Ready or not, it’s that time of the year again when the world comes to Williamsport. The always well-attended Grand Slam Parade steps off August 15th, followed by the opening game of the 2018 Little League Baseball World Series on Thursday.

Growing up just a few blocks from Little League’s stadium complex, and spending 17 years professionally involved with the organization, the small-fry sports extravaganza has always been very special to me. And speaking of team games, the event once again affords me the opportunity to join iHeart Media’s Little League World Series radio broadcast crew of Gary Chrisman, Ken Sawyer, Tom O’Malley, Mike Fogarty and Tom Speicher in describing all the exciting action from Lamade and Volunteer Stadiums.

Speicher, perhaps best known to World Series radio listeners as ‘the man in the crowd,’ is a multi-talented journalist who has covered Super Bowls, NFL Training Camps, the Kentucky Derby and earned acclaim for films he has produced during his professional career. He has also ‘one-upped’ all of his radio colleagues, with the exception of O’Malley, by signing a professional baseball contract.

That unlikely circumstance took place July 28 when Speicher suited up with the Williamsport Crosscutters as the winner of the team’s “Be a Cutter for a Day Contest” that saw over 400 individuals send in contest entries.

“I saw the promotion in an email, thought it sounded like fun and just decided to give it a shot with little thought of actually winning the contest,” Speicher revealed. “I didn’t realize that many people had entered. It is a great idea, and I’m glad I did.”

“Several years ago, we used to do a ‘manager for a night’ promotion. We retired that idea, and then last year we decided to resurrect it in a different way as having it be a ‘Cutter for a Day event’, giving an individual the opportunity to experience what being a professional baseball player is like for a day,” explained Gabe Sinicropi, Crosscutters vice president of marketing. “We had over 400 entries in the contest, and Tom was lucky enough to be was chosen.

“I don’t know if Tom entered hoping he would be selected, but at any rate he was. I think he had to be a little nervous. If I had to do it, and I am here every night, I’d be nervous. But I think at the end he came away knowing that it was a fun experience.”

Tom ‘reported’ to the ball team that afternoon, signed his one-day pro-rated contract, was uniformed (in Cutters’ jersey #5) and then joined the team for on-field stretching, fielding and hitting drills.

“When I got to the field, Gabe signed me to my one day contract, which was paid in ‘Cutters Cash.’ It was very surreal for me. Being out on the field was fun. I’d never been on the playing surface, and it is beautiful. My initial thoughts were that I would be an ‘active observer,’ but it turned out to be much more than that,” said Speicher before joining his Crosscutters teammates for their pre-game routine.

With a ‘new player’ for a day, Crosscutters manager Pat Borders was upbeat about the evening’s promotion.

“In my time in Minor League Baseball I’ve seen a lot of team promotions, but I like this promotion probably more than most,” Borders reasoned. “It gets a guy that wants to be around baseball and get a good feel as to what the players are really like. Tom got to be involved with the pre-game work the players do every day. He stretched with the team, shagged some balls in the outfield, and took a few rounds of batting practice. During the game, he got to hang out in the dugout and experienced what a typical day is like. He saw some guys get upset after striking out, saw guys good-naturedly rag on each other and share the comradery the players enjoy with one another. It’s the most beneficial experience for a fan that I’ve seen in baseball.”

Despite being part of a Crosscutters’ loss, Speicher was upbeat in his post-game press conference.
“It was great being a professional baseball player for a day. It reminds me of my Little League days, being on the bench! It was really fun. I actually caught a fly ball during batting practice and was able to hit a few balls, including one that traveled to the outfield grass; that was a moral victory.”
Admitting that his five rounds of batting practice was a special treat, he didn’t know what to expect when he first stepped into the batting cage.

“Getting into the cage for the first time I was so excited I think I was hyperventilating. After that, I tried to control my breathing a little bit and hit the ball.

“It was interesting in the dugout during the game listening to the strategy and hearing the dynamics between the players in the locker room as so many of the players speak Spanish. I don’t speak any Spanish. Some of the coaches speak both English and Spanish and they can interpret what is being said.”

I watched as Speicher exited his field of dreams and headed for the team locker room. Before he got there, a young fan handed him a baseball asking for his autograph. Tom smiled and obliged. His professional baseball experience was now truly complete!