Texas Rangers Announcer Eric Nadel Making Health Progress

Eric Nadel is preparing to host his annual birthday benefit concert at The Kessler in Dallas on Thursday.

Eric Nadel hasn’t set a return date to the Texas Rangers radio broadcast booth, but he did tell The Dallas Morning News that he is making progress on the mental health issues that have kept him on the sidelines.

“I miss it tremendously,” Nadel said. “It’s really, really hard to not be a part of it. I miss the chance to be around my partners and the people in the game. And this team is really exciting. It’s been difficult.”

Nadel has made enough progress to host his annual birthday benefit at The Kessler on Thursday. Nadel will turn 73 and will host musical guests Danielle Ponder and Daphne Willis. There is also a silent auction that ends on Wednesday. The evening benefits the Grant Halliburton Foundation, which supports youth and young adults suffering mental health issues.

The show falls on the off day between the Rangers’ home series with the Atlanta Braves (Monday-Wednesday) and the Colorado Rockies (Friday-Sunday).

Nadel announced in March that he would not broadcast games to start the season. He acknowledged in his statement that he was dealing with “anxiety, insomnia and depression,” which he told the Morning News began in January and prevented him from attending a dinner honoring him.

Nadel’s broadcast partners, Matt Hicks and Jared Sandler, have been broadcasting games in his place since the start of the season for the Rangers Radio Network.

While he isn’t setting a return date, he said he’s focused on his health. He did admit that he dealt with a similar situation 20 years ago.

Nadel has been announcing Rangers games on radio and television since 1979, and is one of the few to call games for 40 years. He has been the team’s lead play-by-play voice on radio broadcasts since 1995. In 2006, Nadel and the Rangers announced that he had a lifetime contract to call games with the team until he retires.

Nadel was selected as the 2014 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

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