SportsLit (Season 3, Episode 2)- Jerry Howarth - Hello Friends, Stories from My Life and Blue Jays Baseball

SportsLit

Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth were like extended family for Toronto Blue Jays fans, all you have to do is mention their first names, and people in Canada know exactly who you are referring too.

From 1982-2004, the duo broadcasted the sights and sounds of Major League Baseball into cars, garages, workplaces and homes across the country via radio and later, the internet.

When a cancer diagnosis forced Cheek to vacate the booth permanently 15 years ago, Jerry Howarth continued to call games until a surprise retirement announcement in Feb. 2018.

Now he revisits his journey, from growing up in California to becoming the renowned voice of the Blue Jays for 36 years, in a new book aptly titled: Hello Friends!: Stories from My Life and Blue Jays Baseball.

Listen as he discusses what influenced his style, broadcasting two historic World Series runs in 1992 and 1993, and the evolution of the Jays fanbase, plus a blow-by-blow account of an unprecedented 53-minute 7th inning, in Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS …. From Bobby Cox to Jose Bautista and everything in between, our conversation with Howarth gives insight into how he did, and still continues to, touch us all.