A Lifelong Love of Baseball: The Journey of Tim Kurkjian
Baseball was the only language spoken in the Kurkjian household. At half dozen years one-time, Tim went to the unproblematic schoolhouse library with his male parent Badrig and found a book titled "Big Time Baseball." Six years sometime without any coin, Badrig said to Tim, "Alright if yous can read the commencement paragraph, we'll become you this book". Tim successfully read the first paragraph, beginning a lifetime's worth of baseball memories.
In 1967 while in the 6th grade, Kurkjian was sitting in Ms. Marks form when his class received an invitation from the other 6th grade teacher Ms. Thiebert. Ms. Thiebert told all of the students, "You guys demand to put your books down and put your pencils away because we're gonna watch a baseball game." Thiebert, a dice-hard Carmine Sox fan, explained to the students that watching baseball for the next hour and a half was more important than studying. At this moment, Kurkjian came to an important realization.
"Wow [baseball] must be really important to other people also," he said. "I'll never forget that; information technology was a wonderful moment."
Taking a intermission from academics to watch baseball was all too familiar for Kurkjian as it happened oftentimes in his firm. Growing upwards, Kurkjian's parents would tell him and his brothers to "Stop your studying, the World Series is on." Badrig was an outstanding role player in his own right, while Kurkjian's brothers Matt and Andy are both in the Catholic University Baseball Hall of Fame.
However, baseball game wasn't the only sport he loved growing upward. Attending Walter Johnson High Schoolhouse in Bethesda, Maryland, Kurkjian also loved basketball and football. Standing at 5-two and 125 pounds when he graduated, Kurkjian realized playing sports beyond high school probably wasn't realistic. Lacking many interests outside of sports, he knew that he had to stay in sports somehow.
His mother, Joyce, was a bright writer. As a child, he would play tabletop games such equally APBA or Strat-O-Matic and write about the games. Realizing he could still exist involved with sports as a author, Kurkjian decided to bring together his high schoolhouse paper "The Pitch." This jumpstarted Tim, although he admits the stories were nothing special. In fact, ane day his gym teacher said, "That might exist the worst story I've e'er read in the school paper."
"When I think about Maryland, I call back about journalism."
Despite the negativity, Tim continued at his arts and crafts and enrolled at the University of Maryland in 1974. Each of his four years at Maryland, Tim applied to The Diamondback, but was rejected. Instead, he ended up working for his local county paper, the Montgomery County Journal. When not in the classroom or writing, Tim was oftentimes at one of the basketball, football game or baseball games continuing his love of sport. Throughout his time at Maryland, Kurkjian had the opportunity to sentry several talented players including John Lucas and David Thompson.
"When I recollect about Maryland, I remember well-nigh journalism," Kurkjian said. "I think about learning how to do my job, but I besides think about going to Cole Fieldhouse and watching some of the greatest basketball games I've always seen."
In 1978 upon graduation, Kurkjian took a position with the Washington Star, which was his first experience working at a daily newspaper. During his fourth dimension there, Kurkjian had the opportunity to work alongside some great writers like Dan Shaughnessy and Steve Guback.
"The most of import thing for me as a very young writer was to watch the veteran reporters piece of work, to spotter the veteran writers write," Kurkjian said.
During his 3 years at the Star, Kurkjian had the opportunity to encompass a variety of sports including: the Orioles, Navy Football game and Virginia Basketball game. However, in 1981 he found out that the paper folded and would exist shutting down in two weeks. This annunciation devastated Kurkjian. He had grown tremendously as a journalist, learning how great writers, reporters and columnists did their job.
"I was stunned, I was shocked, I cried because I wanted to piece of work there the rest of my life and suddenly it was over," Kurkjian said.
Subsequently leaving his outset daily newspaper, Kurkjian was hired at the Baltimore News American. After a brief two-calendar month stint there, that paper also folded. Now, Kurkjian was a 23-yr-onetime young journalist who'd lost two jobs in two months with the circumstances completely out of his control. Unsure of what was next, Kurkjian was offered a task at the Dallas Morning News. Moving to Texas was a frightening step for Kurkjian who had never left the state of Maryland earlier. His previous sports editor, Dave Smith from the Star, was also hired at the Dallas Forenoon News, which provided Kurkjian some comfort and a familiar face.
After working there for a month and half, Kurkjian received the first big break of his career. Skip Bayless, a columnist at the Dallas Morning News at the time, left for the Dallas Times Herald. With Bayless' departure, Randy Galloway, the previous baseball game writer, was promoted to columnist. Kurkjian was then promoted to exist the crush writer for the Texas Rangers. While Kurkjian was confident in his cognition of baseball, that beginning year on the vanquish proved to be a challenge as he didn't have the time to cultivate relationships and sources.
"I got killed the first year on the beat and I'thousand not afraid to say that," Kurkjian said. "It was a great learning experience for me."
"That was the most powerful night I've ever spent in a ballpark…"
He covered the Texas Rangers for three more seasons earlier moving back to Maryland in 1986 where he landed a chore with the Baltimore Sun. Although he was a more experienced announcer at present, roofing the Orioles was an entirely new feel. He had to undergo the aforementioned process as in Dallas, spending time to build relationships with sources. Yet, in Baltimore, he was now writing for a much bigger audience compared to his time in Dallas. Fifty-fifty though the Orioles didn't relish much success during those years, regardless of their record they were notwithstanding the biggest game in town every night. As a consequence, Kurkjian's stories would always be on the front end page of the Dominicus the side by side morn, which was not something he was accustomed to in Dallas.
In 1989, Kurkjian was hired at Sports Illustrated— another monumental pace up in his career. Now at SI, Kurkjian felt an enormous amount of pressure level, much of which was self-imposed. Kurkjian knew he understood the game of baseball game as well as anyone but didn't believe he could write as well as everyone else. He used this as motivation with every story he wrote.
"At SI, I felt like a football player," Kurkjian said. "I'm only playing once a week and if I stink it up on Sun the 1 week that I write I have to expect another week to make up for it."
During his viii years at SI, Kurkjian was granted an opportunity non many other journalists received. During his fourth dimension covering the Orioles, Kurkjian built a strong relationship with Cal Ripken Jr. and was granted access to shadow him for a week. He had the opportunity to travel with Ripken from his gym to his firm and to the ballpark. Remarkably, during his calendar week spent with Ripken, Kurkjian only wrote down xxx seconds worth of notes, instead he just observed.
During that week, on Sep. 6, 1995 Ripken became the official "Iron Man" of Major League Baseball playing for 2131 consecutive games. That dark, Kurkjian drove domicile with Ripken from the ballpark and at one:30 a.g. outside of Camden Yards a man held a sign maxim, "Thank y'all Cal for saving baseball game."
"That was the well-nigh powerful night I've ever spent in a ballpark," Kurkjian said. "To me that's what that night was well-nigh, that's what my story was near."
"Just show up and attempt."
Kurkjian made his terminal career transition joining ESPN in 1998. When he joined ESPN, there were no writers on Boob tube aside from Peter Gammons. Kurkjian was nonetheless confident in his cognition of the game and how to tell a story, but the process was completely different on goggle box equally opposed to writing. While Kurkjian doesn't love TV more than he loves to write, goggle box offered a unique benefit with its spontaneity.
"At ESPN, I'g covering a Earth Series game and as shortly as it's over I get to counterbalance in on it," Kurkjian said.
During his time at ESPN, Kurkjian besides decided to become an author of three books. For the kickoff ane, "America's Game," he was approached by Crown Publishing asking him to author a book. However, Kurkjian's 2d and tertiary books were his own inspiration. Throughout his career, Kurkjian's begetter told him he needed to put all of the stories that he'd collected in one place.
Listening to his father's keen baseball game mind, Kurkjian did exactly that in his second and third books. His second book, "Is this a Great Game or What" focused on his start 35 years in the business. His 3rd book, "I'm Fascinated by Cede Flies" followed a like idea chronicling 10 more years' worth of stories and information technology besides fabricated the New York Times Bestseller list.
"I'm non sure I've ever been prouder of anything than that," Kurkjian said.
Spending over 45 years in the sports journalism industry, Kurkjian has learned several of import lessons. Despite the great success Kurkjian has enjoyed throughout his illustrious career, he attributes that to "just showing up and trying." Because Kurkjian knew sports journalism was what he really wanted to pursue, he connected to testify up and improve at this craft. He also always fabricated sure to say aye if an editor or dominate asked him to do something.
However, Kurkjian also learned that curiosity throughout your career is vital equally a journalist. When looking at a box score or something that happened in a game, yous e'er need to ask more questions and wonder farther nearly what happened.
"Every bit long every bit you're curious plenty to be interested in what y'all're watching out in that location, you always have a chance," Kurkjian said. "Just show up and effort and exist curious and exist gear up whenever the time comes, you'll be fine in this business."
For sports fans who may not know of Kurkjian's coverage, they surely know his vocalisation. Kurkjian certainly has ane of the most singled-out voices in the industry, every bit has become a running joke during his career. Players such as J.P. Arencibia went on ESPN and imitated Kurkjian'southward voice to his colleagues. While this may accept bothered many, Kurkjian embraced information technology and rolled with the punches.
"You have to cover who you are, and you have to have a laugh covering this sport," Kurkjian said.
57 years after ownership "Big Fourth dimension Baseball" with his dad Kurkjian is doing exactly that, embracing who he is and bringing the spoken linguistic communication of baseball that was so pop in his house to homes across the world.
Source: http://wmucsports.net/a-lifelong-love-of-baseball-the-journey-of-tim-kurkjian/
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