seen them on
13:35television and the away games.
13:38I have seen or listened to almost every game of play.
13:42All right. One final question, Rich.
13:44How about your prediction for Sunday's game, the Super Bowl game, Raiders versus Eagles in New Orleans?
13:50Well, I think it's, I think the Eagles will win. I think it's, I think it's already been decided.
13:55I think somebody upstairs has said, well, this is going to be filled off the year and that they're all
13:59playing that way.
14:00How about a score, Rich? Predictions?
14:03Score? Okay. I'll give you a score. I'll give you a 24 to 10 Eagles.
14:07All right. Thank you very much, Rich.
14:23All right.
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