Bob Carpenter has seen a lot in a broadcast career that began in 1975 and included all but one of the Washington Nationals seasons. Known to Nats fans for his signature home runs calls and scorebooks (Bob Carpenter’s Scorebook are widely used by fans and broadcasters), the 66-year-old play-by-play guy travels with the team and spends seven months in the booth, giving him unparalleled insight.
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Carpenter was kind enough to sit down with The Athletic to peel back the curtain on what makes this unique, his future in broadcasting, and how he stays sane not being part of the playoff broadcasts.
Everyone has a theory on what makes this Nationals team special. I’m curious, what’s yours?
The Nats have really had to play hard all September. I was looking at some of my books from the previous four playoffs, where the Nats won the division — one time we clinched on Sept. 10. We were 22 games up on the Marlins! It was crazy. So, we had all these division-winning (years) where we had home-field (advantage). We were like “this is great” and then we can’t get through the first round.
This is unique in that we played so hard and had to win so much to just win the wild card. I remember looking at it after 50 games. I was like, “We have 112 games left. We have to 71 games out of 112 to get to 90.” And they got beyond 90!
It’s a situation where these teammates looked like everyone on the team was their best friends. The clubhouse has been fabulous this year. You can draw whatever conclusions you want to off that from previous years. All I know is that this group of guys seems to care so much about each other. They feed off each other like nothing I’ve ever seen.
Maybe (pitcher) Anibal Sanchez set the tone. The first time we went to Florida, we had a night off, he had everyone over to his house for a big party. They had a great party; everyone was smiling. And that’s when things weren’t going well. I think about that sometimes. That was kind of the first step where you realized, “Hey, this is a group of guys who really like each other.” It’s been huge.
People often discredit clubhousechemistry because you can’t attach a statistic to it. But you’rearound them so much and really get to see that part.What’s that been like?
It’s the same, on airplanes or going to the hotel. It just seems to come together in that clubhouse. And I don’t think you can talk about this stuff without giving props to Davey (Martinez). You’ve been around a lot of managers. I’ve been around a lot of managers.That thing that could have gotten really ugly. I don’t think guys go in and turn over the (food) spread anymore, but the way Davey handled this whole thing.
Things weren’t roses coming out of last year either when we didn’t make the playoffs. For Davey to guide the team through this, to me, is amazing. What you see is what you get with him. All that stuff he kept saying every day, “We’re going to turn this around” or “We just got to go 1-0 today.” He turned out to be right.
So, this scorebook is going to be a keeper?
Oh, I have them all. I go through two books a year; I switch them out at the All-Star game. I got them on a shelf (in the booth) going back to 2006, which was my first year.
I don’t have all (of my St. Louis Cardinals books), but a lot of them are at home. I kept my first from ’98 when (Mark) Mark McGwire had the home run chase. That was a Cub and a Cardinal in the home run chase.
If you give me a date, I pull out the book. What’s really fun, is I pull out the book from a season and I look at the lineup and I’m like, “How did we win?” (Laughs.) It’s crazy. It’s fun to have the (Nats) history, other than that first year. It’s really fun to have that history by my side so I can call up anything. In Max (Scherzer’s) no-hitters and his 20-strikeout game, he autographed the scorebook for me. Jordan Zimmerman autographed his no-hitter book.
Another thing I do for the guys that I don’t really talk about is whenever they hit a milestone, like a 100th career homer or (Stephen) Strasburg getting his 100th career win, I go down to the media relations office and make a full-color copy of the book. I put a notation in there written by me to them and put it in a nice folder for them for their family or scrapbooks.
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That’s really cool.
Yeah. When Max threw his second no-hitter, I happened to run into his dad in St. Louis flying up here for a playoff game. He said, “I really appreciate you doing that; it was really cool for us to have the scorebook from the game.” I’m sure the team gives them the lineup card, but that doesn’t have the actual play-by-play from the game.
I even have one sitting in (the booth) because I haven’t seen him since Jake Noll got his first career hit in Colorado, then he got sent down, and I haven’t seen him since. I’m about to ask PR to mail it to him. I’ve been doing that for years, and players seem to really like them.
The (Aaron) Barrett scorecard (from his debut) is also in my possession. As soon as I see him, I’m going to give it to him. Him coming back, I mean, talk about a feel-good story for the season. Unbelievable.
Players talk about appreciating winning more as they get older. Does that apply to broadcasters, too?
A lot of the years I was in St. Louis, they weren’t that good. I did their games in ’85, which was a World Series year, but I was real part-time. (I) didn’t have another one until ’96. I have a ring from 2004, but it doesn’t say World Series champions, it only says National League Champions, they got swept by the Red Sox. I’d love to have a ring from both of my teams. I got one in St. Louis, but I’d really love to get one here that says World Champions.
But that is a good point. This is my 33rd year in Major League Baseball. I’m 66. You’re seeing the celebration the other night, and it’s awesome and you’re thinking, ‘Gosh, how many more times do I get to witness this?’ Not that it’s about me at all, but those thoughts do go through your mind. We don’t throw a pitch or take any swings, but in a way, a lot of people identify us with the team. And that’s pretty cool.
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So, how manycelebrations do you have left? Do you think about how close retirement is for you?
It’s still down the road, but it’s getting closer. I did miss some time for my wife’s (Debbie) surgery this season and had some regularly scheduled time off. (Radio broadcaster) Dave Jageler steps in and does a great job. It is something that’s getting closer and closer.
How much does Debbie’s health scare maybe speed up that timetable?
Yeah, we found out on the day of the All-Star game that she had this large tumor (in her leg). We didn’t know how big it was until they operated. The doctors said it was about the size of a Big Mac. She had the surgery the Friday (the Nationals) were going to Chicago. Of all series to miss, we sweep the Cubs, but … (Carpenter shrugs). I left Pittsburgh a day early and then missed the weekend in Chicago. Then I was back when the team came home, but I had two sisters who flew in, and my daughter took off some time. But the first diagnosis kind of hit me between the eyes. If this thing was not benign, it was going to be dangerous. But she did great; she’s home walking with her girlfriends and doing remarkably well.
She’s 65 and when these things happen, you do think about other things. It’s led to some really good conversations and things we are looking forward to. November is our 40th wedding anniversary and she tells her friends I’ve been home for about half of it, maybe. (Laughs.) I’m hoping it’s closer to three-fourths. This business can be hard, but you make it work.
You’ve been around a lot of managers, but Tony La Russa must have been oddly fascinating.
Crazy in a good way. Tony was a total student of the game, and one thing I can say about him (is) Tony La Russa had total respect in the game of baseball. He did some out-of-the-box things; he batted the pitcher eighth, I still have my scorecard from the last game of 1998 when McGuire hit homers No. 69 and 70 and our pitcher hit eighth that day. Tony did some out-of-the-box things. He and Dennis Eckersley basically invented one-inning saves.
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One thing I always remember about Tony is I’d see him in the afternoon and say, “Hey, skip, how are you doing?” And he’d say, “I’ll tell you at 10 o’clock.” It was all about the game; it was all about that 2 1/2-3 hours. Then he’d tell you how the game was it was over. I saw how testy he could get with reporters in press conferences. I tried not to be in awe of him because he always treated me very respectfully.
My sister, Judy (Carpenter Barada), worked for the Cardinals for 52 years, she took care of everything for Tony and his family in St. Louis. She and Tony were very close, so I’m sure I got treated a whole lot better because of my sibling.
You’ve obviously donethis before, but having to cede to nationalbroadcast in the playoffs can’t be very fun.
It’s hard. It’s hard on (color analyst) F.P. (Santangelo), it’s hard on me. F.P. is a little more vocal about it than I am, which is typical of our relationship. I internalize things a lot. It’s hard because we’ve been with them for over seven months. It is nice when the fans tweet or send messages or emails that say, “It’s not the same” or “We miss you guys.”
Once the first pitch is thrown of the playoff games, I’m in the press box or somewhere in the stands watching. I don’t keep score.
Bob Carpenter doesn’t keep score?!?
No, never. I’ve had fans ask me to. Obviously, I know what’s going on. We have to be on the field right when it’s over. We do our pre- and postgame stuff and we make the most of it. MASN thinks it’s important for (F.P.) and I to be seen during the playoffs and that’s enough for me.
It would be awesome if we could do just the first round or even just the home games or something. I still like being in the ballpark, though.
So, you’ll just sit in the stands like a regular fan?
It depends. The Cubs, Dodgers and Giants, the press facilities are tiny, so we can’t sit in the press box. Sometimes there’s nowhere else to sit. My producer and I, in San Francisco for the playoffs, we went back to the hotel, got something to eat, watched the game on TV for six or seven innings, got a cab and went back to the ballpark. In Chicago and LA, it wasn’t convenient to leave the ballpark. But it’s so weird to not be in the booth broadcasting games.
I have, in 36 years of doing baseball, done four playoff games. The ’96 League Championship Series, Games 4-7 between the Cardinals and Braves. Jack Buck got ill, so they put me on radio. The Cardinals won Game 4 to go up 3-1 and then lost the next three, and the Braves went to the World Series. Those are the only four postseason games of my career, on radio.
It’s hard, but you try to make the best of it.
(Top photo of Bob Carpenter, left and F.P. Santangelo: Toni L. Sandys / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
