Major League Baseball

Enberg hopes to show he's still got his fastball

Published Dec. 4, 2009 3:08 a.m. ET

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Figuratively and literally, Dick Enberg was back in the batter's box. More than two decades after he last called big league baseball on a daily basis, Enberg was introduced Thursday as the San Diego Padres' new TV play-by-play announcer. The only real surprise was that he didn't drop his signature "Oh, my!" during a press conference at home plate at Petco Park. Enberg said he's not being pushed out at CBS, although he said his contract expires after the NCAA basketball tournament. He said he'll still do Wimbledon and the Australian Open for two years and would like to be able to keep doing the U.S. Open. As for the Padres job, "I've made this decision basically because I love the game, I've been a fan of the game, I've coached the game, I've tried to play it, and I've talked about it," Enberg said. "Here's an opportunity at this stage in my career to do something I didn't think was possible. I can't thank these gentlemen enough to let me enter the batter's box again." The lectern happened to be in the left-handed batter's box. Enberg called it "a shocking move for me; shocking in that I never thought this opportunity would present itself." Enberg turns 75 on Jan. 9. "Some people are saying, 'Well, wait a minute, Enberg's gotten old, he's got some age on him.' I still think that I've got my fastball. I don't locate it as well as I used to, but I think the experiences that I've had as a broadcaster will more than compensate for that." Enberg signed a three-year deal to call between 110 and 120 games per season. Hiring Enberg was the idea of Padres president Tom Garfinkel. "I don't know that there's a better storyteller alive," Garfinkel said. Enberg said he wasn't being hired to be a cheerleader for the Padres, who finished fourth in the NL West. He also said part of the joy of the job will be showing up early to watch batting practice and sit in the dugouts and talk to players and managers. "I want to want to rub shoulders with the great players of this game and I want to get their stories," he said. Former big league pitcher Mark Grant will continue to be the color commentator, and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn will also work some games. The current play-by-play announcer, Mark Neely, will do the games Enberg misses and will have other duties. Neely was hired before the 2009 season. Enberg said he felt for Neely, but said the Padres pursued him, not vice versa. Enberg began his full-time broadcasting career in 1965 in Los Angeles as the radio and television voice of the California Angels, UCLA basketball and the Los Angeles Rams. Enberg is known for using his signature phrase "Oh, my!" at key moments in sporting events. He didn't use it during the news conference. "It's not something that's part of my normal conversation," Enberg said. "I grew up with a mother who said, 'oh, my,' a lot, usually in dismay, 'Oh, my, now what have you done?'. But it's a Midwestern term of exclamation. People say, 'Have you heard about so and so? Oh, my!' Or, 'Oh, my, that's exciting!' " Enberg said he needed a signature call after being hired to do play-by-play at Indiana in 1957, and it stuck. "It's been a good friend for, well, 50 years," he said.

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