Retired sportscaster recalls colorful memories in new book

Peanuts and Cracker Jack, rally hats, the roar of the crowd.

The game of baseball extends beyond the field when a talented sportscaster brings the sights and sounds into homes and gives viewers an up-close, personal look at the athletes admired by so many.

After working as a television sportscaster in Los Angeles for 26 years, Tony Hernandez retired to Whitefish in 2005 and recently published a book comprising stories from his career.

The book is called “Always Turn Down the First Offer: Memoirs of a Sportscaster” and is available on Amazon.

“Anyone who wants to get into sportscasting should read the book,” Hernandez said. “To get an understanding of not only what can happen but what will happen.”

In his early 20s, Hernandez changed his mind and his career. He played baseball for four years at San Jose State and was called to play in the Chicago Cubs’ rookie league. Hernandez played second base for the Pioneer League team in Caldwell, Idaho, in 1967.

“I didn’t really have the tools to be a major league baseball player,” Hernandez said. “The fact I got to play for one year and call myself a professional and have Phil K. Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate who then owned the Chicago Cubs, sign my paychecks — that was a fabulous thrill.”

A physical education major, he had planned to be a teacher and a coach, but when he dropped out of graduate school, his plans changed. He wanted to call play-by-play on the radio and got a job at a small station in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

One of his more interesting assignments there was a live radio broadcast of a golf tournament.

“I had somebody drive me around in a golf cart from hole to hole,” he said. “I’m trying to find out what the scores were and what the names were and I’m doing this on the radio. Live. In Los Alamos, New Mexico.”

Soon thereafter, he worked in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then, as a weatherman and booth announcer in Salinas, California. In 1971, he was ready to quit broadcasting when he got a job in a bigger market, San Francisco.

They hired him as the weekend sports anchor on TV and would pay union scale, which, at that time, was $55 per show. Hernandez anchored the 6 and 11 p.m. shows on Saturdays and Sundays.

“I made $220 a week but in those days, that was decent. I shared an apartment with two other guys in Sausalito. It was beautiful. I worked two days a week,” Hernandez recalled. “I was in the San Francisco Bay area, which was my home.”

Hernandez was then called to work in New York, where he met Dale, his wife. After a two-year stint in Philadelphia, the two lived and worked in Los Angeles for 26 years and raised two sons, Josh and Tory.

He recounts his sports-related stories with colorful details but his tales reach farther than the playing field. Living in Los Angeles gave him opportunities beyond athletics.

He recalls a phone call he received when he was at work at KABC-TV, from someone in the film industry. The man on the phone asked if he’d like to be in the movie, Rocky III.

Hernandez leapt at the chance.

“We’re gonna give you 300 bucks, we want you to play a sportscaster. To be in the movie you have to join the Screen Actors Guild,” Hernandez recalled the man saying.

He found out that it would cost $250 to join the guild and get the necessary SAG card. He called the movie maker back to tell him that after taxes, he’d end up losing money were he to do the movie.

Hernandez said the guy put him on hold and came back a couple minutes later and said, “Sly likes you. We’ll give you $600, take it or leave it.”

He took it and had a grand time.

“It was incredible just to be on that set and watch how everything works. And to be on camera working with Mr. T,” he said with enthusiasm. “It was just unbelievable.

“I still get residual checks. Anywhere Rocky III plays in the world, I get a check,” Hernandez added. “It’s not big dollars but I’ve been getting these checks since 1982, so that’s four decades of lunch money.”

Hernandez is making more memories now, living the retired life in Whitefish. While he is not a fan of popular Montana activities such as skiing, hiking, hunting, and fishing, he does enjoy casual golf and performing in the theater.

When he moved to Whitefish in 2005, he was cast in the lead role of “Our Town.’’ Since then, he has performed in more than 40 productions with the Whitefish Theatre Company, Alpine Theatre Project and Flathead Valley Community College. For a few summers, he and some friends ran their own theater company called the Stumptown Players.

“I absolutely love acting,” said Hernandez. “That has filled a big void in my life.”

He also still loves baseball with a passion.

“I did the public address announcing for the Glacier Range Riders this past season. I did the vast majority of their home games,” he said. “I had a great time doing that.”

He is proof that one needn’t be the typical mountain man to enjoy what Whitefish has to offer.

“I love the beauty here, the people here, the lifestyle here. I know it’s changing but I still love it,” Hernandez said. “I can’t think of a better place to be in my life right now.”