Jerry became part of the fabric of a nation and a team, covering historic moments like the rise of the Blue Jays through the 1980s that culminated in back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993. His Hall of Fame-worthy broadcasting career has been nothing short of legendary. When Jerry retired in February 2018, the tributes poured in and made one thing perfectly clear: Toronto baseball would never be the same.
Jerry Howarth is a former sportscaster. He was born in the U.S. and became a Canadian citizen in 1994. He is best known as the radio play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1981 through the 2017 season.
Howarth started his career in Toronto where he worked part of the 1981 Blue Jays season as a commentator. In 1982, he joined Tom Cheek as his full-time play-by-play partner. For the next 23 years, "Tom and Jerry" would be the radio voices of the Blue Jays (Cheek passed away in 2005).
Howarth had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016 and had surgery to remove a small tumor. He retired from broadcasting in February 2018 due to health reasons.
This book is Howarth's story of his life. He starts off by telling us about his childhood and education. It was interesting to learn that he had gone to university to study law but his love of sports was so great that he quit school to give broadcasting a try. Obviously it has worked out for him!
He shares stories of the Toronto Blue Jays and managers who have been on the team over the years right up to today's line-up including Dave Stieb, Jack Morris, Duane Ward, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, John Gibbons, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson and the late Roy Halladay. He also shares stories about players and managers from other teams.
If you are a baseball fan, you'll like this book. If you are a big-time Blue Jays fan, you'll probably love it. I liked it as it was interesting and nice to hear about the various players from Howarth's personal experience and friendships.
No comments:
Post a Comment