Former Blue Wahoos broadcasters living dream as MLB voices at same ballpark

Their future was still a dream in 2018 when former Blue Wahoos broadcasters Tommy Thrall and Chris Garagiola were traveling together one day, late into that season, and a breakthrough occurred.

The Cincinnati Reds called Thrall to request if he could fill in a few days for their iconic radio voice Marty Brennaman. It became an audition.

“We certainly didn’t know what was ahead for us and it was cool to share that moment with him,” said Thrall, who succeeded Brennaman in 2019 as the voice of the Reds. “And then when Chris found out last year he would have a chance with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he called me right away and so we shared these moments, which is really special.”

An even greater memory has happened this week.

The two close friends, both having reached the mountaintop in their profession, are in separate broadcast booths at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, working the four-game series between the Reds and Diamondbacks.

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The only two previous broadcasters in Blue Wahoos history have attained a quest that is so difficult to gain. With only 30 Major League Baseball teams and most having broadcasters work for decades, the turnover is very limited. Brennaman worked 46 years as the voice of the Reds that Thrall now maintains.

“To see one another again is a very special moment that very few in this industry get to experience,” said Garagiola, 30, who worked two seasons as the solo voice of the Blue Wahoos, after being Thrall’s understudy for the 2017-18 seasons in Pensacola.

“Tommy is a real mentor to me and always my friend,” Garagiola said. “To see one another again as colleagues in a Major League Baseball (broadcast) booth is really a gratifying moment that few friends get to experience.”

Thrall, 37, a Smithville, Missouri native, worked 15 years as radio broadcaster for college games at Northwest Missouri State, then an Independent League team in Kansas City before landing the role as Blue Wahoos broadcaster for the team’s 2012 inaugural season.

Garagiola, the grandson of Joe Garagiola Sr., one of the most famous voices in baseball broadcast history, started at Trinity University in San Antonio, his alma mater, before joining the Blue Wahoos as a broadcast trainee in 2017 with Thrall as his boss.

“You want to get to the big leagues,” Thrall said. “But you also know how long of a grind it is and how much time you have to put in to get there. That is the really, hard part of this… is just sticking with it. It took me about 15 years in the minor leagues before it happened.

“Chris was a really quick study and it happened a lot faster for him. He got a lot better real fast. But it is pretty crazy to think how quickly it has come together.”

Following the Blue Wahoos’ 2021 season, Garagiola, who grew up in Phoenix, interviewed and was hired by the Diamondbacks to handle pregame and postgame portions of the home games broadcast, as well as travel with the team. He’s often the main voice on road trips, such as this one in Cincinnati.

“Once things happened with the Diamondbacks the way that they did, one of the first things I looked at was the (team schedule) calendar,” Garagiola said, laughing. “And finding out, does Cincinnati play here (in Arizona) or do we go to Cincinnati?

“It is what you work toward,” he said. “In no way are we comparable to professional athletes, but there is not a higher point in our careers, much in the same way there is not a higher point for a player.”

Both men became popular among Blue Wahoos fans with their engaging demeanor and radio voice style. Team owners Quint and Rishy Studer have valued the team’s radio broadcasts, having grown up in era where radio was a primary source for baseball listening.

Quint Studer’s mother listens – and often critiques – the Blue Wahoos broadcasts each night. The Blue Wahoos have arranged for the radio broadcasts of all games, home and away, all 10 years the franchise has existed.

This year’s broadcasts are being handled by Erik Bremer, who brings his own extensive background. His father, Dick Bremer, is a long-time television broadcaster with the Minnesota Twins.

Erik Bremer has already had a viral radio moment with his classic call of the Blue Wahoos’ incredible walk-off win last Sunday that ended on four consecutive hit-by-pitches to complete a three-run rally win against the Biloxi Shuckers. Bremer was interviewed Tuesday on MLB Network about that experience.

“I know that I grew up a lot from a broadcast perspective in those seven years I was in Pensacola,” Thrall said. “It was really important to me. I wasn’t anywhere close to where I am now when I first got to Pensacola, as compared to now.

“I know back then, the fan base in Pensacola really treated the Blue Wahoos like it was their big-league team. The fans are really passionate about that team and the following was passionate. I would be out somewhere and people would recognize me by my voice. And that to me is really cool.

“I don’t think it is by coincidence that two guys, so far, who worked for the Blue Wahoos are in the big leagues.”

Garagiola also had a great relationship with the team and the Studers. During the 2019 season, he paired on Sunday games with then-96-year-old John Appleyard, founder of The Appleyard Agency. The tandem became a big hit.

As it turned out, following Mr. Appleyard’s death in 2020 – the year without Minor League Baseball due to the coronavirus – it was the only season they were together on Sundays.

“The Blue Wahoos have had an element of caring how the broadcast looks and sounds,” Garagiola said. “And they gave us a lot of resources to get where we needed and get the job we always wanted.

“I am so fortunate that Quint, Rishy, Jonathan (Griffith, team president) and Bubba (Watson) for ensuring we were cared for in that sense in the best way possible.”

Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Former Blue Wahoos boardcasters Thrall and Garagiola together on MLB stage