'Everybody loves Tim': Hagerty's at home as El Paso Chihuahuas broadcaster

In 10 consequential years as the only radio voice the El Paso Chihuahuas have ever had, Tim Hagerty has seen every Chihuahuas game, announced every El Paso player, announced every opposing player, called every moment.

So of course he remembers Corey Seager, who in 2015 was an infielder from Oklahoma City on his way to fame and stardom as MVP of the 2020 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On one particular night eight years ago at Southwest University Park, however, Seager wasn’t a prime attraction, just a 21-year-old minor leaguer living a minor league moment.

“The Chihuahuas had a between-innings wiener dog race and one of the dogs went rogue, made a left turn and started running around the infield,” Hagerty recalled. “I was doing play-by-play of a wiener dog delay.

“That ended up on Good Morning America, it got national attention, and one of the Oklahoma City infielders the dog runs by is Corey Seager, now a star for the Texas Rangers.

“In his career he’s been MVP of the World Series and part of a wiener dog delay.”

The road to El Paso

Hagerty found 1,000 other moments like that for his book “Tales from the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational & Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball,” which dropped Tuesday, just in time for the start of the Chihuahuas 10th season.

At a level of baseball where transience for players, managers and personnel is part of the game, Hagerty has been the constant in El Paso, the calm, insightful voice over the radio talking fans and the team through the season.

That began in 2004 as a recent college graduate from Vermont (via his native Massachusetts) debuting for the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer League, bussing through Idaho and Montana and Utah.

Ten years later, though, he was looking for a job and desperately hoping he’d get his shot in El Paso.

There were no Chihuahuas then, but there was an ambitious ownership group assembled in the Sun City and a Triple-A team becoming available in Tucson, where Hagerty was riding that sinking ship as the Tucson Padres' only play-by-play announcer ever.

There were no guarantees for Hagerty when MountainStar Sports took over the franchise and moved it 320 miles East. Haggerty isn’t a Padres employee, he works for local owners, and in 2013 he was once again applying for a job. He'd never been to El Paso before but he wanted to add that to his life experience.

“The final few years in Tucson there were some sleepless nights because I wasn't sure about the future of the team and what that meant for me,” Hagerty said. “I was hoping El Paso worked out and hoped that I got to be the broadcaster.

“That was not definite, it was a change of ownership but I had a chance to meet with Alan Ledford, the team president, had a phone call with Brad Taylor, the Chihuahuas general manager.

“Luckily it worked out. It was such a relief at that time and it's been even better than I expected. This has become home for my wife, son and I."

More: El Paso Chihuahuas' growling brand still clicks as MiLB team moves into 10th season

Getting going in the Sun City

In a career arc that has taken him from Idaho Falls, Idaho to Mobile, Alabama, to Portland, Oregon, with the Triple-A Padres affiliate, to Tucson where he also had to apply anew to stay with the Padres' Triple-A team, the 41-year-old Hagerty was always up for a new adventure.

"I've been to 49 states (not Alaska) and most of that is because of my job, moving to different places, traveling to different places because of road games," Hagerty said. "I look at that as a gift I've been to different places."

And as much of an unknown the Chihuahuas were on a drawing board in 2013, there was reason for optimism.

"I knew El Paso had a reputation as a passionate baseball fan base," Hagerty said. "I had vaguely heard about (Diablos announcer) Paul Strelzin, (Diablos owner) Jim Paul and the craziness that went on at the Dudley Dome. It seemed to me like an exciting thing, especially when you saw those ballpark renderings. I thought this could be the best park in minor league baseball. I think it has proven that it is.

"At that time I was also excited about the prospect of being the inaugural announcer. I like the fact that as a broadcaster you can become the unofficial historian of the team. Now that we've been here 10 years I have people come up to me and say, 'What happened to this player?'

"It's an honor people look at me as the expert on the history of the roster and the team."

As it turns out, Hagerty didn't have much to worry about when he applied to MountainStar Sports with a good word from a Padres organization that the Chihuahuas have shown remarkable loyalty to.

"It was a no-brainer to keep Tim as the guy who was going to be the voice of the Chihuahuas," said general manager Brad Taylor, another person who has been with the team since its inception. "I couldn't imagine the Chihuahuas without Tim being the guy on the mic. He's terrific at his job, he paints a great story and a great picture every night.

"He's a great teammate in the office, everybody loves Tim. One of the most unknown things about Tim is his sense of humor. It's very dry but it's very good, when you get that out of him he's one of the funniest guys in the office."

Making, living history

Hagerty was actually one of the last inaugural Chihuahua employees to see the office. When he left at the beginning of April, 2014 for an epic season-opening 24-game road trip that were the first on-field moments in franchise history, Southwest University Park was a construction zone.

He returned at the end of April to see one of the jewels of minor league baseball, albeit a jewel he still didn't know the contours of.

"There was so much anticipation and I'd never been here before," Hagerty said. "We were making decisions about press box locations and I'm doing it via Skype, sitting in hotels. The first game, April 28, 2014, we woke up in Sacramento that day. The first time I ever saw this ballpark was six hours before first pitch.

"We had a San Diego Padres group of executives here and there was a TV station looking to interview them. I was going to introduce them, but as I was looking for the field, I ended up in some tunnel. I couldn't find the field.

"I realized I had to learn the ins and outs of the building."

He did.

"It hasn't happened since in 10 years," Hagerty said.

More: El Paso Chihuahuas kick off 2023 season: 5 players to watch

Never out-prepared

Moments like getting lost aren't frequently going to happen to Hagerty, who does a remarkable amount of preparation for each game. In a sense he's been preparing for this his whole life, going back to a childhood in the '80s and '90s avidly studying box scores in the Boston Globe.

"As a kid if you asked me to name 15 Kansas City Royals, I could do it," he said. "That training helped. A lot of the players I watched as kids are managers, coaches, scouts now. Even if they weren't famous, a scout will walk in asking for a roster, he'll introduce himself, I'll say, 'Oh, you played for Cincinnati.' My childhood passion does help now."

That's more important in baseball announcing than most sports, as there can be more down time to fill than basketball, hockey or soccer.

"Every night I prepare as if I'm going to get a 10-0 game where the pitches are less important," Hagerty said. "At the end of games I'll look at my notes and a lot of them are unused, but you have to be prepared in case it is the type of game you have to tell stories.

"Luckily it's something I enjoy reading to begin with. A broadcaster once told me, it takes a few days to prepare for a basketball game, it takes a week to prepare for a football game, It takes a lifetime to prepare for a baseball game. It's slower paced, if you don't know your stuff you're going to get caught because you're filling time."

He's got all the statistics on hand, but it's the anecdotes that make the broadcast.

"Last year I was in the Chihahuas dugout, Robinson Cano was with the Chihuahuas and Padres special assistant Hideo Nomo was in the dugout," Hagerty said. "They are laughing, I asked the manager what they were laughing about.

"(Manager) Jared Sandberg told me Robinson Cano's first major-league hit was against Hideo Nomo in 2005. I thought, wow, now these same two guys in 2022 are in the same dugout again. The only reason I knew that is because I was present in the dugout. Trying to have a professional relationship with players and coaches, they tell you things that become interesting in the broadcast."

Making El Paso home

Hagerty has built a relationship with El Paso, the home for his wife and native El Pasoan son 7-year-old Carson. He still talks with some wonderment about Chihuahua fans.

His No. 1 impression of the city "is how closely El Paso follows the team," Hagerty said. "In 2021, the one year they had a losing team, I was in the post office and this guy came up to me, 'Oh, you're the broadcaster.' He then said to me, 'Why is the team so bad?'

More: 10 years of El Paso Chihuahuas: Top moments to remember

"I love the fact that this guy in a post office was aware the Chihuahuas weren't doing well. People are aware of the wins and losses here. It's not a place where the fans are just there for the hot dogs and fireworks. They really get into these games.

"I remember Rocky Gale, who played the first four years for the Chihuahuas off and on, said, 'I love the fact that the fans in El Paso boo.' He said it created such expectations for the players they actually love that. I've heard many visiting players say this is their favorite place to come on the road because of the atmosphere here.

"That's what stands out to me — the atmosphere."

Hagerty is part of that atmosphere, the man in the booth with a story to tell.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Chihuahuas broadcaster Tim Hagerty enjoys decade in El Paso