TCNJ

35 SPRING 2025 "IF YOU'RE NOT HAVING FUN, I GUARANTEE YOU, THE LISTENERS ARE NOT, EITHER." — Pat McCarthy Called up to the Big Leagues Tom announced games for the Thunder for seven seasons. In 2001, the Phillies hired him as a radio broadcaster. He left in 2006 for two years to do the same for the Mets, but rejoined the Phillies in 2008 and became their lead TV announcer when legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas died in 2009. "I had the greatest opportunity to be part of the fabric of an amazing sports town," he says. After TCNJ, Pat spent five years as a radio broadcaster for a Phillies minor league affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. His minor league work was so well-regarded that he was even asked to cover for his dad on a few televised Phillies games in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Pat was hired as a Mets radio broadcaster. He hosts all the pre- and postgame shows and sometimes calls the play-by-play. "It's the honor of a lifetime," says Pat, who knows that hundreds of broadcasters apply for the handful of jobs available each year. "There was a standard set going back to the Mets' first season in 1962. Every day, I work to maintain that level of excellence." Playing ball The work that goes into each broadcast, Tom says, is "pretty intense." He's at the ballpark hours before the first pitch, talking to players and meeting with the manager about gameday lineups. He studies the notes prepared by the team's public relations department, scrolls through social media and pertinent sports websites, and looks at sponsorship scripts he's asked to read. During the game, Tom confers with members of his TV production team, who update him on graphics they might show or statistics that might be worth mentioning. "For Tom to be able to master the craft of describing the game and then also have the personality to be able to weave his knowledge into a conversation or the flow of a game is great," says Howie Rose, a longtime radio commentor who worked with Tom during his years with the Mets. "And so I was really impressed with that from the very beginning." Pat goes through a similar regimen. "Preparation is the number one thing," he says. "If you're not prepared, people are going to know." Pat has to be descriptive, since he's serving as the listener's eyes. Tom says that he admires his son's way with words: "He's way wittier than I am. I don't have the wordsmith ability that he does." "You've got to be having fun," Pat says. "Because if you're not having fun, I guarantee you, the listeners are not, either." Both McCarthys have become part of the tight-knit group of sports broadcasters, especially those in the Philadelphia and New York area. Many broadcasters have worked with both Tom and Pat at some point. "The two of them have a lot of similarities in their personality and in their sense of humor, which meshes well with me and our booth," Rose says. Former Phillies first baseman John Kruk, who is on the Phillies broadcast team with Tom and has also worked with Pat, says: "They make life easy when you do games with them." But it is an off-air trait that Pat admires in his dad and tries to emulate the most: "I watch him learn everybody's name and shake everybody's hand," Pat says, noting that this includes the players, coaches, and fans. 3RD INNING 4TH INNING

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