On Father’s Day as dads were feted with barbecues and neckties, Derik Rodriguez joined his dad, Danny, in the press box at Dunkin’ Donuts Park. There was a ballgame to call at 5:05 p.m., and what’s a play-by-play man without his color commentator?
Together, Derik, 47, and Danny, 79, form the Yard Goats‘ Spanish broadcast team for WPRX-AM 1120 in New Britain. One of two father-son duos calling games in Spanish in all of professional baseball and the only one in the minors, their hallmark is a feisty chemistry fueled by a vast generational divide.
“Is it frustrating, because we have different styles? Yes,” Derik said. “But in the end we have fun.”
“You also have to remember that Spanish is not his first language,” Danny said, pegging his son’s fluency at “98 percent.”
And so the squabbling goes between two sides of the same coin. Danny detests the designated hitter; Derik doesn’t mind it. Danny pulls for the big-league club in Queens; Derik prefers the one in the Bronx.
There’s even a chasm regarding former Yankees manager Joe Torre: To Danny, Torre was a fine catcher but just OK as a manager, the beneficiary of the groundwork laid by his predecessor. Derik reveres the even-keeled skipper for the way he deftly melded personalities.
“He knew what to do with the egos,” Derik said.
Egos in this Spanish broadcast booth are often bruised but never broken, a balance Yard Goats owner Josh Solomon — who works alongside his father, Art — knows all too well.
“You also have to remember that Spanish is not his first language,” Danny said, pegging his son’s fluency at “98 percent.”
And so the squabbling goes between two sides of the same coin. Danny detests the designated hitter; Derik doesn’t mind it. Danny pulls for the big-league club in Queens; Derik prefers the one in the Bronx.
There’s even a chasm regarding former Yankees manager Joe Torre: To Danny, Torre was a fine catcher but just OK as a manager, the beneficiary of the groundwork laid by his predecessor. Derik reveres the even-keeled skipper for the way he deftly melded personalities.
“He knew what to do with the egos,” Derik said.
Egos in this Spanish broadcast booth are often bruised but never broken, a balance Yard Goats owner Josh Solomon — who works alongside his father, Art — knows all too well.
“We get a real kick out of both their love for baseball and their love for each other — and their desire sometimes to kill each other,” Solomon said, laughing. “These guys epitomize what baseball is about, father and son working at
To read full story and watch video of Derik and Danny, please visit: http://www.courant.com/sports/baseball/yard-goats/hc-yard-goats-father-son-spanish-radio-20170606-story.html
