Opening Day marked the beginning of Don Orsillo\u2019s 11th season as Padres television play-by-play voice, which means \u2026 well, what it means he\u2019s been the former Red Sox television play-by-play voice for a long time now.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s come back to Fenway Park several times since he was staggered on Aug. 18, 2015 \u2014 yes, he remembers the precise date \u2014 when then-network president\/CEO Sean McGrail<\/a> informed him that after 15 seasons in the NESN booth, he would not be offered a new contract.<\/p>\n Returning to Fenway, which he is currently doing with the Padres in town for a three-game set<\/a>, is not a new thing anymore. But many of the faces at his former workplace are new, at least to him. There are more players on the Padres (one, Xander Bogaerts) who played for the Red Sox when Orsillo was calling their games than there are on the current Boston roster (none, though manager Alex Cora and coaches Jason Varitek and Andrew Bailey were active players during Orsillo\u2019s tenure). <\/p>\n Still, no matter how much time passes and how much changes, coming back to the city will always be a homecoming for the Northeastern graduate. Red Sox fans make sure of that.<\/p>\n \u201cHere we sit, 11 years later, and I\u2019m walking around [Thursday] by the Pru, and people are still coming up to me to say hello and wish me well,\u201d said Orsillo, who said his youngest daughter drove up from Rhode Island to hang out with him. \u201cAs I said in my last game calling the Red Sox, \u2018How do you want to be remembered? To be remembered at all means a lot to me.\u2019 That people remember me and Jerry [Remy, the Red Sox\u2019 primary color analyst and partner in hijinks during Orsillo\u2019s tenure<\/a>] so fondly is very humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n Orsillo landed a six-year deal with the Padres almost immediately after word broke late in that 2015 season that he would not be back with the Red Sox. He acknowledges now that he had some concerns about how he would be received.<\/p>\n \u201cI was taking over for Dick Enberg<\/a>, a national broadcasting legend and Hall of Famer,” he said. \u201cI was wondering, \u2018Are they going to accept me?\u2019 They don\u2019t know me. I\u2019m a guy that had been with one organization for 20 years, five in the minors [calling Triple-A Pawtucket games], and 15 here. I didn\u2019t know anything else, and they didn\u2019t know me.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful that it has gone amazingly well. They\u2019ve embraced me and my partner, who was here before me.\u201d<\/p>\n Don Orsillo\u2019s DNA:<\/p>\n \u26be\ufe0f\u3000 \ud83d\udc10 \u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 26, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n That partner is Mark \u201cMudcat\u201d Grant, a gregarious former pitcher for six teams in eight big league seasons. With the Orsillo\/Grant duo in the booth, the Padres\u2019 television broadcast was voted best regional-network broadcast in baseball last year in Awful Announcing\u2019s annual poll.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what we do is very similar to what Jerry and I did<\/a>,\u201d said Orsillo. \u201cMudcat\u2019s philosophy is the same as Jerry\u2019s. We\u2019re going to have fun.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal broadcasts, in my estimation, are different from national broadcasts. When I\u2019ve done games for TBS or Fox, my act is not the same. I\u2019m representing both teams. I\u2019m more straightforward. Local is different. You\u2019re on in people\u2019s living rooms every night, 162 games for six months. You can\u2019t be annoying, but you\u2019ve got to be yourself and show some personality and have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that Orsillo is having a good time in San Diego. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m doing one of two things when I\u2019m not on TV,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m fishing, or I\u2019m cooking.\u201d <\/p>\n This is confirmed by his Instagram feed, which sometimes looks like it is run by a food influencer<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy the area and all it has to offer so much,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ballpark, the fans.\u201d <\/p>\n He notes that the Padres have had just one rainout in his 11 years in San Diego<\/a>.<\/p>\n His happiness in his California circumstances sparks a question, and an answer that may not have seemed plausible 11 years ago.<\/p>\n Did it all work out for the best?<\/p>\n \u201cUm \u2026 yeah, in some ways,\u201c he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say they did me a favor or anything, because the Red Sox were my dream job. But as far as a Plan B, yeah, it\u2019s been wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n . . .<\/p>\n Word that the Patriots will be the featured team<\/a> on HBO\u2019s \u201cHard Knocks\u201d for the first time in the program\u2019s history during 2027 training camp made me wonder: Which team of the Bill Belichick era would you have most wanted to see on the show, which has been around since 2001? I think it has to be the 2007 Patriots, with the arrival of Randy Moss and Wes Welker. A sleeper pick? Training camp 2010, when Moss, Welker, Julian Edelman, and rookies Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez were all part of Tom Brady\u2019s pass-catching group \u2026 A revival of \u201cThis Week in Baseball,\u201d but on X.com? You know what, I think I\u2019ll just stick with watching the classic episodes from the 1970s and \u201880s on YouTube<\/a>. How about that, indeed. <\/p>\n Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\ud83c\udf99 \u26be\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/GcC3XGs111<\/a><\/p>\n