Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990 TAG: 9004100213
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TV/RADIO JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When the Atlanta Braves begin another season on WTBS tonight, viewers will notice a difference in the telecasters. Ernie Johnson, after 25 years on the air, has retired. Former pitcher Don Sutton steps in to join Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren.
And Sample, the Roanoke Valley native who spent two seasons in the Braves' booth, is at his home in New Jersey, considering an offer to become a hitting instructor at a Bergen County driving range-batting cage complex.
"They chose not to renew my contract," Sample said of Turner Broadcasting. "I'm not quite sure why, and nobody ever told me. But what upset me was that they tried to make it look like I didn't want to come back."
Sample, who turned 35 last week, spent the winter seeking another baseball broadcasting job. At the moment, his only on-air certainties are a couple of weekend New York Mets' telecasts on WWOR when Tim McCarver is away doing games for CBS Sports.
With ESPN getting into the sport with six games a week, he thought he had a decent chance at a new opportunity. But bigger names than Sample - Tony Kubek and Mike Schmidt, for example - didn't get a shot with ESPN, either.
"With all of the changes, I said it was like musical chairs and I hoped I wouldn't be standing when the music stopped, but I was," Sample said. "Last year, during the All-Star break, I started to get the impression that I wouldn't be coming back. I was surprised. I know the guys I worked with were surprised."
Sample, who had virtually no telecast experience when he made his TBS superstation debut in 1988, seemed to fit into the Braves' broadcasts because he was low-key. Johnson was the booster, Caray offered the bits of bombast, Van Wieren was the straight man. If there was a knock on Sample, it was that he was too unassuming.
Which says only that the former Salem resident was himself.
"The second half of last season, I thought, was my best work," said Sample, who played eight-plus seasons in major-league outfields with Texas, the Yankees and Atlanta. "There never was anything where someone said, `We like this,' or `This isn't good.'
"I'm realistic. I know I'm not as valuable as Don Sutton. He has the name, he's very good, and he has a natural affinity for that [TV work]. But I had people tell me they liked my work, people like scouts and people in baseball, and I thought it was maybe because I wasn't so talkative. I'm not a guy with a lot of chatter."
Sample spent most of his career with Texas, where he got to know Norm Hitzges, an outspoken broadcaster who never played the game. Hitzges, who has been an analyst on Rangers' telecasts, will work two games a week for ESPN. He's been branded as a on-air maverick whose work may startle some staid baseball viewers.
"When I see Norm getting hired by ESPN," Sample said, "I ask myself if that's where television is turning. That's not a knock on Norm, just a thought of mine. I know him and I like him and he's helped me, but he's sort of a Dick Vitale-type, a guy who, when he says something, will shock you or push you one way or the other.
"I simply like to inform people, to enhance what they're watching. Maybe, in the industry, it's going away from that. I'd rather be the Billy Packer-type than the Vitale of baseball."
The Yankees inquired about Sample's future late last season, but there were no further talks. Sample, the first James Madison University baseball player to sign a pro contract (1976), was named among the finalists for Kubek's old TV position with Toronto. Sample never heard from the Blue Jays before Tommy Hutton, who also is working for ESPN, got the job.
"I got the feeling after talking to some people that it's fashionable for people to list a minority applicant in their list of finalists," said Sample.
Sample remembers his years in the majors when he spent much time wondering why he wasn't playing. He was a vocal and active players' union figure and always thought that contributed to his time in the dugout during games.
"Now, it's like it was when I was playing," Sample said. "I always said to myself, `I'm better than this and they're keeping me around, so why don't they play me?' I've tried to come up with a reason why I wasn't brought back. It couldn't have been money. But there's no underlying reason. There's nothing there."
Sample earned $85,000 in his first Braves' TV season, then $92,500 last year. He was going to ask for at least $125,000 if he had the opportunity. He then looked into openings on Chicago Cubs' radio broadcasts, but those went to Ron Santo and rookie voice Bob Brenly.
"I shamelessly solicited myself all winter," Sample said, laughing. "And I've been beating the streets in New York looking for something in recent weeks. It's a really tough market."
Sample seems more confused about his potential in television than he is frustrated. As an announcer with national exposure and experience - even if he didn't wow the audience or his bosses - he thinks he should have a foot in the door. With two businesses on record about employing minorities in increasing numbers - baseball and network broadcasting - he is again no more than a candidate.
"I guess I'm still new enough at it that I don't know whether what happened to me is standard operating procedure or not," Sample said. "But I find it hard to believe the notion that I won't work again in a broadcast medium."
Until he does, Sample probably will become an independent distributor of a nutritional product through his sports connections and perhaps teach hitting to 10-year-olds in New York City's affluent suburbs.
Mostly, however, he will wait for a call from someone with call letters.
by CNB