Pronunciations

The pronunciations of the Red Sox players are communicated to me by the Red Sox media relations people throughout the season. As new players come up from the Minor Leagues, or changes are made to the player roster, they make sure that I am advised of any out-of-the-ordinatry pronunciations. Before each series, I make it a point to visit with the visiting team's radio and TV people to ascertain that I know the proper pronunciations of each visiting player. Also, I'll verify idiosyncracies that are -- to the individual players -- important as they hear their names announced. For instance:

It's much more fun to announce a multi-syllabic name than a single syllable name -- I love saying the name of Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra; it sounds really good over the speaker system. However, first baseman Mo Vaughn -- unless it's drawn out excessively -- doesn't sound that great. Also, some of the many Latin and Hispanic names are PA announcers' delights, because they contain so many vowels.