Off to Scranton

Dragons announcer Vander Wood, and his stories will be missed

When Mike Vander Wood gets going, he's like Sports on Tape. You start listening and you can't turn off the sound.

He's got the good voice, and he remembers everything. I'm trying to remember who batted last inning, and he's remembering the reserve second baseman from the 1998 Lansing Lugnuts who stole a base in an obscure regular-season game that meant nothing in the standings.

We're going to miss that guy, although the former — as of the end of today — Dragons announcer and media guru points out he will return to nearby stadiums in Columbus, Toledo and Indianapolis as voice of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees next summer.

There are a few of his favorite stories at the link, but this one from Pohlman Field in Beloit is my favorite:

"It was 105 degrees in the booth, so I went into the stands, where it was only 96," Vander Wood said. "All of the sudden, during batting practice, all the players are looking up into the stands and pointing. A concession stand caught fire. The next night, there was yellow tape around everything, but the announcer for Beloit said he thought there was a big weather change coming. It was still about 95 where we were, but only 71 in Madison, about an hour away."

The resulting storm wiped away the game and most of the grounds crew that had to stand on the tarp so it wouldn't blow away.

Good luck, Mike. Stop by Poor Richard's and say hello to the folks from Dunder-Mifflin while you are out there.