A Q&A with beloved Arizona baseball play-by-play announcer Brian Jeffries as the Wildcats prepare to face TCU in the NCAA Tournament’s Fayetteville Regional.
When you’ve been broadcasting Arizona Wildcats baseball, basketball and football games for almost 40 years, there’s no shortage of tales to tell.
People are also reading… “I'll never forget him for that,” Jeffries said. “It didn't rescue my baseball career. It was too late. But it was fun.” “I just love the simplicity of the game. It's not Major League Baseball. To me, it's a calming experience. That sounds crazy. But after football and basketball, the calmness of going to the ballpark. I like to get there really early just to take it in.
“Filling in the gaps when a guy is not at the plate or there's a visit to the mound, just having some material, that's what I'm working on the last couple of days. I Google Fayetteville, Arkansas, to find out what the city is about because that's just a talking point. I've been here once for a basketball game years ago, but I don't remember anything about it. I'm assuming that most people listening never have been here before. So giving them a feel about where we are.
A: “Oh, that's easy. That was in Waco, Texas. I believe it was 1999. We played at Baylor. I remember going over the day before we played. The stadium was under construction. They were building a new stadium. It wasn't done. There was no press box. There were no seats. It was just concrete. They built like a plywood platform at the top of the stands for the press box. I think there was a tarp over the top of us. The fans had to bring their own padded something to sit on.
“The windows wouldn't open. I had to snake the crowd mic under the door and put it out there so people could hear the ambiance, because otherwise it was totally quiet.”A: “Like everybody else, I listened to Vin Scully. Jack Buck with the Cardinals. I thought he was great. The guy that influenced me the most was Bob Robertson, who was the voice of the Tacoma triple-A team. He also did Washington State for over 40 years. I listened to him all the time.
“Baseball, there's too many games; the games are too long. The exciting moments come, but the whole game isn't filled with . Football or basketball ... there's always something happening. Baseball, there's all that time between the home runs or the strikeouts. So I would rather be more conversational.”A: “I think 99% of the people listening are probably U of A fans. I always keep that in mind.
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