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Giants 101: What makes minor league baseball unique? (part 2)
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In part one of this article, we talked to San Jose Giants public address announcer Russ Call and on-field host Courtney Pong about the unique between inning promotions that keep minor league ballgames lively when the play stops.
Call’s favorite promotion is “Smash for Cash,” during which fans team with a player who tries to fire a baseball through a truck’s headlight. The player plays for cash while the fan gets a gift certificate to the souvenir stand. Another popular game is when a young fan tries to slap a tennis ball through the legs of a hockey goalie.
Pong enjoys finding a youngster to start the game with the call of “play ball!,” and assembling a group of singers for “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
Some promotions just don’t work and get pulled quickly. Call remembers one with radio-controlled cars that went all over the field. There was another with squirt guns that lasted one game. And then there are unanticipated problems with the power or scoreboard, or when contestants don’t behave as they’re supposed to.
Pong and Call quickly developed a chemistry that helps keep the promotions moving and the fans entertained.
“You get an understanding of what timing is and when it’s time to get off the field,” Pong says. “As many minor league games in as many cities as I’ve been to I think Russ is just the best. He has such a great voice and does a great job.”
Pong wasn’t into sports at all when she took the gig. Now she’s hooked on baseball and hopes to have a career in community relations.
“I like the fact that the game and players are so accessible and so people can truly just enjoy what baseball is,” Pong says.
Pong says she feels “spoiled” do to her job, and Call says he can’t believe he’s being paid to go to the ballpark every day.
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