One can only hope that Suzyn Waldman is a far more talented singer than she is a baseball analyst and broadcast parter for John Sterling.
On the rare occasions that I am forced to listen to the Yankees radio broadcast, that nails-on-chalkboard voice she possesses is just a self-inflicted shotgun blast to the face waiting to happen.
ESPN:
Suzyn Waldman is a long way from the broadcast booth, wondering about pitch counts and if a left-handed pinch-hitter is available.
The New York Yankees announcer is a former Broadway singer, and she's spending the offseason delighting in the cheers and laughter at a suburban dinner theater.
It was at the urging of an unlikely source -- doomed Yankee pitcher Corey Lidle -- that helped her decide to take on the new challenge.
She was traveling with the Yankees last season -- "I think we were in Kansas City" -- when Bill Stutler, a friend and the co-owner of the 450-seat Westchester Broadway Theatre, offered her the part in a musical called "Christmas Inn."
"Bill e-mailed me, 'I've got this idea. You're not working in the winter, why don't you come back and do a little play?" Waldman said.
She was tempted but torn. Her first career was as a Broadway and cabaret singer, but it had been 21 years since she'd last sung on stage. So she sought advice from her friends, and Lidle overheard.
"Cory always sat behind me on the team bus and he'd hear all my cell phone conversations," Waldman said. "I'd be talking about this offer to friends, you know, 'What if I can't sing, I haven't done this in years, the only thing I sing anymore is the national anthem.' He heard like three of these phone calls and said, 'What's wrong with you? Go for it. Have some fun.'