Eric Nadel
Encyclopedia
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
baseball organization.
Biography
He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and decided at a young age that he wanted to be a sports broadcaster. He developed his skills at Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
(class of 1972) announcing hockey and football games on the college radio station (WBRU
WBRU
WBRU is a commercial alternative rock radio station in Providence, Rhode Island that broadcasts on 95.5 FM. It was the first student-owned-and-operated campus radio station in the United States when it started as the Brown Network at Brown University in 1936...
). He had minor league hockey play-by-play stints in Muskegon
Muskegon, Michigan
Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County...
, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
, and Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
and was also the radio voice of the Dallas Diamonds
Dallas Diamonds
The Dallas Diamonds are a women's professional American football team in the Women's Football Alliance . It is made up of 46 players and has a coaching staff of 10...
of the Women's Professional Basketball League
Women's Professional Basketball League
The Women's Professional Basketball League was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981...
.
The Rangers hired Nadel in 1979, and he called games on television and radio in his first three seasons. Beginning in 1982, he began a 13-year run with Mark Holtz
Mark Holtz
Mark Holtz was an American sportscaster, best known for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers.-Career:...
as the radio team on WBAP, returning to the television booth for one year in 1984. Nadel became the team's lead radio voice when Holtz moved to television in 1995. Since then, he has broadcast on KRLD radio. Among his most memorable calls was the 5000th strikeout of Nolan Ryan's career on August 22, 1989. Since becoming the primary play-by-play voice for the Rangers he has worked alongside Brad Sham, Vince Cotroneo, and Victor Rojas. Beginning in 2009, he is partnered with long time ESPN and former Dallas Mavericks, and San Antonio Spurs announcer Dave Barnett
Dave Barnett
David Lane "Dave" Barnett is a former ESPN personality who currently works for the Texas Rangers. Before working for ESPN, Barnett served as the announcer for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs from 1988 to 1996, the Dallas Mavericks from 1981 to 1988, the 1990 Texas Rangers games, and Southwest...
; who also did Rangers games on television with Brad Sham in the late-80s/early 90s. Dave Barnett moved to the TV broadcast in 2011 to fill the vacated play-by-play role, and now Nadel works with former pitcher Steve Busby
Steve Busby
Steven Lee Busby is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Kansas City Royals . He batted and threw right-handed.-Professional career:...
in the radio booth.
His main home run call is "That ball is history!"
The arrival of Ruben Sierra
Rubén Sierra
Rubén Angel Sierra García is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. Sierra also goes by the nicknames El Caballo and El Indio....
in Texas motivated Nadel to learn Spanish. Nadel is now a fluent Spanish speaker, having taken part in Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
game broadcasts in a number of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n countries. He is also the author of several books (see Bibliography). Since 1985, Nadel has also produced and recorded A Page From Baseball’s Past radio features that run on the Rangers radio network.
He appeared as the Rangers' radio announcer in the film The Rookie
The Rookie (2002 film)
The Rookie is a 2002 drama sports film directed by John Lee Hancock. It is based on the true story of Jim Morris, who had a brief, but famous Major League Baseball career in 1999. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez, and Brian Cox....
in 2002.
In May 2006 Nadel announced that he has signed a "lifetime contract" with the Rangers, allowing him to continue on their broadcast team until he chooses to retire. At the conclusion of the 2008 season, Nadel joined a handful of broadcasters to call Major League Baseball games for 30 years, with the added distinction of calling all of them for one franchise.
Eric is active in animal causes and was one of the founders of the first leash free dog park in the DFW Metroplex at White Rock Lake in Dallas.