Chris Burke, former Houston Astros hero, is a college baseball broadcasting star

New York Times

2 days ago

Chris Burke arrived at Tallahassee's Dick Howser Stadium in April 2012 eager for his first broadcast as a college baseball color analyst. Florida State, the No. 1 team in the nation, was hosting rival Miami in a key ACC showdown. What a way to start a new career.
But he forgot something.
'I was so clueless,' Burke said, 'I didn't even have a scorebook, and my play-by-play guy, a guy named Tom Block, said, 'Well, how are you going to know the players?' I said, 'Well, I memorized their names.' And he's like, 'What if they sub?' So he handed me a roster and a scorebook, and I was like, 'Yeah, this is way easier.''
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It proved to be a minor speed bump for Burke's rapid climb up the food chain at the ESPN family of networks. Later that season, he called his first NCAA Tournament game. Three years later, he was covering the College World Series. And in two weeks, he will be in the booth for his fourth consecutive CWS finals with Karl Ravech and Kyle Peterson.
Burke, to many, is best known for hitting one of the most dramatic home runs of the 21st century, a walk-off blast in the bottom of the 18th inning in Game 4 of the NLDS that sent the Astros to the 2005 NLCS.
Chris Burke's walk-off homer in the 18th inning ended what was the longest #postseason game at the time, as the @Astros moved on to the 2005 NLCS. pic.twitter.com/XfPkf5dp6L
— MLB Vault (@MLBVault) October 26, 2021
But he's a college baseball guy through and through.
'I love the urgency,' said Burke, a two-time All-American at Tennessee who led the Volunteers to the 2001 College World Series. 'I love how, especially once you get into conference play, it's really like major league postseason baseball every game. … If you love the sport, you really enjoy the intensity of each and every conference game.'
Burke's passion for the sport comes across on each broadcast, whether it's a midweek game in late February or Game 3 of a Super Regional with a College World Series berth on the line.
'I don't know anybody that watches more college baseball, to the depth with which he watches it,' said Tom Hart, an ESPN/SEC Network play-by-play announcer who has worked with Burke for over a decade. 'I'm lucky to work with a lot of great guys, for example, on the football side. They study film all week. Burky approaches games like game film. And what he sees, and how he sees the game, and the swings, and the approach, it's just next level.'
Peterson has been a college baseball analyst with ESPN since 2003. He remembers hearing Burke call a game and being immediately impressed.
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'I knew of him, but I had never met him,' Peterson said. 'When I heard him, I remember calling Mike Moore, our coordinating producer at the time, and saying, 'I think a three-man booth with Chris and myself,' — and it was Dave (Neal) for a lot of it and then Tom (Hart) — 'I think it will really work.''
Peterson, a former pitcher at Stanford, believed he and Burke would complement each other well.
'He just sees different things on the field than I see,' he said. 'It's not just breaking down swings, but the way that he analyzes baserunning and defense. He's really good, man.'
No announcers are without their critics, but Peterson, 49, and Burke, 45, are as universally well-liked by their target audience as any broadcasting duo in sports.
'There's this trust factor between us, first of all,' Peterson said. 'We can say absolutely anything to each other, and no one's going to get offended. And I think he and I realized that right away. And then, it takes the right personality on both sides. He has no ego, and it creates a very honest broadcast. I think it makes for a more complete broadcast.
'He's as good as there is at doing what he does.'
Burke, who hit .435 with 20 home runs in his final collegiate season and went on to play five years in the majors, is at his best when diagnosing a hitter's plan at the plate.
'I like to teach the game,' said Burke, 45, who lives in his hometown of Louisville with his wife and five children. 'So I try to kind of call the game through that lens. I love being able to break down swings and plays and pitch sequences and things like that. I coach so much back home that I call the game the way I would watch the film with my team.'
Burke's attention to detail — every minute detail — can get him, at times, into trouble with his friends.
'If you're going to ride in a golf cart with him for four hours, you better be mentally prepared,' Peterson said. 'He is going to literally tell you about every single swing he takes. And he's probably going to tell you about yours, too. Every single one. And then when you get done and you're having lunch, he's then going to go back and he's going to go through every single swing on every single hole again.
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'Dave (Neal) and I laugh about it. I'm like, 'Dave, you gotta ride with him today. I can't, I can't do it today. You gotta ride with him.''
Burke's time in the broadcast booth has coincided with the golden age of college baseball. More games are on television. More fans are attending games. And the talent level is at an all-time high. The past two College World Series have featured a combined 15 future first-round MLB Draft picks, including five of the top nine picks in 2023.
'I really enjoy watching players on the front end, before they become stars,' Burke said. 'Getting to enjoy the journey of Dansby Swanson, the journey of Alex Bregman, the journey of Kumar Rocker, seeing Paul Skenes burst onto the scene.'
Burke has been on the call for some iconic performances over the past decade-plus. He didn't hesitate to identify a few that stand out in his memory.
'So right here, in this exact seat,' he said from the Hawkins Field press box before a Vanderbilt-Alabama game earlier this month, 'Dansby Swanson (in the 2015 Nashville Regional), he hit a two-run homer in the (top of the ninth inning) to give Vanderbilt the lead vs. Indiana, in the 1-0 game. And then, to start the bottom of the ninth, he made a Derek Jeter jump throw play from the hole, and I almost get goosebumps telling the story. That's the most alive I've ever heard this place, for sure, but it's also the most future major league All-Star, 1-1 pick of the draft moment that I've had for a position player.'
Vanderbilt SS Dansby Swanson (@LieutenantDans7) goes full Jeter in the bottom of the 9th of a 6-4 @VandyBoys Regional win over Indiana. pic.twitter.com/ow9yAHg8Qy
— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) May 31, 2021
From a pitching standpoint, nothing compares to the Paul Skenes versus Rhett Lowder showdown in Omaha in 2023. With a trip to the College World Series finals on the line, the two future top-10 picks combined to throw 15 scoreless innings. LSU would beat Wake Forest 2-0 on a Tommy White home run in the bottom of the 11th.
'That's a hard one to top,' Burke said, 'just because you knew you were watching two of the all-time college greats, two guys that were going to be incredible major leaguers, and I just think in general, since I've been calling the sport, to me, Paul Skenes was the player you were most certain was going to be a major league All-Star. There's a presence that's very palpable around him, so to watch him perform like that on the sport's biggest stage was incredible. That game was incredible.'
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The best scene, he said, was Game 2 of the 2022 CWS Finals when Ole Miss beat Oklahoma to win the first national championship in program history.
'The pageantry of that fan base. … That's the most one-sided I've ever seen that stadium. It was probably 90 percent Ole Miss fans. It was just an amazing scene.'
Last June, Burke watched Tennessee, his beloved alma mater, become the sixth different SEC team since 2017 to win the national championship. The Vols, who failed to make the NCAA Tournament from 2006 through 2018, have advanced to Omaha three times in the past four seasons.
'I'm really happy for Tony (Vitello) and his staff because they worked so hard,' Burke said. 'And I've developed a relationship with some of those players that have become legendary pieces to the Tennessee baseball story.'
Burke was confident, even during the lean years, that Tennessee would return to national prominence. And when it did, he believed the fan base would follow and experience the best that college baseball has to offer.
'I tell college sports fans this all the time,' Burke said. 'College football gives you 12 events a year, right? College basketball, how many great home games do you get? Maybe 10, 12 great home games? College baseball, you get the whole weekend. You get those 15 SEC home games, and then if you're good, you get a Regional and a Super Regional. So you could get as many as 20 home games. None of the other sports offer you that.'
(Photo courtesy of ESPN)