Trupiano living childhood dream on the air

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BOSTON – For most 9-year-old boys, it’s a fireman, police officer, ballplayer, or actor.

That’s what they want to be when they grow up.

For Boston Red Sox radio announcer Jerry Trupiano, it was a sports broadcaster.

“We were playing Wiffle ball in the backyard and I hit a home run that must have traveled all of 20 feet and I called it like Harry Caray,” Trupiano recalled as he took a swig of Snapple lemonade in the broadcast booth following Sunday’s Sox game. “My friends really enjoyed it and since I wasn’t a good athlete and still wanted to be around sports, I knew what I wanted to do when I was 9.”

Trupiano attended St. Louis University in his hometown and got involved with the campus radio station, which had its office in the third floor of a condemned building. He managed to get a producer’s job at KMOX in St. Louis.

“Jack Buck kind of took an interest in me and helped me,” Trupiano said.

As mentors go, he couldn’t have done much better than the legendary, Hall of Fame St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster.

“Then I got an on-air job in Houston doing hockey, which led to a job doing a nightly talk show, which led to doing the Rockets on TV, the Astros on radio and TV, the Oilers on radio, and Southwest Conference football and basketball on radio,” said Trupiano, who has seen five no-hitters and called the action for three of them.

The 54-year-old Trupiano has worked as a broadcaster for more than half of his life. He started doing games in 1968 and has called everything on radio and TV from baseball to football, basketball, hockey, soccer and boxing.

Most of Trupiano’s 34-year career has been spent in Houston, where he did two stints sandwiched around a two-year stay in Montreal. There, he called Expos games before taking the Red Sox job and teaming up with current radio partner Joe Castiglione in 1993.

“Joe and I were pretty lucky. We clicked right from the start,” Trupiano said. “We both have a passion for baseball and we know the game is the story.”

Although he grew up listening to Harry Caray call Cubs games, Trupiano has always avoided being a “homer” during broadcasts.

“I couldn’t come in from day one here and say ‘Root, root, root for the Red Sox.’ I never say we or us because I just don’t believe in it,” he explained. “I won’t mention names, but I’ve worked with people who have to be the center of attention.”

“You want the Red Sox to win because you want one of these,” Trupiano said, pointing to the 1973-74 World Hockey Association championship ring the Houston Aeros gave him. “But your credibility’s at stake if you’re a ‘homer’ all the time.”

When the Red Sox opportunity arose, Trupiano jumped at it as wife Donna had always wanted to live in New England. The Trupianos live in Franklin, Mass., and have two sons: Michael, a tennis pro in Massachusetts and Brian, a sophomore at Eastern Connecticut State University.

“When I gave up the Montreal job, being away from baseball was a killer. It just ate me up. I really missed it,” said Trupiano, who has visited Maine a couple times and enjoyed his time in New England. “Without a doubt, this is how I’d like to finish my broadcasting career, with the Red Sox.”

Trupiano said along with Cardinals fans, Red Sox fans are the most passionate he has been around.

“It never really hit me how much people actually listen to you than my second year here. I was eating at a restaurant on Boylston Street one Saturday. The night before, Jose Canseco hit a home run against Boston that looked like it went over the light tower, so Joe went over to ask the writers, who have a different angle, if it did.

“They said they weren’t sure because of some theory of black that has to do with a lack of depth perception because of the lack of color. So I said ‘Theory, shmeory, the ball was smoked.’ So there’s a couple in there two tables over and I hear this guy telling her about the game and he says ‘Theory, shmeory. The ball was smoked,’ and they said some nice things about me, so I waited until I left and had the waiter send some drinks over.”

Trupiano has witnessed many memorable moments in the course of his career. Here are a few of them:

. “I had a Dodgers-Expos game where each pitcher led off their halves of the third inning with a home run. Kevin Gross for the Expos and then Fernando Valenzuela.”

. “I called what a lot of people call one of the greatest games ever [1986 National League Championship Series, game six]. Billy Hatcher’s home run in the bottom of the 14th to tie it, and then the Mets won it in the 16th with three runs. If the Astros had won that one, they had Mike Scott, who was 2-0 against New York, at home in Houston and then you might wind up in the World Series against the Red Sox.”

. “I did the longest pass completion in Southwest Conference history. It was a 99-yard TD pass in a TCU-Rice game.”

. “One time at a game at Texas A&M, I went around a table for an interview and their mascot Reveille [a dog] tried to bite me.”

. “I did a boxing match in Houston and I remember one time the analyst wasn’t saying anything. I looked over and he’s got the headset off trying to hustle the ring card girls.”

. “I did the game where Eric Dickerson, at that point, set the NFL season rushing record.”

. “I saw Moses Malone set an NBA rebounding record in San Antonio.”

. “I saw Gordie Howe play with a 103-degree fever and still score a goal and make a big defensive play in a 3-2 win.”