The Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League. [1] They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. [1] In 2021, they were placed in the Triple-A East, which became the International League in 2022. [2] [3] The team has employed seven play-by-play announcers who have provided running commentary for their games' radio broadcasts on fourteen radio stations throughout their history.
As of 2024, all Sounds home and road games are broadcast on WBUZ-HD3 94.9 FM (AM 830). [4] Live audio broadcasts are also available online through the team's website and the MiLB First Pitch app. [4] Games can be viewed through the MiLB.TV subscription feature of the official website of Minor League Baseball, with audio provided by a radio simulcast. [5]
During the inaugural 1978 season, Nashville Sounds games were broadcast on WMTS by station owner Monte Hale, who also called football and basketball games for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. [6] WMTS, located some 30 miles (48 km) away from Nashville in Murfreesboro, was selected because it was the only station to make a firm offer to purchase broadcasting rights. [7] The team and station received numerous complaints from listeners who were unable to pick up the signal in Nashville and surrounding communities. [7] In response, the team switched to WKDA, which had wider reception, in 1979. [8] This was the first of many such times the team would switch stations to either broaden the reach of their broadcasts or for business reasons. [9] [10] Along with a new station for 1979, Bob Jamison of the International League's Richmond Braves was hired to call games. [11] He was behind the microphone for Nashville's 1979 and 1982 Southern League championship seasons. [12] In 1980 and 1982, Jamison was recognized as the Southern League Broadcaster of the Year. [13] [14] He was also chosen to represent the American Association on the 1990 Triple-A All-Star Game broadcast team. [15] Jamison served as the Sounds' play-by-play voice for 12 years until being hired to fill the same role with Major League Baseball's California Angels in 1991. [16]
The announcer's seat was then filled by Steve Carroll, who had spent the previous three seasons with the Southern League's Huntsville Stars. [17] He helped call the 1994 Triple-A All-Star Game, which was held at Nashville's Herschel Greer Stadium. [18] Carroll left to become the radio voice of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers after the 1995 campaign. [19] Steve Selby, another former Huntsville announcer, moved up to Nashville in 1996. [20] Chuck Valenches, formerly an assistant broadcaster with Selby over the two previous seasons and of the Southern League's Jacksonville Suns for two years prior to that, was promoted to the lead role in 2000. [21] He was the Pacific Coast League's representative on the 2001 Triple-A All-Star Game broadcast team. [22] Valenches called the Sounds' 2005 Pacific Coast League championship season as well as two perfect games by Nashville pitchers: one by John Wasdin in 2003 and one by Manny Parra in 2007. [23] [24] Stu Paul, who had been with the Texas League's San Antonio Missions for nine seasons, was hired to call games beginning in 2010. [25] Jeff Hem became the team's play-by-play announcer in 2012 after serving in the same capacity with the Midwest League's Kane County Cougars for seven years. [26] He was on the call for the Sounds' final season at Greer Stadium in 2014 and their first season at First Tennessee Park in 2015. [27]
From 1978 to 1999, games were sporadically televised in the Nashville market. The first game to be shown live from Greer was the September 1, 1978, inaugural season home finale on WDCN. [28] In 1979, five road games were scheduled for broadcast on WNGE. [29] From 1982 to 1992, games occasionally aired on WZTV, [30] including ten games in 1983 and 1984, [31] [32] eight games in 1987, [33] and four games in 1988. [34] WNPX broadcast five games in 1999. [35] Excluding the 1979 season, when play-by-play commentary was handled by Dick Palmer, the Sounds' radio announcers also provided television commentary. [36]
Season | Play-by-play announcer | Radio station | Television station | Ref(s). |
---|---|---|---|---|
1978 | Monte Hale | WMTS | WDCN | [28] [37] |
1979 | Bob Jamison | WKDA | WNGE [n 1] | [29] [38] |
1980 | — | [39] | ||
1981 | [40] | |||
1982 | [41] | |||
1983 | WLAC | WZTV | [31] [42] | |
1984 | WSIX | [32] [42] | ||
1985 | [43] [44] | |||
1986 | [45] [46] | |||
1987 | [33] [44] | |||
1988 | WKDA | [34] [47] | ||
1989 | WRLT | — | [48] | |
1990 | WSIX | [49] | ||
1991 | Steve Carroll | WWTN | [50] | |
1992 | [51] | |||
1993 | [18] | |||
1994 | [18] | |||
1995 | WAMB | [52] | ||
1996 | Steve Selby | [20] [53] | ||
1997 | [54] | |||
1998 | WYOR | [55] | ||
1999 | WNSR | WNPX | [35] [56] | |
2000 | Chuck Valenches | — | [57] | |
2001 | [56] [58] | |||
2002 | WANT | [59] | ||
2003 | [59] [60] | |||
2004 | [59] [61] | |||
2005 | WAMB | [61] | ||
2006 | WNSR | [62] | ||
2007 | [63] | |||
2008 | [62] [64] | |||
2009 | [64] | |||
2010 | Stu Paul | WGFX | [65] | |
2011 | [66] | |||
2012 | Jeff Hem | WPRT | [67] | |
2013 | [68] | |||
2014 | [69] | |||
2015 | [70] | |||
2016 | [71] | |||
2017 | WNRQ-HD2 | [72] | ||
2018 | [73] | |||
2019 | [74] | |||
2020 | — [n 2] | [76] | ||
2021 | WBUZ-HD3 | [77] | ||
2022 | [78] | |||
2023 | [79] | |||
2024 | [4] |
The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music industry, specifically the "Nashville sound", a subgenre of country music which originated in the city and became popular in the mid-1950s. The team plays their home games at First Horizon Park, which opened in 2015 on the site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark. The Sounds previously played at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season. They are the oldest active professional sports franchise in Nashville.
Sulphur Dell, formerly known as Sulphur Spring Park and Athletic Park, was a baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was located just north of the Tennessee State Capitol building in the block bounded by modern-day Jackson Street, Fourth Avenue North, Harrison Street, and Fifth Avenue North. The ballpark was home to the city's minor league baseball teams from 1885 to 1963. The facility was demolished in 1969.
Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two mi (3.2 km) south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.
The Nashville Vols were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1963. Known as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they became the Nashville Volunteers in 1908 in reference to Tennessee's nickname, "The Volunteer State". The Vols played their home games at Athletic Park, which had been home to the city's professional baseball teams since 1885 and was renamed Sulphur Dell in 1908.
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The Nashville Xpress were a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins from 1993 to 1994. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee, and played their home games at Herschel Greer Stadium, sharing the ballpark with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the American Association. The Xpress were named for the trains which ran along tracks beyond the outfield wall and the team's sudden arrival and expected departure.
First Horizon Park, formerly known as First Tennessee Park, is a baseball park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the International League, it opened on April 17, 2015, and can seat up to 10,000 people. It replaced the Sounds' former home, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from its founding in 1978 through 2014.
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The Southern League All-Star Game was an annual baseball game sanctioned by Minor League Baseball between professional players from the teams of the Double-A Southern League. Each division, North and South, fielded a team composed of players in their respective divisions as voted on by the managers, general managers, and broadcasters from each of the league's eight clubs.
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