Monday, April 26, 1999
Dibble has future in broadcast booth
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Rob Dibble, the television analyst, is like Rob Dibble, the baseball player: He talks a good game.
“I want to do more than just baseball,” he said. “I know a lot about all sports. I'd like to do hard news. I can talk about world affairs. I want to be an all-around newsman.”
For now, however, Dibble is leaving Kosovo to Peter Jennings and doing color on ESPN and ESPN Radio. He did the Reds game with the New York Mets last week.
Dibble does a nice job. He talks only when he has something to say.It helps that Dibble's father was in the radio business.
Dibble was still planning on playing baseball last spring. He went to camp with the San Diego Padres. But he decided that he wasn't the pitcher he had been. Shoulder problems from throwing all those 100 mph fastballs and hard sliders had robbed him of his velocity and control.
Dibble hadn't been successful since leaving the Reds in 1993. He didn't want to hang on any longer.
“I didn't want to be one of those guys who they said, "He was great five years ago, but now he stinks,'” Dibble said. “When I played, Davey Concepcion used to say, "Give a young guy a chance.' I didn't want to take up a roster spot.”
Dibble signed on with ESPN last year to do four games. He ended up doing 20. And he loved it.
He did everything from the Little League World Series to the majors.
“It was awesome,” he said. “After playing professional baseball for 15 years, it was great to go back to a level where the enthusiasm for the game lies. It rejuvenated me.”
Dibble is well down the ESPN depth chart. He does the games that the Joe Morgans of the world can't get to. But he thinks that works to his advantage.
“Because I'm the low man on the totem pole, I get to do a lot of different levels. I like that,” Dibble said.
He's working for the right outfit. With its vast resources, ESPN gives its people plenty of feedback. Anthony Munoz and Solomon Wilcots are examples of local guys who vastly improved under ESPN's guidance.
“I hear from them all the time,” Dibble said. “I want that.”
But Dibble says the key feedback is his phone keeps ringing.
“If I wasn't doing a good job,” he said, “they wouldn't keep asking me to do games.”
What separates a good color analyst from the field is an ability to look at the game objectively and criticize players when it is warranted. That can be tough when, like Dibble, you're not far removed the game.
“I won't backstab guys,”he said. “But if a guy's hitting .200 in September and he's making a $1 million, I'm going to say it. You have to earn your salary.”
Dibble took some shots during the Reds-Mets game:
• On Jack McKeon platooning the catchers: “I don't agree with that. He's got to leave Eddie Taubensee in there, so he can get in a groove and the pitchers can get used to working with him.”
• When Bobby Bonilla failed to get a high fly ball in the right-field corner: “That's a pitcher's nightmare. That ball's got to be caught.”
Dibble does go a little heavy on the hyperbole on occasion. Such as: “When it gets hot the ball flies out of (Cinergy Field). Greg Vaughn could easily hit 50, 60 home runs.”
Easily and 60 home runs don't go in the same sentence.
But Dibble has a future in the booth.
“I want to give this my best shot,” he said.
John Fay covers TV/radio sports for The Enquirer. He can be reached at 768-8445.
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