GIVEAWAYS:   During this tour, the author is giving away (1) $10 Amazon Gift Card, (2) $5 Amazon Gift Cards, (2) e-book copies of EMPTY SEATS & (1) copy of the author’s acclaimed “SINGING ALONG WITH THE RADIO” CD which features many prominent folk music singers (a $15 value)! For your chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment below as well as leaving a comment on the author’s 4WillsPub tour page.  GOOD LUCK!

I haven’t explained my other passion, nor how it led me to be the public address announcer at Fenway Park for one day.

I’ve been a singer/songwriter most of my life and the folk music DJ at the Albany, New York-based National Public Radio affiliate since 1982. Prior to that, I was a folk DJ at a small station in Worcester, Massachusetts. My father introduced me to folk and country music practically right after I was born, and I’ve loved and sung it ever since. I made a CD called “Singing Along with the Radio,” on which I sang with some of the musicians I’ve always wanted to play and sing with over the years.

In 2011, I had the privilege of meeting and spending a couple of innings with Red Sox Public Address Announcer Carl Beane. He was a kind man, welcoming me into the booth with him to see what happens during a game as he told everyone in the stands what was happening. His booming voice filled the stadium with information such as who would sing the National Anthem, the line-up for both teams, the umpires’ names, and players as they came to bat. As someone who’d been in radio for more than 30 years, I found the whole set-up to be interesting and took notes in my head of what went on.

Carl let me try on his World Series rings from 2004 and 2007. He was a small man, and those rings both fit me perfectly.

“Carl,” I said, “you’d better take these back right after I take a picture of them.”

“You can wear them for a while,” he replied.

“No, you’d better take them back. They fit me all too well, and I might forget I’m wearing them!”

“Oh, okay.”

As he took them back, I asked him if he liked one better than the other.

“I think the one from 2004 is the most special. It’s because that’s the year when the Sox ‘broke the curse,’ and they hadn’t won a World Series in 86 years. But I love the 2007 one, too. Any World Series win is special.”

Carl also told me that day that being the Red Sox’s public address announcer was “the best job in the world.”

Fast forward to May 2012.

Carl was killed in a car accident. The Red Sox and their fans were stunned. Who would be their PA announcer?

What to do? What to do?

The Red Sox decided to have what they dubbed the “guest in the chair” approach, in which they would invite local media personalities to do the PA announcing, with a different one for each game. For example, they had someone from the Bruins’ announcing team do a game, someone from the local public radio station, etc.

I wanted to do this. Badly.

I called the Red Sox and told them that I’d been in radio for many decades and would like to be considered. Should I send a tape?

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” the response came.  Sign up in the fall when you can try out and we’re trying to replace Cal on a permanent basis.

“You don’t understand,” I protested. “I’m a professional broadcaster. My station goes to seven states terrestrially, including three in New England. I want to do this.”

They took my name and phone number. I thought it was the end of my chance to be the PA announcer—even for a day.

About a week later, I was at a doctor’s appointment when my phone rang. I looked down and told the doctor, “Err—I have to take this call.”

Caller ID indicated that it was the Boston Red Sox calling. I couldn’t let that one go to voice mail.

“Hi, Wanda, yeah, this is the Red Sox. Say, we Googled you and found out that you really are a professional broadcaster. We’d like to have you come down and do a game. How about this date?”

They offered me a Tuesday night—the week before my daughter’s wedding!

“I can’t do that date,” I replied, and told them why.

“Okay, you give US a date, and we’ll take it from there.”

I already had tickets for the August 5, 2012 game. Since I worked for New York State in a managerial position, I wouldn’t have been able to take free tickets for my family, anyway. “How about August 5?”

“You got it. We’ll confirm in a couple of weeks. Thanks.”

I put down my phone and explained it to my physician. She was ecstatic, because she knows how much broadcasting and baseball mean to me.

We got through the wedding, and, as August 5 approached, I began to wonder if I’d done something stupid, thinking I could handle a major-league game. The last game I’d announced was for Schenectady (New York) Babe Ruth when my son was 13 (he was then married with a child). Could I actually do this? Had I bitten off more than I could chew?

I pulled into the players’ parking lot (that’s right, THE PLAYERS’ PARKING LOT) with my little Subaru, which was dwarfed even more by huge SUVs and shiny sports cars. The valet took my keys, and off I went, up to the third floor, where I’d be for the next several hours.

The whole operation was incredible. They had a script prepared, which I had plenty of time to study. I checked out the rosters for both teams (although I knew the Red Sox roster by heart). The Minnesota Twins were their opponent that day, and the only player whose name I couldn’t pronounce was a new reliever from Japan who’d just joined the team the day before. I said a little prayer, pleading that he wouldn’t be brought into the game.

I met with the team—the producer, Jack, the music man (TJ the DJ), and everyone else in the booth, did sound check and looked out over the field. Fenway never looked so good. I felt as if I were in baseball heaven. Then I looked out at the scoreboard: My name was emblazoned all over it: Today’s Guest-in-the-Chair: Wanda Fischer, WAMC, Albany, New York. Wow. Just wow. That’s all I could say.

Many years before, when I was about 16 or 17, my mother had seen me, under an umbrella, on TV, in the bleachers, as we fans waited to hear whether a rain delay would turn into a rain washout.  I wished my mother could have seen me that day, with my name on that huge electronic sign—the one that didn’t even exist on umbrella day so long ago.

Jack, the producer, guided me along, pointing on the script to my lines, as the game progressed. I told him it was unlike working on public radio, where I have to do everything myself to get my show together and get it on the air. “No, we try to make it as easy as possible,” he said.

Thanks to a terrific team, I only made one mistake during nine innings. The Red Sox, who were terrible that year, actually won that game.

When it was over, my grandson, who was then three years old, came up to me and said, “Grandma! Grandma! Where were you? I could hear you, but I couldn’t see you!”

Book Blurb

What Little Leaguer doesn’t dream of walking from the dugout onto a Major League baseball field, facing his long-time idol and striking his out? Empty Seats follows three different minor-league baseball pitchers as they follow their dreams to climb the ladder from minor- to major-league ball, while facing challenges along the way—not always on the baseball diamond. This coming-of-age novel takes on success and failure in unexpected ways. One reviewer calls this book “a tragic version of ‘The Sandlot.’”

(Winner of the 2019 New Apple Award and 2019 Independent Publishing Award)

Author Bio

Following a successful 40-year career in public relations/marketing/media relations, Wanda Adams Fischer parlayed her love for baseball into her first novel, Empty Seats. She began writing poetry and short stories when she was in the second grade in her hometown of Weymouth, Massachusetts and has continued to write for more than six decades. In addition to her “day” job, she has been a folk music DJ on public radio for more than 40 years, including more than 37 at WAMC-FM, the Albany, New York-based National Public Radio affiliate. In 2019, Folk Alliance International inducted her into their Folk D-J Hall of Fame. A singer/songwriter in her own right, she’s produced one CD, “Singing Along with the Radio.” She’s also a competitive tennis player and has captained several United States Tennis Association senior teams that have secured berths at sectional and national events. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Northeastern University in Boston. She lives in Schenectady, NY, with her husband of 47 years, Bill, a retired family physician, whom she met at a coffeehouse in Boston in 1966; they have two grown children and six grandchildren.

Social Media Links

@emptyseatsnovel

https://www.facebook.com/EmptySeatsNovel/

https://www.wandafischer.com

Amazon and Other Purchase Links

Book: http://amzn.to/2KzWPQf

Audio book: http://bit.ly/2TKo3UC

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/empty-seats-wanda-adams-fischer/1127282887?ean=9780999504901

http://wandafischer.com/buy-my-book/

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