Russell Ries 0:11

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you wherever you're listening from. It's Sunday, October 25th. My name is Russell Ries, and you're listening to the Nashville Sports Report.

Intro

Russell Ries 0:37

All right, welcome to the show. The 2026 World Series got underway Friday night with the Milwaukee Brewers taking on the Tampa Bay Rays. And after winning the first two games in Milwaukee, the Brewers now hold a two games to none lead as the series heads to Florida. Of course, the Brewers have a very strong connection to Nashville. The Nashville Sounds are Milwaukee's AAA affiliate, and an incredible nineteen of the 26 players on the Brewers active roster for the World Series have spent time playing for the Sounds. With so many former Sounds now playing on baseball's biggest stage, it felt like the perfect time to take a look back at the history of Nashville's own professional baseball team.

Bob Jamison introduction

Russell Ries 1:18

Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to sit down with several people who played important roles in the founding and early years of the Nashville Sounds. And I'm excited to share those conversations with you, starting this week with Bob Jamison. Bob was the radio voice of the Nashville Sounds for twelve seasons from 1979 through 1990. During that time, he called two Southern League championship seasons, was twice named the League's Broadcaster of the Year, and became a very familiar voice to an entire generation of Nashville baseball fans. In 1991, Bob made the jump to the major leagues, joining the California Angels broadcast team. I'm excited to share my conversation with this week's guest, former Nashville Sounds broadcaster, Bob Jamison.

Bob Jamison interview

Russell Ries 2:05

All right. Well, Bob Jamison, longtime voice of the sounds. Thank you for coming on the show. I really appreciate your time today. How are you?

Bob Jamison 2:13

I'm doing very well. And you know, it's always kind of neat when somebody you say long time, but a long time ago, you know, people who would remember me are pretty old now.

Russell Ries 2:23

Well, all the more reason to get you on the show and talk about some memories. I have a few questions that I kind of ask variations of to everyone that comes on the show. And the first one is always what is your earliest sports memory?

Bob Jamison 2:36

When I was seven years old, my dad was finishing college, and in a little town we lived in in Illinois, they had summer baseball. And so I remember going to we'd go to the field, we'd practice for a while, they'd pick teams, and we play a little bit of a game. And what was kind of cool, they gave us jerseys that we could wear for that thing, and then of course we'd have to take them off and give them up. And so that that that's the first time I really remember getting involved with baseball. Yeah, that's that was that was a fun memory.

Russell Ries 3:10

That sounds like a really nice memory. And when did that interest in baseball transition to knowing that you wanted to get into the broadcast booth and start calling games?

Bob Jamison 3:20

Well, when I was in college, uh I was a biology major, chemistry minor, and the campus university started is a little school in Illinois, Millican University. We start they started a radio station uh at the end of my sophomore year. And in the spring semester in March of my junior year, we went on the air, and I I was the first uh sports director of of that. And I kind of wanted to do games and had just been thinking about it. Of course, you grow up listening to Harry Carey and Jack Buck, you learn how to really enjoy listening to radio, and and so I I got to do some games. We did some baseball games for the university, some Class A minor league baseball one summer, and then the football and basketball game for the university. So it was fun to get to do that, and I just got hooked on it at that point.

Russell Ries 4:12

And I know uh after college, you worked your way through several minor league baseball teams before ending up in Richmond, calling the AAA team there. What was that early broadcasting career like for you? And what did you learn along the way?

Bob Jamison 4:26

Well, I learned that in the minor leagues uh you can really learn how to broadcast. First year I was in doing broad, it was in 1975. We did a partial schedule with the Anderson Rangers in the Western Carolinas League. We were a Texas Rangers Farm Club, and the station that carried us carried the Braves. So we did about uh we didn't start right at the beginning of the season, um, but we ended up doing about 50 games, and uh I learned you don't make any money, but I learned that it can be a whole lot of fun. I just it was a good experience for experience. You know, I I can listen to young broadcasters today, and I can tell they didn't have minor league experience from the 70s because when I literally when I would go into some of these cities, I would be lucky to get a roster with numbers. After the fact, I found out oh, that guy was really a good player in college, or this guy was related to so-and-so or something like that. But all I had was the name of the person and and their number and and what position. Didn't even have bats, throws. The only stats that I got the entire summer were the ones that I kept myself. And so I didn't, when we were playing the other teams, I had no idea what any of those guys were hitting or pitching. You learn how to broadcast, though. That was the fun part.

Russell Ries 5:47

Yeah, it sounds like a real crash course in the craft and swimming or sinking right off the bat. How did you feel the time?

Bob Jamison 5:54

Well, you know, you you you just stick to what's going on. Uh, you know, you like today, there's lots of talking during a broadcast. And of course, you know, TV is different than radio, but you just stick to the play-by-play, you know, describe what's going on, where people are positioned. You know, you you do the very basic, you know, here's the pitcher working from the stretch, throws a pitch where the pitch is. You get a chance to be descriptive. You can always, you know, just talk about what's been going on during the game, too. You know, you after a couple of innings have gone by, well, so-and-so did this back in the first, and or somebody else will be leading off next, uh, who somebody's warming up in the bullpen. You just learn to talk about what's going on on the field.

Russell Ries 6:38

Would you keep notes as the game progressed, or is that just something you were keeping top of mind?

Bob Jamison 6:43

I I wish I had kept notes to some degree, but I I I really was blessed with an ability to just have recall of what had happened. You know, I until uh actually during my broadcast, I could at a game was over, I could just about sit down with you and go over every every at bat and every play in the whole game. I don't know where I had that. I must have been the way I was created, but I did have the ability to remember what went on. And uh, of course, when I was very young, my dad taught me how to keep score in a ball game. I was probably eight or nine when I learned how to keep score. And so I learned how to keep very meticulous score and ended up when I actually came to Nashville, I started designing my own scorecard and all my own stat sheets and everything. And you know, so I had my system and then that worked really well.

Russell Ries 7:37

I want to ask you about that transition to Nashville. You were in Richmond calling AAA. How did the Nashville job come about? And what was it that made you want to jump from AAA Richmond to what was then a brand new AA team in Nashville?

Bob Jamison 7:51

Well, Richmond, they had some issues, and their general manager really we didn't get along very well. In fact, he he didn't he ended up telling me he didn't sell enough radio, so therefore I wasn't going to get paid during the season. And so I basically lived on my $10 a day meal money for the summer, and I had to sue him, threatened to sue him after the season was over because he said, well, we'll look at it. Um so I got paid, you know, I I had been in Nashville for like four or five months before I got paid a partial payment for what I was doing in Richmond. So it was not a big decision as to whether I wanted to look somewhere else. The winter baseball meetings were in Orlando, Florida in 1978. And I went to the winter meetings, and the talk of the winter meetings was all about the Nashville Sounds. They had had that first season, fabulous success with attendance and interest in the team and just all the good things. I mean, it it gave it's given me goosebumps now, and it did back then just hearing about it. And I and I got to meet Larry Schmittou and Farrell Owens and talked to them, gave them a tape and everything else. Uh, as it turned out, and so I left that meeting, just that's all I could think about was the Nashville Sounds. But I also left that meeting knowing that they had already offered the job to someone else. And fortunately for me, the individual they offered it to, and people who know Larry Schmittou will will understand this very well. He came back and said, Well, you know, hey, since you've hired me out of so many people, you must really want me. And here's my demands. You know, Larry was a great baseball guy, but you know, like most people who are running the business, you know, when you're getting hired, you don't tell somebody how how it's going to be. And so, as you can imagine, when uh I got a call from him that that job, the job was open. I I hopped on it. The winter meetings were in early December. I found out about Christmas time, and on my birthday, January 5th, I was moving into my apartment in Nashville.

Russell Ries 9:58

What was it like walking into that team that had that momentum, had that excitement? What was what did you experience when you first arrived at Greer Stadium?

Bob Jamison 10:08

Well, you know, it it was excitement. I mean, they're they you know, it's January. It's it's fortunately, Tennessee Januarys are a heck of a lot better than Illinois Januarys. But you know, you you're it's gray and gloomy a lot, and it's it's chilly by everything, but you're you're looking forward to the baseball season. And then just the buildup as that went along, just week by week, get getting to that first start in uh in April, it was exciting. I mean, you know, everybody was thrilled. That the community had embraced the team, the sounds had done just all kinds of wonderful things to reach out to the community and get them involved. And so it it was it was a really neat experience to just come in and and be part of that.

Russell Ries 10:52

And what was it like working with Larry? He seems like such a larger-than-life character, someone with a grand vision for the sounds and for the city. What was that like?

Bob Jamison 11:00

Well, you exactly right. I mean, he he had a vision, he understood Nashville and he had a real vision for what he wanted to do and how to get it done. He was not afraid to try things, and if things worked, then that was great. And if not, they go into plan B or plan C. Uh, and most of the things just worked. And you know, he was, as you can imagine, with the attendance and the club and everything else, he was the constant bombardment of all the things that he was involved with because he, you know, we weren't a real big operation, and he he and Farrell Owens just took care of a million things every day. But he he was always looking into things, what we could do to make it even better. And you know, they they can't, like I said, they came off a very good year in the stands and then followed that up with my first year there with one of the best teams they ever had.

Russell Ries 11:52

Yeah, I want to ask you about that team. I mean, this is a double-A ball club, but looking back on it, there's some rather large names from that 1980 and 81 squads, Don Mattingly, McGee, Showalter , Otis Nixon. Were you aware when you started watching the ball club of how good these players were?

Bob Jamison 12:12

Or oh, yeah, I mean, you know, you the what was really nice is you know, because the while we were Reds my first year and then went to the Yankees in 80, that you had just uh unbelievable information on players and what people thought of them and how they uh were rated, uh what they could do to get better, um, the strengths that they had, as well as just weaknesses they might have. So they were pretty obvious who was going to probably go on and do well, and and a lot of them did. You know, we think of like big league careers, guys going 15, 20 years and the greats, but you know, if you're if you're uh able to play professional baseball, period, and then you get a chance to play in the big leagues, whether it's a partial season or three or four years or six years, you know, you are you you are a fabulous athlete and a fabulous baseball player just to be able to do that. You know, Don Mattingly, I remember, you know, he was he was in 1981, he turned 20 in April of that year. And they were talking about, well, he didn't really have a position, and you know, they didn't know that he was gonna really do much at first base, and he he grew after actually the sounds. He was about 5'11 then, he grew up to about 6'1 because he was so young. And but you know, you're watching him hit, and this kid could take an inside pitch and send it to the opposite field like nobody's business, and he hit the ball hard and he hit line drives. He did a really decent job at first base, and obviously in the big leagues, he did a really decent job at first base as well. He was obvious. Buck Showalter was a solid player. Double A, he he did play a little triple A, but double A was was his his niche. But I I I do remember that back in early in his time as Buck Showalter's gonna manage in the big leagues. That was that was the talk. And I I never saw anything that he did on the field or the way he prepared that would indicate anything other than that was going to be the case. Willie McGee was an interesting story because he was very kind of rough around the edges. He was a young kid, he's 20 and 80, 21 and 81, uh, had a lot of things that he needed to learn, but he had a raw talent and he was not going to do well in the Yankees. They didn't think he was gonna do well, so they gave him away basically to the Cardinals. And Whitey Herzog, with the help of Ozzy Smith, knew how to work with somebody like Willie McGee. And the result speaks for itself. I mean, he had a fabulous big league career.

Russell Ries 14:43

Do you remember what they ended up giving him away for?

Bob Jamison 14:46

Yes, yes. We got a left-hander from the uh Cardinals, uh Bobby Sykes, a really nice fella, and he he actually actually we had him in '82, and he played a pivotal role coming in out of the bullpen in that '82 championship. He was a vital part of the team. But that that's who uh we got for Willie McGee.

Russell Ries 15:07

So you arrived, you got to witness a couple of championship teams right off the bat. Nashville was already hopping and joined the Sounds. What was it like then transitioning from a young AA team into a triple A club? And how did that change or not the Sounds relationship with the city?

Bob Jamison 15:26

Well, I mean, the the really big thing was when we were double A, you know, there were young kids, a lot of young players, they were on their way up, and they still had that young kid enthusiasm. And there was a great rapport between players and the city. Fans, you know, they they had their favorite players, and their players were really good at talking to the fans, dealing with the fans, and got got to be very close to them. Triple A, you you know, guys are they're there their focus is in the big leagues. Uh, you get to triple A, you you know, you're just that one call away, as they say. And so it was a more business-like approach. I mean, I noticed it from a broadcast point of view, because you know, you're riding the buses in the southern league with people, you get to know them pretty well. But when you're riding buses to the airport and flying, you just it there isn't that closeness or time, just time forced together, actually, in some ways. But there were there was a there was a difference that, and I I had fans comment to me about that during the six years that I was there in the AAA. I got six years of A and six years of AAA. The quality of the individuals, baseball players, was great all along. I I suppose we might mention accounting at some point, but uh I just the quality of people in baseball really impressed me, you know, whether it was management, players, especially, um, fans, people that worked at the park. It was that was a great experience.

Russell Ries 17:00

I want to ask a little bit more. You mentioned riding the bus. Are there any particular memories or moments or particular bus mates that you really enjoyed getting to spend time with while you were traveling?

Bob Jamison 17:12

Well, one of the things if you if you were privileged, you got your own two seats. And the coaches and and the the broadcaster and the trainer had their own two seats. So that helped me spread out a lot uh during it. But people, you know, you get a chance to just interplay with who whoever you were sitting around, although we kind of had our general assigned seats, as you could imagine. But one of my my favorite memories uh was in the summer of 81 during the major league strike, the Yankees sent their coaches from the major league levels out to the minor league, and we got Yogi Berra. So Yogi Berra is sitting in the front of the next seat in front of me, and and we're talking on the way, we're going to Columbus, Georgia, because that was the road trip that he was on. It was only about two weeks. So he he's just as nice as he could be. And he said, Boy, I sure wish it were weren't dark. So because we left after the game, of course. I'd sure like to see the scenery. And it was it's funny because in later years I realized, yeah, that would have been nice because you know, Tennessee scenery is kind of cool. But I was I was kind of clueless in those things at that age. But what I remember at after it was real hot in Columbus, Georgia in the summertime. I mean, Nashville is like air conditioned most of the time compared to most Southern League cities. And after the first game of the four, he said, Hey Bob, I I see there's a glassed-in area up there. Is that where you broadcast from? Could I come up and sit with you? And I said, Well, Yogi, that's the main part of the press box. I'm in the open part of the press box, and I guarantee you I'm not a lot different than you are down in the dugout, but I bet those guys in the press box wouldn't mind having you sit in. Oh, could you check out with? And so I went up and asked him, and you can imagine what the response was. And so he had Yogi Berra was their favorite ball player ever. By the time we we left three days uh after him being up there. It was kind of interesting. I can't remember the cigarette brand, it doesn't matter, but Yogi couldn't find it. But one of the PA guys there was a retired army sergeant, and he had PX privileges, and he said, Oh, I can get some for you. So he went and got him a carton or so. And he ended up sending Yogi a carton every year for Christmas for I don't know how many years after that. But that was that was, you know, as far as bus rides, that's and just things. Also remember, I I I'm at breakfast the second morning there, and he comes in and says, Hey, do you mind if I join you? And that's like, oh yeah. And then the next day he was in before me and he waves me over. And as we're getting done with breakfast, you know, tomorrow morning I'm so I'm supposed to meet somebody, so I'll have to meet with them. So that was kind of a disappointment, but you know, I just this the fact that he would let me know. Uh, you know, that that was a good experience. That was fun.

Russell Ries 20:05

Did Yogi dress out in the uniform? Are there photos of Yogi Berra in a sounds uniform anywhere?

Bob Jamison 20:11

I I don't remember. They probably did. I would I would think so. I know there's I've seen pictures, but uh see, that was I'm 76, and that was I was 31 then, so the my the mine's a little fuzzy on that one. But I I know there had to be. I remember seeing pictures of Yogi in the dugout and stuff.

Russell Ries 20:30

Thinking about those years, and we've mentioned obviously a bunch of the big names that were playing for the team. Are there any other players that jumped to mind that you had a particular fondness for them as people or their game?

Bob Jamison 20:43

Wow, you know, if I started to list them all, Russell, we'd be here for another three or four hours and there'd still be 500 I'd miss. People would say, Well, who are your 10 favorite players when you were broadcasting? And I I couldn't even pick my 10 favorite players from the 1979 Sounds because there were so many guys on that I liked, and then you add that to ADE and all the way through 1990. But yeah, I mean, there are some like, and I want to remember guys with local ties as much as I can. But when I was first year with the sounds, Gene Manise, who played at Lipscomb, was our second baseman. Of course, he's gone on to I think he's TAASAA or a big, you know, sports career after that. Uh, Rick Duncan went to played at Vanderbilt, who was first baseman. Bobby Hamilton, I think, also played at Lipscomb. He was an outfielder. You know, it was kind of neat to get to know them. A few years later, we had Scotty Madison from Vanderbilt be with us when we were with the Tigers back then as we went to AAA. And then then other players, I'm sure fan favorites that they'll remember, Skeeter Barnes, who played with us with the Reds, and then in and set he was on the 79 championship team, and then he came back at the end of in the 90s and 1990, 89 and 99. And then he was up and down with the big leagues for quite a while. He was a favorite. Eric Peterson, who was a four-year sounds player, was real popular with the fans, really a fine person. I mean, the list I'm missing thousands. I mean, it's just we had managers that were lights out good too, and just great people to know. So you you look back and you're like, boy, I was really very fortunate to have had that opportunity.

Russell Ries 22:28

You talked about Vanderbilt and uh some of the other universities. You ended up calling some Vanderbilt sports in the mid-80s as well, isn't that right?

Bob Jamison 22:36

Yeah, I had a chance uh to do some football and basketball. The first year we were with uh WZTV, and I had not done football except high school. And so Hope Hines, he got a special leave for games to work the broadcast. So and then I got to sit in and pay attention to how you're supposed to broadcast, which was a huge help because he was an outstanding broadcaster, fine person, uh, somebody that was fun to get to know. And I wouldn't have really had that chance otherwise. So that was for the football thing. It's not related to Vanderbilt, but Middle went to Kansas this year to play a football game. Um, one of the TV games that we did, Vanderbilt had a game at Kansas and our plane almost crashed. And that was a scary, scary event. Then Vanderbilt, we you know, it's funny because we this happened on Friday, and then it was a beautiful, perfect fall afternoon. But the quarterback Mike North Seth of Kansas had 490 yards of total offense. It wasn't much of a game, but you know, it was the kind of thing after the day before you didn't care. Um, I was working with Norman Jordan on the color commentary. He did that, and he said had an inside seat. And after that we did survive, he said, I didn't know I was supposed to be afraid until I saw how white your face was. What happened? We're coming in for a landing, and a crosswind and a tailwind kind of tipped the plane off to the left. People on the ground said our our wing probably wasn't 30 feet off the ground as we're landing, and it put the tail up in the air. And of course, the geometry of that is not gonna a physics is not gonna work for getting lift if your little tails up in the air and your nose is down. And our pilot gunned uh that you the jets were roaring, and I remember we were going for past, we were not too much higher than the uh control tower, could see that, and then all of a sudden you could feel the nose start to lift a little bit, and you just the waves and the flood of relief was huge because I I really I thought that was probably gonna be it. You know, that that was a a Vanderbilt football memory that had nothing to do with with play on the field. Basketball was fun, you know. Of course, Coach McIntyre was there for most of my time. Watson Brown was the head coach the last year I did it. CM Newton was coaching basketball, and they they had you know their usual really good teams. And I remember in three consecutive years, Vanderbilt played North Carolina, Indiana, and Louisville, and they were all ranked either one, two, or three at the time. And they won all three of those games. The the third the game against Louisville, Barry Goheen, hit a three-pointer from mid-court to win. It was gonna look like it was gonna be overtime, and he hit the mid-court uh you know, what is that 45-foot shot. That was a fun little experience for me, and I I really enjoyed the the chance to get to know the Vanderbilt people like I did by doing that, but just the fans, and of course, uh it was fun. You know, the Channel 17 people were really great to work with.

Russell Ries 25:57

That is an incredible story about that almost airplane crash. I've never heard anything about that.

Bob Jamison 26:03

Yeah, that was uh see, I think that was in like 1986 or 87.

Russell Ries 26:08

You mentioned working with Hope Heinz, and um, I know you've also worked with George Plaster and some other folks who've stayed in Nashville sports media for a long time. What was the sports media community like in Nashville during those years?

Bob Jamison 26:22

They were really all about the sounds. The TV shows, you know, TV sports. Remember, they used to have TV sports on um uh actually have a sports report. They would cover the sounds, that would be one of their leading things every night. The newspapers covered the sounds, you know, they had beat writers assigned to the club, and sometimes they'd even travel on the road, not as much double A, but once we got to be triple A, we we were pretty much getting sports writers traveling with us. But one of my ways of picking up an extra five dollars was I would call one of the papers with the box score after a game so they could run that. And the person usually would listen to the game, so they then they have questions. We'd go over it after the game for their article. But uh the the media was good. You know, you mentioned George. I I really I had a number, there are a number of guys that worked with me during the time. George had two separate things. He was he was part of 80 and 81. That's right after he graduated from Vanderbilt. Of course, his sports career has taken off. The first year I was there, it was kind of interesting. There was a guy, Jay Collie, who was an MTSQU grad who had worked with Monty Hale the first year of the Sounds, and so he was doing road games, and then Ty Coppinger, uh Nashville individual, was doing the home games. And about six weeks into the season, Ty got hired to a pretty big time job at Auburn in their sports administration. So Jay did it the whole thing. Jay is uh had a long broadcast career, still has a broadcast career um in minor league baseball. And then for I think about 30 years, he's been the voice of William and Mary, football and basketball. Rick Baumgartner, Bob Gary, Duncan Stewart was a Nashville sports personality that worked with me. Um George came back again in the AAA, and then in the last three years, Chip Walters uh was with me, and he was just out of middle in that time, and he was just starting with his sports career, and of course, been the voice of the Blue Raiders for a while too, and and even before that was involved their broadcast. So it was that you know, you it's neat to look back and see the people. One, that you like them a lot. We we all became friends, and then two, they they had really good careers either in in some most of them in broadcasting, like a couple of exceptions to that. But one we went on to be a sports writer, and one was in uh high-powered advertising and and sales. So, you know, when you're doing that kind of stuff, you're not you're not doing too bad either.

Russell Ries 29:00

My impression of Nashville in the 80s is the sounds arrived in the late 70s and kind of showed the path towards what would ultimately become the major league city we know now. But it seems like a lot of the 80s was kind of moving towards infrastructure and things that could then proceed into the 90s with Mayor Bredison going after a bunch of different teams in the early 90s before finally landing the Titans and the Predators later. Could you sense that shift and that growth towards a big league town? Was that obvious at the time?

Bob Jamison 29:32

It it was because in Nashville, Middle Tennessee is a great baseball area. I remember coming here and just being awed by the level of knowledge, baseball knowledge that the fans had. I mean, the average 12-year-old knew as much about baseball as I did. They just knew how to play, they knew the game, knew it backwards and forwards. The fan support was good. And it was um in the I remember in the in the 80s, it's like if we were a little bit bigger, this would definitely be a major league city. But with the location of it and people coming in to visit, because Tennessee is a good place to visit, uh a major league team can succeed here. And when the sounds made a real strong push my last year, which was 1990, it started. And one of the things Larry had me doing in the offseason between 90 and what was going to be the start of the 91 season, uh, was working with his son Ron, actually. And in terms of showing support from season tickets, it was I I don't remember the exact number, but I know we had at least, I think I want to say we actually collected a half a million dollars at $200 a ticket pledge from people, which was just blowing my mind. Because I mean, every day we would get these pledges and checks. You know, it's not like, oh yeah, I'll buy a ticket. It's I'll buy a ticket and I'm putting my money where my mouth is, and here's a deposit on my ticket. And Nashville and Buffalo were of the cities competing for those first two expansion teams, way ahead of anybody. Uh, Miami and way ahead of Denver. Both those cities kind of just, yeah, well, we're we're big and we're powerful and we're really cool, and so we we just deserve it. They didn't really do anything. And you know, I I I baseball would have helped itself a lot if they'd have picked Nashville for that 1990, whatever I think Denver started. Those two teams started in '93 or '99. But but Nashville just fit all the right things. Buffalo had the one thing Buffalo had was a new ballpark that had actually been built to at 19,000 seats, but they had the structure there that they could build an upper deck. They they actually had plate, the things were capped off that were going to be the steel for the upper deck if they needed it. And from that, I mean that they had an edge on Nashville that way. Weather wise, I think we'd have eaten Buffalo a whole a whole lot. But you know, that that was disappointing. And the the funny thing, I remember people, the old-time baseball people all said baseball will not be successful in Florida, major league baseball. And I'm like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? I mean, all the people that go in there for tourists, you got all the minor league teams and everything else, and they knew what they were talking about because I mean, Tampa is is embarrassing, frankly, in terms of its fan support and facility and everything else. Uh, their team is lights out unbelievable with how they've managed to be as good and competitive as they've been. Miami has been all over the map as far as support and quality of teams, but they've they've never had that kind of support. And even the next and Denver, you know, Nashville's better in Denver as far as baseball. And then I would say we're at least as good, if not better, than uh Phoenix. But it's frustrating. I mean, I'm really hoping they can get one of those uh an expansion team. You know, Nashville's a great city and a great baseball city. Uh, it will be very successful if they get that opportunity.

Russell Ries 33:14

I had Nancy Schultz from Music City Baseball on the show a few months ago, and it's actually been, I think to this point, the most listened to episode of the podcast that I've done. It seems like there is a whole lot of interest out there.

Bob Jamison 33:27

Oh, yes. One of the things, just a sideline on that, is a friend of mine here said, Well, he'd heard that if the sounds, you know, if they do get a major league baseball, the sounds are might be looking to just stay in middle Tennessee. And that, you know, Murfreesboro has been mentioned as that. And so, you know, wow, you know, we're 10 minutes away from MTSU and 15 minutes away from about every place else. So, you know, it's like, wow, season tickets for baseball, and I don't have to drive too far. So that would be that would be fun too. And that that'd be a nice extra benefit of getting big league baseball in Nashville.

Russell Ries 34:02

If you were going to bring a team into town right now, knowing what you know, where would you want to try and put the ballpark?

Bob Jamison 34:08

Oh, that's a good question. I mean, I I remember when when Larry was trying to get the the team back in 1990, best as I can recall, it was at Old Hickory Boulevard and I-24 on the northwest side of Nashville, because it had access and you had Briley Parkway. I think I don't know if Briley was there then or not. But but that that was that was the pick. And I mean, it was kind of fun to actually it's more than kind of fun. It was a lot of fun to look at sketches of what the stadium would be because it was going to be built into the side of a hill, much like Greer Stadium was, except it was a lot bigger hill. But you'd like to have convenient access from multiple directions, and so that you don't have one or two routes out of where the stadium is, and you'd like to have it convenient to Nashville. Certainly, you know, you look at something on 840, where like 65 south, not all the way down there, but just have access from 840 or so you have 40, 24, 65 linking up with that at several places. But you know, that's uh way beyond my comprehension of what where that should be. But you you'd want act access, convenient access, and and multiple ways to get there.

Russell Ries 35:26

I want to stick with uh a little bit more stadium conversation. You have seen a lot of ballparks over your career, obviously, Greer Stadium being the home park for a while. Are there any other ballparks that were some of your favorites that are either still here or gone?

Bob Jamison 35:42

Yeah, I mean, one of the you know, Greer Stadium was uh when we were in double AA, was the best venue. You know, there's some ballparks like Jacksonville that was a little bit bigger, I think, than here, but the rest the others were really good, solid uh minor league ballparks. But Greer could hold a few more and just have had a nice atmosphere about that. And Greer Stadium was built on a on a shoestring. There's no no public money that was contributed in that. The city did cooperate with renting the space where it was built. Uh I one of the things that was a little bit annoying was about after about three two or three years, the city just wanted to change the agreement because the sounds have been so successful. It's like, well, you didn't do anything to make them successful. And Larry was very he was successful in not having that go anywhere. So to much to everybody's relief. But one of when Birmingham came into the Southern League, they played at Rickwood Field. That was a ballpark that was built in 1910. Um, it's I think it's the oldest ballpark still in existence in the country. Uh that's two years before Fenway Park opened, you know, to give you an idea how old it is. And they still have some some games, major league games there on occasion. They've had some. That was a real interesting ballpark. Memphis was a so-so ballpark, but for two or three years, like when I first got there, we had an intense rivalry with them. And they that was a fun place to go to. I mean, the the the crowd there was they weren't as big a stadium as Greer Stadium, but they still packed it out and they were real excited about their chicks and we playing the sounds. Then you know, Triple A, the Columbus, uh Ohio was kind of neat. They took an old ballpark and put in skyboxes, which was back in the 70s. That was like whoever heard of doing that, but that was very successful for them. Rochester had an old ballpark called Silver Stadium. When I was at Richmond, that was that was a pretty decent ballpark as well. Uh, but most just it's it was a good solid ballparks and fields where you you know you were gonna have a professional type press box and you'd have nice seating and decent concessions, things like that. I give minor league baseball a lot of credit. They really tried to have that's kind of behind the scenes, but it's a big fan positive is to have a good good place to go to the game.

Russell Ries 38:21

Have you, I assume, gone to First Horizon Park? What are your thoughts on the newball park?

Bob Jamison 38:26

Oh, I will tell you, back in 2014, I went to First Horizon for the first time. And as I'm walking up the steps to go in, I got goosebumps. And then I walked in, and my wife and I walked around the stadium and I got goosebumps three more times. I was just very, very impressed with that, the facility, the way that they conceived it, the way they built it. Um, it's an excellent, excellent facility. I I'm I'm as excited as I can be about that. It's a really good place to go to watch a baseball game.

Russell Ries 39:00

You talked about some of the ball players making it up to the big leagues, but after 12 years in Nashville, you made the move up to the big leagues calling games for the Angels. What was that transition like? And and did it feel like like arriving in the in the way you would imagine the the ball players would feel.

Bob Jamison 39:18

Yeah, I would certainly hope they felt like I did because I was blown away. It was a wonderful experience. I'd like to have lasted 22 years, but the two years I had there were really good. The Angels did a nice job of the way they created uh an atmosphere for me and employees and everything else. You know, I was doing thinking about it after I left, you know. Gee, there's only 52 people making their job living in in the whole country broadcasting big league baseball, and I got to be one of them for a couple of years. So that that was that was nice. I mean, that it they they truly did have a big league operation. I in the American League, I usually I was a number two announcer, and I usually had the best number two position in in all the American League. Good, it was a good situation for me. It was it was actually more than I probably would have expected as far as quality.

Russell Ries 40:11

For people who aren't familiar, when you talk about being the number two announcer, what exactly does that entail?

Bob Jamison 40:18

Well, with the with the way the angels had it, Al Connan was their number one guy. And he was it was that was his ninth and tenth years when I was with him. And the way they had it was basically when I was doing the play by play, his mic was off, and when he was doing the play by play, my mic was off. So we had none of the uh what I call camaraderie or anything that that you have when when that's not the situation. So I I've he did six innings and I did three, so that would be how I was number two. One of the neat things that did happen to me my second year there, the tigers, for reasons that I I cannot imagine, didn't renew Ernie Harwell's contract. I mean, this this guy is Jack Buck, Harry Carey, Vin Scully type quality. And so the Angels actually hired him to do 14 games with us, including all the ones that we played in Detroit. And so I got to know Ernie Harwell very well. And you know, that was my big league equivalent of getting to know Yogi Bear and minor leagues, as far as somebody who's just a huge name and was was lots of fun to get to know. So working with him, that was that was a real nice highlight.

Russell Ries 41:32

When you meet someone like Ernie or or when when announcers get together, do you guys talk shop? And what's that like? Do you trade tips?

Bob Jamison 41:40

It's just kind of a baseball, you know, it's like people that know baseball and like baseball, just sitting down talking about baseball, they were always asking me well, tell me about some of your minor league stuff. Who'd you see in the minor leagues and everything else? It was you know just baseball talk. You know, you try to get to know a little bit about people, but uh in the minor leagues, I was known, uh, especially in the double A years as the guy to ask for to go get pizza after the games. And then, you know, usually when broadcasters would come into town, I'd have them over to our house. We'll cook out during the lunchtime for the night game and stuff like that. And a lot of times we'd get a I'd get a re they'd reciprocate when I'd be on the road. Big leagues wasn't like that, but I I I didn't run into any big league broadcasters that tried to big league me, if you know what I mean. They they were just really they were nice people. Vin Scully, I got to meet him because we had a series with the Dodgers uh every year coming out of spring training. So I got to meet him that for those two seasons. That was fun. Uh Dick Enberg had been the Angels broadcasters, another well-known name and a good broadcaster that I got to meet.

Russell Ries 42:46

My own personal curiosity, I have to ask about the pizza. What were some of your favorite pizza places? And are any of them still in existence today?

Bob Jamison 42:56

One of them is in Memphis, there was a place called Garibaldi's, and that was really good. And I haven't been back to any of those cities to know since the AA days were over, but I remember Chattanooga had a good pizza place, Orlando did. Jacksonville was pretty good, except I got food poisoning, so I never went back. That was that was a not a fun experience. Anyway, that this pizza was a lot different then. It was not quite like terms of quality and things that you have today. I remember I don't want to pick well, I will pick on Nashville just in this, but the number one favorite pizza place in Nashville back in the in the 80s was Pizza Hut, which was not, you know I mean, I I liked Pizza Hut. And I, you know, of course, I that's the first really good pizza I ever had was Pizza Hut, but I just thought that that was kind of different. Um, usually expect a local restaurant.

Russell Ries 43:48

After the Angels, you stepped away from broadcasting, and as you alluded to earlier, you built an entirely different career as a CPA before eventually returning to the booth. What was it that led Led you away from broadcasting, and then what ultimately brought you back?

Bob Jamison 44:04

Well, they they didn't renew my contract. They they they got rid of Al and they got rid of me to avoid you know just being negative on things. I'll if you don't mind, I'm just kind of let it go at that. But one of the things I did in Nashville, one of our season ticket holders uh was a man named Richard Cooper, who had a CPA firm, and he was partners with Phil Travis and Robert Davidson. And he uh he and his I got to watch his little boys grow up and they're now in their 50s, I think. But he said, Hey, if you ever want a job in the winter, we have a need for some special work during tax season. And so one year I finally took him up on it, and he had me take a class at uh in accounting in the fall at at Tennessee State, and then I went to work with him, and then I found that I had an aptitude for accounting, uh, and especially tax. And that's so I was doing a lot of proofreading because this is in the pre-computer days, and they had a really nice firm. It was I it was not a typical CPA firm, as I found out. I mean, there was it was a family feel, everybody had personalities. You know, I I I confess I I learned during my 25 years in accounting why we had the reputation we did, generally speaking, not as bad people, but just you know, not the most outgoing or it, you know, in baseball it's very irreverent and sarcasm. If you can't take it, you know, you you just don't last long. And and I found out within six months of going to work after graduating with my accounting that that doesn't work with CPAs. So I I had to bite my tongue many, many times over the decades uh after that. Uh, but I found I had an aptitude for that. And so I went when I was back moved back to Illinois where I grew up, and I ended up going to the University of Illinois. I was a non-degree student, and I was just taking classes to take the CPA exam. And I ran into a fabulous professor who took my two-year plan to do it and carved it down to one year. So I started taking classes in May of 1993, and in May of 1994, he had me with all the work I needed to get the CPA exam. And uh they were really good, so I was able to pass it on the first time, which was very important. I did I, you know, some people can do it by parts and they got time to do it when you're 43 years old, 44, you just don't have the the time to do that. But you the U of I was like one or two in accounting and in their uh graduate school of accounting, and so I stayed on and actually got a master's degree in tax. And so then in uh started to work in '95 full time in in public accounting. Then you know what actually after I retired and got back here, Middle Tennessee said, Hey, can you help us fill in for Dick Palmer when he's doing women's basketball? So I said, Well, maybe, and jumped at the job in an instant. That that was fun.

Russell Ries 47:07

Was it like riding a bike? Did you find yourself just picking it right back up?

Bob Jamison 47:11

I I I must confess, yeah. I I my wife, who was very diligent and listening, said you couldn't tell. She said, I couldn't tell you've not been doing baseball for 25 years. I'm gonna say she might be biased and a little more kind than most people, but it did. I felt very comfortable.

Russell Ries 47:29

When you came back to the Nashville region, obviously there were major differences. What struck you most about the changes that had taken place here?

Bob Jamison 47:38

Well, it it all has to do with the growth of the middle Tennessee. I mean, just the highways, you know, the two-lane or four-lane interstate highways now have eight lanes. And I I had friends who were going to Florida from Illinois and they'd always talk about the Nashville traffic, how bad it was and everything else. And I'm going, Nashville traffic's not bad. And then I came back and found, oh, yes, it is. And you know, the growth. I mean, is the population growth, uh, the expansion of the cities and and you know, like Murfreesboro, when we left, I think it was about 41,000, 42,000 in the early 90s. And when we bought our house here, it was 120 and now it's 150,000 people. And so just it's growth, and and and I don't blame people. I mean, this is a great place to live, and and it's got a lot going for it. And if you don't have to negotiate the traffic like retired people don't have to, it's not bad at all for that purpose.

Russell Ries 48:37

I want to close with a couple of questions, recalling some of your favorite memories. Of all the games you called in Nashville or with the sounds, do any hop out stand out as something you'd like to sit down and call again?

Bob Jamison 48:51

Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, yeah. I mean, the 79 team was it was a really special team. George Surger was the manager of that group. And they on the last day of the season, we had to beat Memphis in a double header to make the playoffs. And we beat Memphis in a double header and blew a like a seven-run lead in the first game and won it in 12 innings. And then we the team went on to win uh the Southern League Championship. We had we had turned right around and beat beat Memphis to win the Western Division title, and then we played Columbus and won that one. Best of five won that in four games. It was a close game and in the the clinching game, and then Dave Van Gorder, who was our catcher, hit a bases loaded triple or double. I'm sorry, he's a catcher, he would never hit a triple, um, to clear the bases. And you know, I I've I've had a tape of that call and still remember it uh very very vividly. You know, so that year was fun. Boy, there are a lot of in 1980, 81. 80 was about the best team win-wise the Sounds have ever had, uh, at least I know in the double-A days they were. Um, and then in 82, Johnny Oates was the manager. By the way, our 80 and 81 manager, Stump Merrill, ended up managing the Yankees for a while and had Buck Showalter as coach, and it was Buck that took over for Stump. And uh Johnny Oates was 82, that was his first year managing. Really liked him a whole lot. He was a really nice fellow, and we had a good team. Ended up winning the Southern League Championship in extra innings in the deciding game on a Brian Day at home run. And Buck Showalter was a base runner at the time. It was a tie game. I think it was it was I I can't remember the inning. I think it was 12th or 13th innings. And I remember we we had just the regular folding chairs in the broadcast booth, and I jumped out of my seat so much as that ball was going out that the chair flew and hit hit it with my calves, and it knocked it in the back wall about five or six feet behind us. That that was uh uh, you know, that of as far as a single game. And then my last year with the Sounds, we had a one-game playoff with Buffalo, and the winner was going to the American Association Championship to play Omaha, and we it went 18 innings, and the Sounds won in 18 innings, and we were kind of behind, and then we we tied it up in the eighth, and then it stayed that way until the top of the 18th. But from the eighth inning until the bottom of the eighth inning, each team left a runner in scoring position in every single one of those at bats without any runs being scored. Um they were like two or three times or runners at third with no outs. Each team it was pretty identical, which is kind of cool. And uh second and third with one out, that kind of situation. And finally, the sounds won and 18. I still have the t-shirt that Larry had printed up with the line score on the back of it. I it doesn't fit me like it used to uh in 1990, but uh that's okay. Um, and and of course, a nice sideline of that is the Buffalo broadcaster was a guy that Nashville fans know and love, and that's Pete Weber. And so, you know, and and Pete and I became very, very good friends in in our minor league times, and we've continued to this day. And then I remember we went out, his wife Claudia, we were in Buffalo, so we went out, we were gonna go get pizza, but it was too late because it was two o'clock in the morning, so we went and got pancakes. But I was just, as you can imagine, I was just bubble bubble. And Pete was just sitting there, and then you could tell there was no air left in his balloon. He was exhausted. And I thought, and I mean I thought, you know, if the situation were were reversed, then you know, I'd be the guy doing that. But I still remember Pete sitting across uh on the counter and just being exhausted. We were both tired, of course, but and then just a side note to that too is that that was on a Monday, and then in our series with Omaha, we actually had a 20-inning game with Omaha on Thursday, and that game included uh two and a half hours of rain delays, a couple of rain delays. Um, and my dad always remembered because he was they were visiting and uh going back to the house uh that we didn't get home until 4 30 in the morning. I wouldn't really want to do the 20-inning game because we lost, but but that that 18 any game would would would be something.

Russell Ries 53:39

Those are incredible memories. If I asked you to pick one singular Nashville sports memory as your favorite, behind the mic or not, could you put a finger on one?

Bob Jamison 53:50

Oh, yeah, it it's it's yes, I can. One of my winter jobs, the winter of 82 and 83, uh, I broadcast Vanderbilt Women's Basketball. And on the sports staff, the sports information staff was a young girl who I I kind of liked pretty pretty quickly. And actually, tomorrow we're going to celebrate our 42nd anniversary.

Russell Ries 54:18

That is an amazing memory, and congratulations on your 42nd anniversary. Bob Jamison, longtime voice of Nashville Sounds, and many other Nashville sports, Middle Tennessee sports. Thank you so much for your time today. I've really appreciated talking to you. I've really enjoyed hearing your stories. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Bob Jamison 54:40

My pleasure, absolutely.

Weekly Recap

Russell Ries 54:43

Okay, that was my conversation with Bob. I really appreciate him coming on the show. Really enjoyed listening to his stories, learned a whole lot about the early years of the sounds. So thank you again to Bob. Moving on to this weekend sports. Nashville SC won yesterday 2-0 at CF Montreal and officially won the 2026 MLS supporters shield for the best regular season record. This is their first supporter shield in club history and only the second trophy after last year's U.S. Open. They clinched the shield with three regular season matches remaining, are now 21-3-7 with 70 points. And if they can get five points out of their last three games, they will also set the all-time MLS single season points record. They are also guaranteed home field advantage throughout the MLS Cup playoffs. Nashville SC returns home on Wednesday to host the Philadelphia Union at 7.30 p.m. But Nashville SE weren't the only championship team getting ground in Nashville this week. Vanderbilt Women's Soccer on Friday beat Texas 5-0 to clinch the SEC regular season championship. Congratulations to Coach Darren Ambrose and the whole team. It's Vanderbilt's first since 2018. They are now 15-0-1 overall, 8-0-1 in the SEC, ranked number one in both national polls, and are number one seed for the SEC tournament. They next host South Carolina on Sunday, November 1st at noon. As covered last week, the Titans finally won a game, coming back to beat the Colts in Indianapolis 26-20 on the back of a solid defensive and special teams performance. The win moves them to one and five on the season, and today they host the Cleveland Browns at noon, looking to make it a win streak. In college football, Tennessee State lost 20-7 to Charleston Southern, moving their record to two and six overall and 0-3 in the Big South OVC. They're next at Lindenwood next Saturday at noon. MTSU beat FIU 26-23 on Tuesday, moving their record to four and three overall and two and one in Conference USA. They continue their streak of midweek games when they host Kennesaw State on Wednesday, October 28th at 6 PM. And Vanderbilt lost 37-17 at number 12 Kentucky. They're now 3-5 overall in the season and 0-5 in SEC play. Bandy gets a much needed break next week before going on the road at Mississippi State on Saturday, November 7th. The Predators had two games this week, losing at Boston 6-0 on Thursday, and then last night losing 3-2 at Pittsburgh in overtime. Today they host the Colorado Avalanche before hosting the Washington Capitals on Thursday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Outro

Russell Ries 57:46

All right, that is our show for the week. My thanks again to Bob Jamison. Really enjoyed speaking with him and hearing his stories. My thanks to you for listening. As always, you can reach us on social media at NSH Sports Report on Twitter and Blue Sky. We also have our website, www.nashvillesportsreport.com, where you can find all our episodes. And you can reach out to us in the link in the description below. And with that, I will say thanks and we will speak to you next week.