SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The fortunes of the New York Mets have been up and down this season, but fans still enthusiastically tune into their popular broadcasts, in part because of the almost cinematic visuals. Reporter Jeff Lunden had the opportunity to sit in the broadcast truck on what turned out to be an historic evening.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: It's the bottom of the third. The Mets are ahead of the Braves 3 to 1, and slugger Pete Alonso comes to the plate. He's one swing away from becoming the Mets' all-time home run leader. Here's what the audience hears as announcer Gary Cohen calls it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GARY COHEN: And Pete drives one to deep right-center field, headed back toward the wall. It's out of here, out of here. Pete Alonso stands alone.
LUNDEN: And here's what it sounds like in the truck behind the stadium, as Alonso breaks Darryl Strawberry's longstanding record.
JOHN DEMARSICO: Get out there, Pete.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Oh, my.
DEMARSICO: Fade two. Fade two. Tilt down. Tilt down. Tilt down.
LUNDEN: Director John DeMarsico sits in front of a 40-foot wall of video feeds, selecting shots from the more than 20 cameras covering the event. He tells the tech director, who sits behind a console with dozens of buttons, which shots to use.
DEMARSICO: One of my favorite shots I've ever taken was during the Pete Alonso record-breaking home run last night.
LUNDEN: DeMarsico had the handheld camera operator linger on Alonso as he crossed the plate, embraced his teammates and took a curtain call for the adoring crowd. It was intimate but epic.
DEMARSICO: It's cinema. It's the leading man. That's the hero shot. Being able to have a low-angle shot looking up at the hero in triumph - it's a shot that's been told for a hundred years in movies. It's "Spartacus." It's "Gladiator." It's classic.
LUNDEN: DeMarsico has become famous in social media for his baseball-is-cinema posts and setting up shots that reference movies from "The Wizard Of Oz" to "Planet Of The Apes." But, as I discover, creating a baseball broadcast is very much a team sport, says senior coordinating producer Greg Picker.
GREG PICKER: It's really about our collective group, and we've always felt that the strength of our show is in all of us together.
LUNDEN: He oversees 50 people from the truck, including the triumvirate in the booth - Gary Cohen and former Met stars Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, or, as they've come to be known, GaryKeithRon (ph). For the past 20 years, they've entertained and informed the fans because, as Gary Cohen says, there's a lot of time for chitchat.
COHEN: Well, baseball's different from every other sport in that there is so much time between the action. I mean, a three-hour game has eight minutes of action, so that leaves you 2 hours and 52 minutes to fall on your face or try and create something.
LUNDEN: And these broadcasts, from the graphics to the banter, are very creative. At 6:59, down in the truck, everyone's in place - technicians, statisticians, interns.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Open the mics.
(CROSSTALK)
LUNDEN: Producer Greg Picker sits next to director John DeMarsico. They almost wordlessly communicate. While DeMarsico looks for shots, Picker looks at replays and talks to the announcers.
PICKER: We're going to use Y real time, Ricky. Good reaction on goal (ph).
LUNDEN: John DeMarsico has to follow the action and make it clear for the viewer. But he also sets up cinematic moments, like a split screen right out of a spaghetti Western that shows the pitcher on the left and the batter on the right, staring each other down and amping up the tension.
DEMARSICO: Baseball's the perfect game for television and doing the things that we want to do because you have these moments of stillness between every single pitch where you're able to set the scene. I'm not only talking about on the field. I'm talking about in the dugouts, in the crowd.
LUNDEN: One of DeMarsico's superpowers is finding expressive faces among the fans - shots that underscore baseball's drama. And the game itself? Well, after the Mets' starter blows the lead in the top of the fourth, the team comes roaring back. And Pete Alonso - well, here's Cohen's call in the bottom of the sixth.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
COHEN: Here's Alonso. A double and a home run tonight. And he drives this one to deep center field. Harris goes back, takes a look. And that one's out of here. Pete Alonso adds another to his record.
LUNDEN: The Mets ultimately shellack the Braves 13 to 5. The next morning, director John DeMarsico calls the previous night's game a lot of fun. Still, he adds...
DEMARSICO: The thing about baseball is that no matter what happens the day before, there's always a game the next day.
LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden at Citi Field in Queens. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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