Eric Nadel
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Eric Nadel (b. May 16, 1951) is a sports announcer on radio broadcasts for the Texas Rangers baseball organization.
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[edit] Biography
He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and decided at a young age that he wanted to be a sports broadcaster. He developed his skills at Brown University (class of 1972) announcing hockey, baseball, and football games on the college radio station (WBRU). He had minor league hockey play-by-play stints in Muskegon, Oklahoma City, and Dallas and was also the radio voice of the Dallas Diamonds of the Women’s Professional Basketball League.
The Rangers hired Nadel in 1979, and he called games on television and radio in his first three seasons. Beginning in 1982, he began a 13-year run with Mark Holtz as the radio team on WBAP, returning to the television booth for one year in 1984. Nadel became the team’s lead radio voice when Holtz moved to television in 1995. Since then, he has broadcast on KRLD radio. Among his most memorable calls was the 5000th strikeout of Nolan Ryan’s career on August 22, 1989.
The arrival of Julio Franco in Texas motivated Nadel to learn Spanish. Nadel is now a fluent Spanish speaker, having taken part in Spanish language game broadcasts in a number of Latin American countries. He is also the author of several books (see Bibliography). Since 1985, Nadel has also produced and recorded A Page From Baseball’s Past radio features that run on the Rangers radio network.
He appeared as the Rangers' radio announcer in the film The Rookie in 2002.
In May 2006 Nadel announced that he has signed a "lifetime contract" with the Rangers, allowing him to continue on their broadcast team until he chooses to retire. Should he continue through 2009, Nadel would join a handful of broadcasters to call major league games for 30 years, with the added distinction of calling all of them for one franchise.
[edit] Awards
In 1991, Nadel was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame. He has received the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Texas Sportscaster of the Year Award three times (1999, 2001, and 2002). He was also a nominee for the 2004 Ford Frick Award on the fan ballot.
[edit] Bibliography
- Block, Zachary. "At the old ball game: Eric Nadel '72." Brown Alumni Magazine. March/April 2004. (ISSN 1520-863X)
- Nadel, Eric. The Night Wilt Scored 100: Tales from Basketball's Past . New York: Taylor Publishing, 1990. (ISBN 0-87833-662-1)
- Nadel, Eric. The Texas Rangers : The Authorized History. New York: Taylor Trade Publishing, 1997. (ISBN 0-87833-139-5)
- Nadel, Eric and Craig R. Wright. The Man Who Stole First Base: Tales from Baseball's Past . New York: Taylor Publishing, 1989. (ISBN 0-87833-633-8)
