‘Hello friends’: Minor League Baseball announcer imitates Jim Nantz’s Masters broadcasts as he calls an at-bat as if he’s describing play at Augusta
On Saturday, while the third round of The Masters was dealing with weather delays and stoppage in play, a minor league baseball broadcaster tried to bring a piece of Augusta National to the ballpark.
Dan Hasty, a broadcaster with the West Michigan Whitecaps, began the seventh inning of their game against the Fort Wayne Tin Caps by playing ‘Augusta’ – the song CBS has been using as the theme of The Masters for decades.
‘Hello friends,’ Hasty began – echoing the introduction Jim Nantz has used for years – before proceeding to call an at-bat with all the solemnity that one would call a major championship with. ‘
A beautiful Saturday afternoon at Comstock Park,’ Hasty remarked. ‘This is inning number seven, still on the front nine, if you will.’
Hasty then went on to introduce the batter, remarking that he was, ‘looking at a pitch from about 60 feet, six inches.’
West Michigan Whitecaps broadcaster Dan Hasty (R) imitated Jim Nantz’s golf calls Saturday
Nantz was in the midst of calling the third round of the Masters – when Hasty tried his hand at it
It was an exciting Masters final round that saw Jon Rahm (center) come from behind to win
After a pitch missed low for a ball, Hasty quipped, ‘No idea how that one stayed out.’
Once the batter got contact on the ball for a double Hasty called the hit calmly, saying, ‘A fine hit, deep to left center… off the wall, Lucas Dunn into second base. Exquisite. A one out double here in the second.’
Eventually, the charade dropped as Hasty and his color commentator broke into laughs before the next batter – with Hasty remarking, ‘Aren’t you happy it doesn’t sound like that every single day?’
The West Michigan Whitecaps are the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.
At Sunday’s final round, Spaniard Jon Rahm came back from two strokes down to win The Masters for the first time – beating his American LIV rivals Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson by four strokes.
