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Guardians’ Tom Hamilton Takes Us Through the Viral Call of the Wild MLB Fight

Also in Traina Thoughts: Orioles are a complete embarrassment; Steph Curry rocks out; Sean Payton’s dumb rule and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. “Now José and Anderson square off! They’re fighting! They’re swinging! Down goes Anderson! Down goes Anderson!”

That was Guardians radio play-by-play broadcaster, Tom Hamilton, calling the wild melee that took place Saturday night between Cleveland’s José Ramírez and Chicago’s Tim Anderson.

To say Hamilton’s call was a smash hit on social media would be an enormous understatement. The clip instantly went viral, and massive praise was heaped up Hamilton for his thrilling call, which was a throwback to Howard Cosell’s famous “Down goes Frazier” call.

I spoke to Hamilton, who has been doing Cleveland games for 34 years, on Monday about his call and going viral.

Sports Illustrated: Just take me through your tremendous call of the fight and what was going through your head during the fight.

Tom Hamilton: First off, thanks. I appreciate the kind words. Secondly, it’s not about the call. It’s about José Ramírez. I think we saw our first six-tool player in the major leagues with that right hook. 

It’s one of those things where it’s so unexpected because sometimes you can see a fight brewing because maybe there have been guys getting drilled by pitches in a series or in a certain game and you feel like, “Uh oh. If somebody else gets hit, we’re going to have somebody charge the mound and look out.” This was out of the blue. I don’t think any of us saw it coming.

You hear more stuff when you talk to the players and coaches the following day about some of the things that could’ve been an undercurrent that we weren’t aware of, so then it’s just spontaneity. You hope like heck the good Lord gives you the right words to say at the right moment and get lucky enough that people like it, but it’s not something you think about and certainly not something you go into a booth before a ball game and go, “O.K., tonight if there’s a bench-clearing brawl, this is what I gotta think to say.” I’m not trying to be fake modest or what-not. Again, there are a lot of times you walk out of that booth after a ball game and you go, “Why did I say that?” or “Why didn’t I say this?” That was a night I was fortunate that maybe I said the right thing.

I was also dating myself, too, because there’s probably a whole generation that goes, “Who is George Foreman? Isn’t he a guy with a grill?” And, “Who’s Howard Cosell?” I think we’re a product of what we grew up listening and seeing, too.

There’s a lot of blind luck involved in this. I could’ve been looking down at my scorecard and writing in “RBI double” or whatever and not even seen them pop up, but because it was such a bang-bang play, I’m fortunate in that you’re still watching, looking at the umpire and then it escalated so quickly. I sure wasn’t thinking Howard Cosell or “Down goes Frazier,” because I have never seen it in 34 years of doing the Indians/Guardians. I’ve seen a lot brawls; I’ve seen a lot of mound charges, but I have never seen two baseball players literally square off. It was almost like the second base umpire was like a boxing referee, and he backed out of there and let them go.

SI: Did using the Cosell line just come to you in the moment?

TH: It did. I have no idea why it did. But again, how many of us growing up probably said the same thing when we were doing whatever with our buddies. I’m 68, so unfortunately I’m really old, but everybody knew who Howard Cosell was. When there was a fight on television, it was a big, big deal. It’s not like today where you can see a fight almost every night in some kind of form or fashion. You know, the Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracles?” that’ll resonate for as long there’s a world because it’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest, call in the history of broadcasting.

Howard had some memorable calls, too. I think most of us who ever watched boxing or watched ABC Wide World of Sports, probably remember that about Howard more than anything else, even Monday Night Football.

SI: How and when did you first find out your call was a huge hit on social media?

TH: I’m not on social media. If I had a Twitter account, I would’ve been fired 15 years ago. So I’m never aware of that. I was aware of it when I was driving home, and one of my sons called me and he’s 28; so that’s the world that he’s living in. So I had no idea until he told me. 

SI: What did he say?

TH: Do you know what’s going on? So I said, “Bradley, how would I know what’s going on? I don’t do social media. What are you talking about?” And he said just what you said. It’s blowing up. Well, whatever blowing up means in that world, then you’re like, ‘Oh no.’ My first reaction was, “Oh, God what did I say now that I’ll regret?” So fortunately, this time I didn’t do the wrong thing. 

Again, I just don’t get caught up in it because if you do my job as a play-by-play guy, and I’ve done every sport and college basketball in the Big Ten for 25 years, if you get caught up in the people that say they like you and the people that say they hate your guts, you will never sleep at night because I don’t care what you do, I get plenty of letters written to me in crayon telling me I suck, so you just can’t be a play-by-play guy and be thinking about what do people think about me. You have to do it to the best of your ability and hope that that’s enough.

SI: What was the reaction like at the ballpark the next day?

TH: The players were hootin’ and hollerin’ and they wanted me to do the call again, but I’m not doing that. Again, you appreciate it, but as I try to tell our children, you’re five minutes away from saying the wrong thing and being on the other end of that storm.

2. There’s really not much for me to say about the Orioles/Kevin Brown situation that hasn’t been said already by everyone in media. The team reportedly suspending the play-by-play guy for mentioning that the Orioles have more wins against the Rays this year than the past two years combined is one of the most pathetic things in the history of sports media.

The one thing I’d like to point out is that while everyone if focusing on Brown, and rightfully so, there were two other details reported by Awful Announcing, that also make the Orioles look like a completely bush league operation.

The team allegedly disciplined another broadcaster because he wasn’t wearing Orioles paraphernalia, and broadcasters are not allowed to mention players who used to play for the team.

Just a Mickey Mouse operation all around.

3. We can now add Sean Payton to the list of people who have weird takes about athletes wearing hats. Apparently the new Broncos coach thinks players wearing bucket hats will lead to problems of some sort.

4. It takes about a minute for things to get going in this video, but Steph Curry joined Paramore onstage Monday night and REALLY got into his performance.

5. How much do people in this country love the NFL? More than 6 million people watched last Thursday’s Jets-Browns Hall of Fame Game.

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast features an interview with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

The radio Hall of Famer talks about his future on SiriusXM and what his plans are for when his contract runs out after the Super Bowl. He also discusses that viral interview with Joey Votto, the most influential people in sports media, ESPN firing Jeff Van Gundy, the state of the Yankees, why he hated Netflix’s Quarterback and much more.

Following Russo is my weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment with Sal Licata. This week, we discuss a big milestone for SI Media With Jimmy Traina, the passing of Paul Reubens, Sean Payton’s comments about the Jets and Nathaniel Hackett, cord cutting, horse racing and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This one is for my fellow Yankees fans. The team is an embarrassment, the GM has a job for life even though he needs to go and we’re in last place. So watching this old George Steinbrenner interview hits a certain way these days.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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