LEWIS KALB: Coming up on NPR, Lewis Kalb.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
That's Lewis Kalb of Medford Lakes, New Jersey.
KALB: I'm known as the voice of Medford Lakes because every event in town I'm at announcing it.
SIMON: Kalb, who is 73, is a substitute teacher and volunteer broadcaster of pretty much anything.
KALB: Whether it'll be rec basketball, middle school basketball, the Canoe Carnival, the 5K runs.
SIMON: And now he can add Major League Baseball to that list. The longtime Philadelphia Phillies fan placed a bid to win the opportunity of a lifetime to do the play-by-play of the third inning of the Phillies game against the Washington Nationals Wednesday for 94 WIP Radio.
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KALB: ...Broadcast booth. So here we go. Painter with the first pitch to Ortiz. It's in there for strike one called. Phils with two at the bottom of the second to take the lead.
SIMON: And well, you can hear, he did great.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KALB: As we start at the top of the third now, Painter delivers. It's bounced foul.
When you have something that's a lifelong dream, and you get one shot at it, one inning, really, make the best of it.
SIMON: Kalb says he's been preparing for the chance for years by essentially calling an imaginary game as he drove his car.
KALB: Some people like to sing in the shower. Well, I don't have a good singing voice, but I might drive down the road and go, here is Bryce Harper, and the pitch. Swung on. Long drive to right. That one is gone.
SIMON: Kalb got to call one Bryce Harper at bat on Wednesday night. Had a single. Sadly, no runs in the third inning.
KALB: And I like the way the inning concluded because it was with a strikeout. And I said something like, got him, strike three, and that's it. The inning is over. And so, you know, we got to the break, and it went pretty well.
SIMON: Well, more for Lewis Kalb than the Phillies, who didn't fare well and lost to the Nationals 10-4. Kalb has gotten a lot of acclaim on social media, but says his head will not be turned to larger markets.
KALB: All of this fame and publicity, anybody would appreciate it. But what I love most about it is when I go do a game now, that's going to be Mr. Kalb, the Phillies announcer in the broadcast booth who's doing my game. It's just going to have more meaning. It's going to be more special for all the great kids in our wonderful town.
SIMON: Mr. Lewis Kalb, the voice of Medford Lakes, New Jersey, and, you know, once a big league broadcaster. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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