Written and Photographed by Cristina Byrne
I drove 92 miles south to meet up with Curt Bloom, the Play by Play Broadcaster for the Birmingham Barons, Double-A Affiliate to the Chicago White Sox, and has been for 32 years. In an exchange of emails, he told me that he usually arrives at the ballpark around 2 p.m. I got to Regions Field around 2:30 pm and went up to the 3rd floor and knocked on his booth door.
"Cristina is that you!" Blooms asks from the other side of the door. Thinking there should be some sort of secret knock to get in.
"Yes, it is!" I responded. He opens the door., "Welcome!"
His booth is not only where he broadcasts the games but it is also his office. He has a wooden desk with a laptop towards the door, hanging above his wooden desk is a photo of the Annual Rickwood Classic of April 24th Barsons vs. the Lookouts, a photo of his two daughters, and a bookshelf filled with binders labeled by year and baseball prospects. Bloom points, "That's 32 years of Barons baseball," he tells me "And '94 is the Jordan Year." He had the Yankee game on his laptop and one of the four baseball movies Kevin Costner stars in. There is a fridge, some snacks, three chairs a small round coffee table, and a newspaper article frame of the “93 championship season and one of Michael Jordan. He is originally from North Salem, New York, and is an alumni of the University of North Carolina Greensboro, a "die-hard" Yankee Fan, and also a Bruce Springsteen fan even though there is no evidence of that in his booth office, I have run into Curt at a Boss show once before.
"It's an 18-mile ride from my house to the ballpark and it's a good time to call my 83-year-old mother and every time I talk to her she always asks me why I am going to the ballpark so early if the game does not start till 7:05 pm," Bloom tells me. "Those 5 hours before the game go by fast," he says.
He was working on the scorecard and carefully filling it out and even color-coordinating it which seems to take up a good chunk of his time. In between Bloom carefully filling out the scorecard and making sure it is all correct, his chats about baseball are ongoing.
When I asked Curt if being traded was such "a bad thing." Curt’s response was, "It's every player's dream to make it to the big leagues with the team that drafted them. At first, when a trade happens it can be emotional because it's an adjustment but at the end of the day they understand it's just business."
He makes progress with his scorecard. He has details about everything on there such as the player’s age, the player’s years as a pro, what round the player was drafted, and what college he attended. As he finished up the scorecard, he warned me that he would move fast and that he would take the stairs. We make our way down to the clubhouse and then to the field where he checks in with the manager, Lorenzo Bundy.
"Since I do not travel with the team anymore, that check-in time is crucial, I get everything I need," Bloom explains. He likes to check in to see if what he sees matches up with what is happening. "Building a good relationship and trust with the manager is important and I have that with Lo." He says that does not always happen with managers, "some just don't trust.”
With 32 years of experience as a play-by-play broadcaster, Curt arguably called one of the greatest athletes of all time, Michael Jordan's minor league career in 1994 when Jordan got signed with the Chicago White Sox and was assigned to Double-A in Birmingham. 29 years later, that’s still what people want to know about the most.
And in July of 2022, Bloom had the opportunity to call a game for the Chicago White Sox. "Whether I did good or bad, I went into it as I belong there," he tells me. "Don't get me wrong, minor league baseball is fun but in the Major Leagues everything is catered to you in the sense that you have everything you need right when you walk in."
Aside from all that he has said that the four championship seasons of, 1989 (Prince William) 1993, 2002, and 2013, with the Barons, have all been highlights of his career. "When you take into consideration the long hot summer and the countless hours away from home, winning a championship is very special. My one game that stands out is a no-hitter in 1995, during a pennant race which the Barons won 1-0. The pitcher was Luis Andujar who had a small taste of the big leagues," Curt tells me.
Two minutes before he is about to go on air he points to his watch, "See those 5 hours go by fast!" he says to me.
He stands for the first 3 innings of every broadcast and for the last 15 years has swapped out the soda and coffee for water. He told me that broadcasting is like pitching it's all about pace and rhythm.
Even though being a play-by-play broadcaster is hard to break into with limited spots available at Bloom's current age of 60 he has not given up on his childhood dream of being a Major League Broadcaster.
"I am still the luckiest guy in the room. I knew at nine years old what I wanted to do and I am still living that dream today."
Curt Bloom was inducted into the Birmingham Barons Hall of Fame in 2013, he has also won AL Broadcasters Association Best in Broadcasting Large Market in 2015 and in 2018 was inducted into the Southern League Hall of Fame.
