Detroit Tigers radio play-by-play man Dan Dickerson was called on to fill in on television Sunday as the club played the final game of a four game series in Oakland against the A's.
The Tigers needed to find a last minute replacement for Dickerson on the radio.
"The phone rang and I was just in a tough spot, couldn't really get away so the call went voicemail," West Michigan Whitecaps play-by-play man Dan Hasty said of a late morning phone call from the Tigers. "Because when you get the call you have waited for your whole life it has to go to voicemail."
Hasty quickly called back and he was in, called up to the big leagues calling the game from Comerica Park in Detroit where the crew is working this year even for road games.
"It was exciting and I'll never forget the feeling walking into a big league ball park even calling a game off of monitors was able to present," Hasty said.
There were many challenges present:
Hasty hadn't done a baseball game since September of 2019, that's the last time the Whitecaps played a game.
He had no time to prepare for the game, he had to immediately get in his car and drive to Detroit just to make in time for the start of the game.
He is not accustomed to calling games off a monitor.
"I hadn't prepped that day, but I had been prepping for Sunday's game for twenty years so everything I had done to that point was for that phone call," Hasty said. "To be able to receive that call and to do a good job for them so I was honored to get the call and I was happy that it worked out the way it did."
Despite the challenges, Hasty was pleased with the outcome.
"It was challenging but it was so exciting," Hasty said. "It was almost the idea that you will just make anything work no matter what the situation is, I don't care if it's been two years, I don't care if there are monitors around me that I have to look at, I don't care that I had zero time to prep for this game. It's a big league broadcast, it is a regular season big league game and to me that is the only thing that matters."
Hasty doesn't expect to be calling more big league games in the immediate future but is excited for the Whitecaps season which is scheduled to begin in two weeks.
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