Dan Baker (Legendary Philadelphia Phillies PA Announcer)

Dan Baker--Philadelphia Phillies public address announcer since 1972--joins the show in advance of the Chase Utley Phillies Wall of Fame induction ceremony tonight at Citizens Bank Park, kicking off Phillies Alumni Weekend.  Baker shares his thoughts on Utley, his craft of announcing (which has included six World Series, plus 30 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, 21 years of Big 5 Basketball, 15 years with Drexel University men's basketball radio, multiple Army-Navy games, and much more), his parents' influence on his work, and some of his favorite players to announce (and why), even mixing in a few of them on the show :). Baker also compares and contrasts the 1976, 1996, and 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Games hosted in Philadelphia, all three for which has been the public address announcer. Born in Philadelphia, raised in Mt. Ephraim, NJ, a graduate of Audubon NJ High School, with an undergraduate degree from Glassboro State (now Rowan) University and a master's degree from Temple University, Baker is a local treasure whose professional career speaks (literally) for itself :). Tonight's ceremony begins at 615pm with the Phillies squaring off against the 2025 World Series finalist Toronto Blue Jays at 640pm. More information on Phillies Alumni Weekend--including the 60+ players anticipated for Sunday's afternoon game--is available at www.phillies.com, where you can also stream tonight's ceremony. Sports clips:Don Mattingly (Philadelphia Phillies manager) (MLB.com)Nick Sirianni (Philadelphia Eagles head coach) (philadelphiaeagles.com)Jaylen Brown (Philadelphia 76ers forward) (76ers YouTube page)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.