He may not have been in front of the camera, but he influenced everything you saw during the World Series on Fox between 1996 and 2014. That’s because MLB on Fox director Bill Webb was calling the shots from inside the production truck. Webb worked at ABC Sports, Fox, superstation WWOR-TV, MSG Network and SNY. Webb passed away Tuesday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.
During his career, Webb directed 18 World Series, 20 League Championship Series and 18 MLB All-Star Games. Buck told Newsday in 2015 that more than anyone, Webb was responsible for the look of baseball on Fox Sports.
His work was critically acclaimed earning some 40 Emmy nominations. He had directed all of the World Series that Fox aired between 1996 through 2014 as well as the 1995 World Series games that aired on ABC. Cancer stopped his streak of 15 consecutive World Series from 2000-14, thus he had to step aside in 2015 and was unable to work the 2016 Fall Classic.
You may have noticed during the 2015 and 2016 World Series when Fox did a Stand Up 2 Cancer segment that Joe Buck and his announcing partners put the name “Webby” on their cards. In 2015, Webb’s Fox Sports colleagues made sure to let him know that he wasn’t far from their thoughts:
And during the 2016 World Series, Buck and John Smoltz put “Webby” on their cards once again.
And reaction to Webb’s death came from his colleagues at both Fox and SNY:
The latest
“The main thing that I try to do is bring the game up close and personal,” says Webb. “First, I try to be creative in setting the drama between pitcher and batter and then let the drama build as you get further into the game. Your obligation as a director is to do the best possible job with what you have to tell the story to the people at home. It’s my job to put those people at home in the best seat in the ballpark, not in the cheap seats.”
Webb broke into television in 1969 with WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in New York. He eventually got to work on Mets games on the station as an assistant director then becoming the lead director in 1979. In 1983, Tim McCarver joined the Mets broadcasts and he and Webb would work together on WWOR and eventually Fox.
Webb was hired by ABC Sports in 1987 to become its lead director, but after the network lost baseball in 1989, he worked on boxing, college football, college basketball, figure skating and horse racing’s Trple Crown.
In 1996, Webb joined Fox and forged a formidable team with Buck, McCarver and producer Pete Macheska on the MLB package.
When SNY was launched in 2006, Webb went back to his first team, the New York Mets where he directed and worked with the announcing team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. He directed games though the 2016 season, but had to cut back his schedule due to cancer.
This past November, Webb was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
As you can see from the tweets, Webb was considered special by his friends and colleagues and he will be missed by all who had the opportunity to work with him.
[Sports Video Group/Newsday/New York Times]