Cubs announcer Paul Friedman speaks for Wrigley
Cubs' public-address announcer would love to work World Series
Two things are needed to perform what many baseball aficionados might consider the best job in Chicago: a voice and a willingness to show up. But it's not quite as easy as you'd think.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
When you're Cubs public- address announcer Paul Friedman, you don't have just any voice, and you're not showing up for just any team.
You need a voice that former Cubs president and current Blackhawks exec John McDonough calls ''powerful, commanding, authoritative.''
And you have to be willing to show up to announce for the Cubs -- a team notorious for breaking its fans' hearts. For every Kerry Wood 20-strikeout game, there's a Steve Bartman game ready to make Cubs fans question whether it's worth being part of a world so cruel. Friedman was in the PA booth for both.
But don't go feeling sorry for him. Friedman was chosen for the gig in 1994 after the Cubs held a contest that attracted nearly 1,000 applicants. He simply recorded himself reading a sample script and sent it in.
''I went to the sound studio and dropped a couple hundred bucks,'' Friedman recalled. ''I got some crowd noise and some echo behind me reading the script so it sounded on the tape like you were out at the ballpark.''
Then came the callback. You might think Friedman, an Evanston native who grew up a lifelong Cubs fan attending games at Wrigley Field, would be nervous walking into the Friendly Confines for the job interview of a lifetime.
Nope.
''As I drove up to the stadium for what amounted to a live audition from the PA booth, I felt a certain sense of being at home,'' Friedman said. ''I got up to the booth and nailed it.''
To this day, Friedman says he owes McDonough ''a great debt of gratitude'' for taking a chance on him 15 years ago.
''It's a voice we thought blended in with Wrigley Field,'' McDonough said. ''But it's more than just his voice. Paul really knows his role there. He gets along with everyone. I think he recognizes that he's fortunate to be in that position, and I know he's highly respected in that organization.''
It's true. Friedman knows exactly how lucky he is to be on a first-name basis with players he grew up watching such as Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy Williams.
Even though the Cubs named Friedman their sole announcer this season after he'd been part of a trio during his tenure, Friedman still works a day job as a sales representative for Chicago-based GoPicnic. So when he's not in the booth, he's selling ready-to-eat gourmet box meals for the hotel and transportation industry (think airport food that tastes way better than airport food).
''In sales work and my PA work, I've realized that nobody's perfect,'' Friedman said. ''You're going to make mistakes.''
Friedman recalls the first mistake he made in the booth. It was during his first official game. When Montreal Expos rookie Mark Grudzielanek stepped to the plate, Friedman mispronounced his name.
And still, he's not immune to the occasional gaffe -- like when he had to be reminded that Atlanta Braves outfielder Matt Diaz's name is pronounced ''die-as.''
To say the job is a dream come true for a diehard Cubs fan might be an understatement. Attending nearly every home game in recent years and having 3 million fellow Cubs fans hear his voice each season has given him a unique perspective on what it means to pull for a team in the midst of a 101-year championship drought.
He said the Bartman game ''encapsulated the dreams and desires and utter heartbreak that has ultimately befallen all of us as Cubs fans.
''As the Marlins rallied and scored eight runs, it became so quiet that up in the PA booth, all we could hear were the Marlins players in the dugout cheering. That's something that will always stick with me.''
So what could possibly eclipse that seemingly indelible memory? A World Series game at Wrigley, of course.
''As a PA announcer, to introduce the lineups of a World Series game,'' said Friedman, pausing perhaps to imagine the moment. ''Well, I can tell you it'd be the highlight of any announcer's career.''
And an experience that only one Cubs fan in Chicago could claim.