But you still need to activate your account.
Bob Montgomery knows as well as anyone about the loyalty and long memories of New England sports fans.
Even a catcher who served as a backup for all 10 of his Major League Baseball seasons (1970-79) and never played more than 88 games in any single year has been able to cash in on his name.
The former Boston Red Sox catcher has had a lot of different jobs and worn a lot of caps in his life, but they all have one thing in common: their close relationship with sports.
After retiring from the big leagues in 1979, Montgomery eventually got into broadcasting as a radio color analyst. He also worked as a television color man and is now owner and president of his own company: Big League Promotions.
He hasn’t gotten away from baseball, however, as he’s calling minor league baseball broadcasts on a part-time basis for New England Sports Network, Comcast Cable, and Cox Broadcasting in Rhode Island.
The 62-year-old Nashville, Tenn., native had never been to New England before signing with the Red Sox organization in 1962. Since his rookie year in 1970, however, he’s made it his home base along with wife Ann and their daughter.
“I just think it’s an advantage for a former player, if he has any business interest at all, to use what he accomplished here to his advantage and I’ve been fortunate to have a made a name for myself here,” Montgomery said from his home office in Saugus, Mass.
Montgomery attended his first game in Portland last month to provide color commentary for a Sea Dogs-New Hampshire Fisher Cats broadcast by NESN.
“This is my first year doing minor league games for NESN,” said Montgomery. “I also do 12 Pawtucket Red Sox games for Cox and 12 Eastern League games for Comcast out of Philadelphia. Now I have a chance to watch young players at the Double A level and see them improve and go to another level in Triple A, so that’s kind of intriguing for me.”
Montgomery has been involved in broadcasting since 1980 when he did afternoon radio shows. He eventually was hired for a Red Sox broadcasting job with Boston TV station WSBK and was paired with Ned Martin in 1982. He was TV color man for the Sox from 1982 through 1995, first with Martin and then with Sean McDonough. He was even more successful broadcasting baseball games than he was playing them, winning 11 New England Emmy awards in 14 years on TV and radio.
“I’ve been very fortunate throughout my life in that I’ve never really had a job,” said Montgomery. “I’ve always been really eager to go to work, so I never really considered it work.”
Montgomery is the last guy to inflate his statistics or his career in general. Despite batting a respectable .258 over his career, he plays down his accomplishments on the field. Rather than wonder what he might have done on a team without a Hall of Fame catcher (Carlton Fisk), he says he was fortunate to find the right fit on a good team with solid players.
“I don’t know if I was that kind of player, to be honest with you,” he said. “I was just happy to be there and I got my mind into that kind of role as the best backup I could be.
“It was a great situation for me. If I had to play every day for some other team, they might have found out how bad I was and my career wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did.”
The highlight of Montgomery’s playing and broadcasting careers are easy calls for him: working Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout game against Seattle 1986 and playing in the 1975 World Series, which many people consider the best ever.
A licensed pilot and an avid model railroader and golfer, Montgomery’s primary business interests lie with his personal business, a marketing and promotional company specializing in logo apparel.
“I like working for myself. It gives me a lot of flexibility to do some broadcasting, and I also do corporate golf outings from April through October,” said Montgomery. “I couldn’t ask for much more.”
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net
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