BSM Writers
Ben Verlander & Alex Curry Are Making Baseball Fun Again on Flippin’ Bats
“You have these young superstars coming in and being so good for the game of baseball, and I wanted to be a voice that comes in and talks about that.”
If the surname “Verlander” seems familiar to you, it is because it belongs to one of the most accomplished pitchers in baseball history and a widely regarded first-ballot Hall of Famer: New York Mets starting pitcher Justin Verlander. Justin and his brother Ben grew up in Richmond, VA and both had a penchant for baseball from a young age. Throughout his childhood though, Ben was frequently compared to his brother, and he let it bother him for many years. Justin ended up making it to the major leagues in 2005 with the Detroit Tigers and promptly won the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Since then, he has amassed three Cy Young awards, two World Series championships – both with the Houston Astros – and was named the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player.
Ben was a two-way player but was advised in his junior year at Old Dominion University to choose a path, and he ultimately decided to focus on hitting. A large part of that decision was not only because he wanted to play every day; he also wanted to forge his own path separate from his brother’s. Although Ben never made it out of the minor leagues, he never lost his passion for the game and is now one of the sport’s most trusted, informative and entertaining voices.
Today, Ben Verlander is the co-host of Flippin’ Bats, which is distributed by FOX Sports as a podcast and live-streamed across its digital platforms. Reaching this point took hard work and persistence, and followed him taking a year away from the game following his retirement in 2017. It took him some time to recognize that pursuing a career in sports media would be the most optimal way for him to remain in the game.
“I got to a place in my life where I realized I can create my own path and I can create my own journey that will be successful even if it doesn’t end in a Hall of Fame career,” Verlander said. “I’m on my journey. Will it lead me to the Baseball Hall of Fame? I doubt it. I don’t think it will, but it’s leading me on a journey that I absolutely love and that I believe I was supposed to be on.”
Through this journey, Verlander has remained close to his brother, Justin, as he has become more eminent in the media space. Ben was the one to break the news of Justin signing a one-year contract to remain with the Houston Astros in 2022, and he provided unparalleled insight into what was behind Justin choosing to ink a two-year deal with the New York Mets this past offseason.
“I have this career in the baseball world where my brother is very much so a prominent figure, but I’m a brother to him first and foremost,” Verlander said. “It doesn’t need to be anything different than that. There might be some things said that I would never say – personal things that I would obviously run [by] him if I were ever to talk about it – but I would say by and large our relationship hasn’t changed.”
Launching Flippin’ Bats in 2021 came following multiple discussions with executives at the network to determine the best way Verlander could express his viewpoints and help grow the game. The podcast is duly named as a way of taking homage to the new era of the sport, which includes more noticeable displays of emotion and invigorating play from budding stars.
“You look at the game of baseball on the field, and it sort of hits you right in the face [of] what’s happening,” Verlander said. “You have these young superstars coming in and being so good for the game of baseball, and I wanted to be a voice that comes in and talks about that.”
One of those younger stars is Los Angeles Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani, who entered the league in 2018 after playing five years in Japan. From the moment he joined the Angels, Ohtani burst on the scene across the major leagues, and he is now widely regarded as the game’s best player after winning the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player award.
For Verlander, Ohtani represents someone who has closed the gap between Japan and the United States and dramatically broadened the reach and relevance of the sport on a global scale. Verlander first met Ohtani at the MLB All-Star Game in Denver, and he traveled to Japan to interview him for a special feature titled Searching for Shohei.
“One thing I’ll never forget from talking to Shohei was asking about his goals,” Verlander said. “I’ll never forget; he said, ‘I know right now people in baseball know me, but I hope one day that people that didn’t love the game of baseball know who I am.’ That was interesting to me because it’s a pretty powerful message in terms of what he’s trying to do for the growth of the game.”
Alex Curry joined Verlander on the program last September, and she has co-hosted the program with him ever since. Before joining FOX Sports as a full-time host, she covered the Angels, along with the Los Angeles Kings, for Bally Sports West and developed professional relationships with both Mike Trout and Ohtani. In fact, when Trout won his AL Rookie of the Year award in 2012, Curry was put on a redeye flight to Millville, N.J. to spend the weekend with him and his family. She was present for nearly all of his career milestones, All-Star Game appearances and other memorable moments, and is appreciative of Trout for the way he treated her.
“He’d always make sure to look at me first and I would get the first question,” Curry said of Trout. “Even now – I hadn’t seen him for a year-and-a-half after leaving the Angels and we just saw him at the World Baseball Classic, [along with] Shohei Ohtani. It was just such a magical experience to be there for such big parts of their careers.”
Curry grew up as a softball and soccer player, the latter of which she played at San Diego State University. In addition to being an athlete, Curry also grew up a theater kid. It honed her oration and performance skills. It was while she was in a creative writing class at college when she realized that she could amalgamate her two passions by becoming a sports reporter and television host.
The difficult part was getting discovered, and she tirelessly cultivated a versatile skill set in various areas of multimedia production. While other students went home to relax during school breaks, Curry found jobs that immersed her in media, one of which was stage managing a championship gaming series for DIRECTV. On the day before the event was set to take place, Curry was asked by the producer if she wanted to be the hostess for a Mountain Dew gaming series to which she emphatically agreed.
There was not a preponderance of women in sports media when Curry was building her career, and she has now made it her mission to try to change that paradigm. Her first genuine mentor was Selema Massekela, who hosted the X Games on ESPN at the time. He let her ask any and all questions she had about the business.
Once she began filling in on Fox Sports 1 on shows such as Undisputed and The Herd, Curry developed a friendship with Speak co-host Joy Taylor, a person with whom she could closely relate.
“Joy really became a mentor, and then now, a dear friend of mine,” Curry said. “I always wanted to be myself; I wanted to be something different; I never really wanted to be someone else. It was like, ‘How can I come and bring my take, my personality, my positive outlook and just enjoyment of sports [and] change the norm?’”
Curry moved to host FOX Bet Live but vocalized her desire to move over to baseball content immediately. Once she was given the chance to co-host Flippin’ Bats, she could tell she and Verlander immediately had on-air chemistry. Verlander gave Curry the ability to stay true to herself, something that was difficult in her previous roles outside of select interviews.
“When you’re reporting or you’re hosting a show, you’re either asking a question or basically reporting a quote or something that you saw or heard from a player or coach,” Curry said. “This was really the first time I was able to give my opinions and my outlook on the game.”
Verlander has assisted Curry in articulating her sentiments on the program, and she has served as a resource for Verlander when he is interviewing players. After all, her background in sports media was largely predicated on covering baseball games, and until that point, Verlander conversed with players as if he was with them in the clubhouse. In his quest to be the best at what he does, he is especially appreciative of how Curry has enabled him to translate his energy and self-professed quirkiness onto the field.
“Seeing the way her brain works in terms of follow-up questions or what to ask players in the moment when a game just wrapped up, I think, [has] been awesome,” Verlander explained. “It’s been really good for me to have her in that aspect, and just how on the show every day, just how fun and bubbly her personality is. It fits so well with the show, and that’s kind of the ethos of the show.”
Whether it is breaking down why his brother flipped off Phillies fans before Game 3 of the 2022 World Series, trying to catch batting practice home runs from the train at Minute Maid Park; or simply having a conversation in the studio, the interactive aspect of the show has empowered it to penetrate beyond one specific consumption platform. Fans who listen to the podcast or watch clips on social media all become engrossed in a moment and connect with the baseball vernacular of Verlander and Curry.
Yet everything on the show is done with the intent of it being seen. The FOX Sports digital team regularly creates graphics and implements different elements into the show.
“I will often point to a graphic and say, ‘If you’re just listening on the podcast, here’s what’s happening right now,’” Verlander articulated. “I would say, yeah, it’s made to be seen and made to be listened to. I try and do the best job of bringing those two close together so you don’t feel like you’re missing out if you’re watching and not just listening, or if you’re listening and not watching.”
Getting discovered in professional baseball is hardly a rudimentary task, and it is something Kasumba Dennis has worked his whole life for growing up in Uganda. His dedication to the sport is evinced through social media posts of him exercising through the elements using everyday materials such as milk jugs, tires and bricks. Dennis grew up as an orphan, and he became employed at a slaughterhouse at the age of 14 in order to ensure he would be able to put food on the table. His baseball coach Paul Wafula recognized his commitment, assiduousness and indefatigable work ethic, leading him to offer Dennis food and a paid education if he wholeheartedly pursued baseball.
Ben Verlander took notice of the story after seeing some of his videos on Twitter. Then, Verlander used the power of Flippin’ Bats to make sure others took notice. Through Verlander’s magnanimity and the platform he has gradually built, Dennis began to draw attention and concurrent interest from scouts and coaches from across the United States. Now he is set to participate in the MLB Draft League starting on June 1, a monumental chance to prove himself and, perhaps, earn a spot in a major league organization.
“To be able to help and be a voice just to amplify what he’s doing; I think that’s what makes me so happy,” Verlander said. “He’s doing all of the work; he’s the one who caught my attention and caught my eye.”
Hall of Fame starting pitcher John Smoltz is the lead color commentator for FOX Sports’ presentation of Major League Baseball games and, since last September, is a recurring guest on Flippin’ Bats. Smoltz proffers his thoughts and opinions on the game of baseball at large in the midst of his preparation for calling primetime games alongside Joe Davis.
“Part of what I get to do on a weekly basis is have some fun and answer some questions,” Smoltz said. “[With] technology now and the way that we can do things, it’s so different than when I was playing. Obviously, through this tough time with the pandemic, there were some things figured out that could be done also to enhance the [viewing experience]… There’s some pretty big die-hard sports fans that can’t get enough, whether it’s watching a game or getting information, and this is one way to do it.”
Verlander grew up as a fan of the Atlanta Braves since the organization’s Triple-A team was located 15 minutes away from his house. He grew up attending their games. His three favorite players were Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones and Smoltz. Being able to ask Smoltz questions about the business has been a dream come true.
“I’m not quite sure he knows how much that means to me,” Verlander said. “I think he enjoys coming on and talking baseball, but I can’t really express to him how much it means. Growing up a huge fan of his and now being in the baseball media space and seeing his career; he’s unbelievably talented at what he does.”
This season, Major League Baseball introduced a variety of rule changes to expedite the pace of play, augment offensive output and attract a younger viewing demographic. From instituting a pitch clock to placing limits on defensive shifts, the changes have been successful with a boost in stadium attendance and viewership. The average duration of a Major League Baseball game this season has been two hours and 38 minutes, nearly a half-hour shorter than last year encompassing the modern flow of information and dwindling human attention span.
“Change is scary, but it’s important to evolve with the game and the time,” Curry said. “I think this was the most perfect and beautiful call they could have made. I am a huge fan of the pitch clock, and it keeps the audience engaged. You have to be paying attention [for] the entire time.”
Baseball traditionalists have criticized some of the rule changes, voicing their displeasure in the hastened rhythm and pleading for the league to make adjustments next season. Smoltz does not understand how this faction of people refuse to accept that these changes were extremely necessary to ensure the health and longevity of the sport, adding action and subtracting game time. Just like the players, Smoltz and Davis have had to adapt in the booth, but it is a change he is completely willing to make.
“It’s funny because when you’d speak about data and facts, I don’t know why people think you then dislike the direction the game was going when really this is coming out of the base of information fans are giving back to the sport based on the questions asked,” Smoltz said, referencing a survey distributed by Major League Baseball. “One of the top two answers were, ‘The game’s taking too long, and there’s too much stagnant time in the game where there isn’t much action.’”
Through regular segments such as “This Week in Shohei Ohtani News,” “Honesty Hour,” and “MLB Power Rankings,” Flippin’ Bats has found its niche of consumers and continues to grow its audience. Verlander, Curry and Smoltz know that baseball is often a game of failure, and they hope to be able to shine a light on all of the melodrama, storylines and triumphs over the course of the 162-game regular season and subsequent postseason. One thing you can know for sure is that none of them will conceal their fandom to the audience, instead utilizing it to bring an ebullient ardor and unrivaled allegiance to baseball – encapsulating all of its players and personalities.
“The sky is the limit,” Curry said. “It’s a daily hour show now; maybe it expands even bigger? Maybe it expands to all platforms from podcast; digital to linear to being able to go on the road. It’s just such a fun opportunity.”
“I really believe this new age, if you will, of media is almost being a fan,” Verlander concluded. “It feels like forever – being in the media, you weren’t allowed to be a fan. You covered the sport; you covered what needed to be covered; and that was it. I’m a fan of the game, first and foremost. That’s what I want to do, and I’m going to cover the sport as if I am a fan.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.
BSM Writers
Robert Griffin III Wants to Tell Your Story the Right Way
“Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
During last season’s VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Robert Griffin III was part of ESPN’s alternate telecast at field level alongside Pat McAfee. Suddenly, the Heisman Trophy winner took a phone call. Once he hung up the phone, Griffin divulged that his wife had gone into labor and proceeded to sprint off of the field to catch a flight. An ESPN cameraperson documented his run and jubilation as he returned home to welcome his daughter, Gia, into the world. It encapsulated just what motivates Griffin to appear on television and discuss football, and why he is one of ESPN’s budding talents with the chance to make an impact on sports media and his community for years to come.
“This was an opportunity for me to go out and be different in the way that the media covers the players and truly get to the bottom of telling the players’ stories the right way,” Griffin said. “I look at this as an opportunity to do that.”
Griffin was a three-sport athlete as a student at Copperas Cove High School, and ultimately broke Texas state records in track and field. In addition to that, he played basketball and was the starting quarterback for the school’s football team as a junior and senior, drawing attention from various schools around the country. He ended up graduating high school one semester early and quickly became a star at Baylor University in both football and track and field.
Robert Griffin III’s nascent talent was hardly inconspicuous, evidenced by being named the 2008 Big 12 Conference Offensive Freshman of the Year and then, three years later, the winner of the Heisman Trophy. In the end, he graduated having set or tied 54 school records and helped the program to its first bowl game win in 19 years.
Ultimately, he transitioned to the NFL in a career with many trials and tribulations, but through it all, he never lost his sense of persistence. Nearly a decade later, he returned to college, but this time as a member of the media covering the game from afar. Unlike a majority of former players though, Griffin did not formally retire from playing football when inking a broadcasting contract with ESPN.
“I haven’t retired yet at all,” he said. “I tell everyone that asks me the question that I train every day [and] I’m prepared to play if that call does come. I’ve had some talks with teams over the past two years; just nothing has come to fruition.”
While Griffin’s focus as a broadcaster is undeniable, he never thought about seriously pursuing sports media until his broadcast agent pushed him to do so. He was urged to take an audition at FOX Sports. Griffin broke down highlights and called a mock NFL game alongside lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. He was not prepared for that second part, but impressed executives and precipitously realized a career in the space may not be so outlandish after all.
Griffin then moved to ESPN where he experienced a similar audition process, this time calling a game with play-by-play announcer Rece Davis. Once the audition concluded, it was determined that Griffin would not only begin working in the industry, but that he would be accelerated because of his ability to communicate in an informative and entertaining style.
As a player, he saw the way media members covered teams – sometimes bereft of objectivity – and therefore saw assimilating into the industry as a chance to change that. Now, he is focused on telling the stories of the players en masse while being prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice.
ESPN’s intention was to implement Griffin on its studio coverage, but once executives heard him in the broadcast booth, the company had a palpable shift in its thinking. He was told he was ready to go out into the field and start calling games immediately, something of a surprise to him. FOX Sports felt similarly. This led to a bidding war between the two entities, which ultimately concluded with Griffin inking a contract with ESPN. He appeared over its airwaves plenty of times as a player, and even participated on a variety of studio shows in 2018 where he was almost permanently placed on NFL Live. This time around though, Griffin was suddenly preparing to work with Mark Jones and Quint Kessenich on college football games. He did not have time to consider the implications of the decision, instead diving headfirst into the craft and remaining focused on what was to come with producer Kim Belton and director Anthony DeMarco at his side.
“These guys took me under their wing, and I’m beyond indebted to them for that,” Griffin said of his colleagues. “They taught me everything that I know about the industry. They taught me everything I know about how to present things to the masses to where it can be easily digestible. They’ve allowed me to allow my personality to shine through.”
Demonstrating his personality was a facet of his makeup Griffin felt was inhibited by playing professional football, but he knows it would have been considerably more difficult to attain a chance to cover the game had he not laced up his cleats. Calling college football games with Jones accentuated his comfort in the booth because of Jones’ adept skill to appeal to the viewers and penetrate beyond the sport.
“He has the way to connect different generations of listeners to hear what he’s saying and perceive it in the same way,” Griffin said. “To me, that’s what we all strive to do in this industry is to be able to find the connective tissue between the fan who is 60 or 70 years old, and the fan who’s in their late teens or early 20s.”
From the beginning, everyone told Griffin to be himself and not adopt an alternate persona in front of the camera. That advice has guided him as he approaches his third year working in the industry.
“It is so hard to maintain a character or try to be someone that you’re not, but if you are who you are every single day, then every time you show up on camera you will be that person,” Griffin said. “I’ve made sure that when I stepped foot in front of that camera, I was going to be myself.”
Griffin identifies his style as pedagogical to a degree, critiquing players as if he was coaching them on the sidelines. He will never look to penetrate beyond football with his criticism, as drawing conclusions and using unrelated parlance could be viewed as indecorous. In short, Griffin III knows what it means to represent ESPN.
“We’re not a gossip website. We’re supposed to be critically acclaimed, prestigious journalists, and at the end of the day, that’s how I try to approach the job that I do. That’s why I got into the business – because I felt like there was a little of that going on, especially during my career, so I would never do to somebody else what was done to me.”
Over the course of his NFL career, Griffin was subject to immense criticism that went significantly beyond the gridiron. For example, sports commentator Rob Parker suggested that Griffin was not fully representative of the Black community and proceeded to question if he was a “cornball brother.” The incident resulted in Parker receiving a 30-day suspension from ESPN, and after he defended his comments and blamed First Take producers in a subsequent interview, the network decided not to renew his contract.
“My goal as a member of the media is to tell players’ stories the right way, and if I don’t know you personally, I’m never going to make it personal,” Griffin said. “Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
In addition to broadcasting college football games with Jones on ESPN and ABC, he also appears on-site for Monday Night Countdown, the network’s pregame show leading up to Monday Night Football. Making the decision to add NFL coverage to his slate of responsibilities meant that Griffin would be able to tell more stories and utilize his knowledge of players during their collegiate careers to enhance the broadcast.
The energy that he felt attending tailgates and interacting with fans at the college level gave him a unique skill set to translate to the NFL side, leading him to present the production team with an unparalleled idea for Week 1. He wanted to race Taima the Hawk, the live game mascot for the Seattle Seahawks who flies around Lumen Field prior to the start of each home game. It was an outlandish idea, but one that made sense for television because of the visual appeal it can present.
“If you know anything about hawks, they can fly up to 120-140 miles per hour, so they’re like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to beat this hawk in a race, but we’ll do it,’” Griffin said. “To that crew’s credit, they never once balked at any of the creative ideas that I brought to the table because they want to try different things and be exciting and have fun on the show.”
Griffin ended up winning the race, commencing the new season of Monday Night Countdown with immediate excitement before the Seahawks’ matchup against the Denver Broncos. He thoroughly enjoyed his first year on the show and having the chance to work alongside Suzy Colber, Adam Schefter, Booger McFarland, Steve Young, Larry Fitzgerald and Alex Smith.
“They always tell me, ‘Hey, anything you’re not comfortable with, you just let us know and we won’t do that thing,’” Griffin said of the show’s producers. “My answer always back to them is, ‘Well, I won’t know if I’m uncomfortable with it if I don’t try.’”
While Griffin had what looked like a seamless assimilation into the broadcasting world, he had a difficult moment when using a racial slur on live television in discussing Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The clip quickly gained traction across the internet, and Griffin issued an apology on his Twitter account for using the pejorative language and claimed that he misspoke.
“I was shocked that it came out in the way that it did, and I immediately jumped on it and apologized because there’s no need to deny,” he said. “You messed up. You move forward, and I think that’s the easiest way to get over those types of things and to get back on your feet.”
The football season at both the college and professional level is undoubtedly a grind, and it requires a combination of dedication, passion and persistence few people possess. Robert Griffin III has garnered the reputation of being an “overpreparer,” often partaking in considerably more information than necessary to execute a broadcast. The information he consumes and conclusions he draws combined with his experience at both levels has cultivated him into a knowledgeable analyst who makes cogent, intelligible points on the air.
“I over-prepare for everything, and 70% of the information that I soak in going into a game or going into a broadcast for Monday Night Countdown, I don’t use because there’s just not enough air time,” Griffin III said. “There’s not enough opportunities to talk on it all.”
At the same time, he makes a concerted effort to make the most of his time with his family and separate himself from the field, engaging in activities including playing ping pong, going to the movies and supporting his children. He also embarks in charity work through his RG3 Foundation and strives to teach his daughters the importance of giving back. The mission of the nonprofit foundation is to discover and design programs for underprivileged youth, struggling military families and victims of domestic violence, and it has made a significant impact since it was launched in 2015.
“Trying to end food insecurity; making sure that our under-resourced youth have access to the things that they need just to survive – talking about food, clothes, books, the ability to learn [and] putting on these after-school programs,” Griffin elucidated in describing the organization’s mission. “We want to have an impact on our community. We mean that with everything in us and have shown that to be the true case of why we do this.”
Griffin’s wife, Grete, serves as the executive director of the foundation and also runs her own fitness business. Staying physically and mentally in shape is something they actively try to accomplish in their everyday lives, and lessons they are passing down to their daughters.
“I’m 33 years old right now, so if I want to continue to train every single day, I can do that for the next 10 years if I need to,” Griffin said. “Not taking hits and being physically fit is also a good thing for your own health, which is something me and my wife are extremely passionate about.”
Although his experience is in playing football and working in sports media, Robert Griffin III does not believe in limiting himself and would consider exploring opportunities outside of sports and entertainment. He wants to become the best broadcaster possible no matter where he is working in the industry and continue finding new ways to be distinctive en masse.
“We’re storytellers,” he said. “We’re here to break down things [and] to tell people a story the right way; things that people are interested in, and that expands across all media levels. We’re not closing the door on anything from that standpoint.”
While he was playing in the NFL, Griffin dealt with a variety of injuries that ultimately kept him off the football field and made it difficult to display his talents. Ranging from an ACL tear, shoulder scapula fracture and hairline fracture in his right thumb, staying healthy was a challenge for him over the time he played in the NFL.
Through surgeries and rehabilitation, he learned how to face and overcome these challenges. It has shaped him into the broadcaster and person he is today as he looks to set a positive example to aspiring football players and broadcasters everywhere.
“The eight-year career that I was able to have thus far didn’t come without roadblocks in the way [and] didn’t come without adversity. Learn from the adversity that you go through and learn from all the things and the lessons that you have that sports teaches you, and then go be able to present that to the masses.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.
BSM Writers
Pac-12 Pushing Enhanced Access, Deion Sanders Reeks of Desperation
What good is enhanced access for TV broadcasts or the star power of Coach Prime if those game telecasts aren’t seen?
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.