A critical part of sports broadcasts is the announcers’ voices, especially on radio. That means there are some changed plans around voice-affecting illnesses. The latest along those lines is New York Yankees’ radio voice Dave Sims announcing on X Sunday that he’s developed laryngitis and will miss the Sunday evening conclusion of their Subway Series against the Mets:
These sorts of absences happen across the broadcast landscape. And with this being a home game for the Yankees, it should be easier for them and WFAN to tab a replacement than it might have been on the road. (That will likely be Emmanuel Berbari, their postgame host and usual backup for Sims.) However, there are a couple factors that mean this may get more scrutiny than your average health-related day off for a broadcaster.
One element worth watching is that this is a national exclusive TV broadcast (on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball). Thus, the radio broadcast here may get more attention than normal from Yankee fans given the lack of a team TV option. Another is that this comes less than a week after WFAN morning host Boomer Esiason went after Sims, who’s in his first season calling the Yankees and following famed broadcaster John Sterling there, for taking a series against the Athletics off to visit family in Seattle.
Presumably Esiason is less aggrieved about Sims missing a game for an actual health issue that would impact his broadcasting. But that rant (which saw lines like “What are you doing? You just took the Yankee job! It’s supposed to be the job of your life.”) still presents interesting context for Sims’ current day off. And that, as well as a preemptive bid to head off well-meaning people with their own home remedies, may be part of why Sims detailed (with photographic evidence, no less!) what recovery methods he has already tried.
At any rate, we wish Sims the best with his vocal recovery. And we hope he’s able to return to the WFAN airwaves soon, before any further discussions from their morning show hosts about how many games he calls or doesn’t call crop up.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.