Porter Insists He’s Not Still Playing the Numbers Game

Ross Porter is a pleasant fellow, nice to everyone. He is a devoted family man, the father of two sets of boy-girl twins. And he is loyal to his employer, the Dodgers.

Growing up in Shawnee, Okla., he always wanted to become a major league baseball announcer, and that’s what he is.

But, as they say, life isn’t perfect.

The downside for Porter, in his 11th season with the Dodgers, is that he has had to endure criticism in the press and from fans.

A newspaper columnist once wrote that Porter’s mind is a marsh of statistics. Another columnist wrote that if baseball is a sea of statistics, Porter is a tidal wave.

Even worse have been some of the comments by those who write letters to the editors.

And some people, not so fondly, simply call Porter, “Stats”.

Porter’s broadcasting style relies heavily on facts and figures--too heavily, many believe.

“I think that was true in the ‘70s, but I’ve made an effort to cut down on statistics,” Porter said the other day. “The problem is, it is hard to shake a criticism once you’ve been tagged with it.

“I critique most of my work--I’m my toughest critic--and I think I’ve improved in that area. I’ve gotten away from saying things like, when Steve Sax comes to the plate: ‘He has 417 at-bats, 82 RBIs, 137 hits, 18 doubles and 5 triples.’

“I try to use only statistics that serve a purpose. This season when Franklin Stubbs came up for the first time at Candlestick Park, I said, ‘You know how many hits Stubbs had at Candlestick last season? (Pause.) None.’ ”

Still, Porter’s critics continue to complain about an overabundance of statistics.

“I believe sports fans like a certain amount of statistics and trivia,” Porter said. “Look at the Morning Briefing column in The Times. There’s always a Trivia Time in there. And there’s Ross Newhan’s Baseball Miscellany in the Sunday paper.”

Good points, although printed information may be easier for the mind to absorb than data that is voiced.

People listen to or watch a baseball game to relax and be entertained. Most don’t like it when their brains are taxed, and that’s what Porter sometimes does.

It’s strange, in one way. Announcers are sometimes criticized for being unprepared. Porter is criticized for being over-prepared.

“That may have been the case at one time,” he said. “I used to spend about four hours a day updating my statistics. But I’ve given that up. Besides, most statistics are available now, anyway.”

To Porter’s credit, he hasn’t tried to be somebody he isn’t. He isn’t a humorist or a storyteller, although a story or an anecdote here and there, with a little humor, probably wouldn’t hurt.

Porter, as a Dodger announcer, is constantly under a magnifying glass. He’s on the air almost every day, with sometimes as many as a million people listening in, and most of those form opinions about his work.

Also, he works alongside Vin Scully, possibly the most popular baseball announcer ever, here or anywhere.

Naturally, there are comparisons. And Porter is no Scully. Porter is the first to admit that. But even Scully doesn’t go uncriticized.

Said Porter: “Lindsey Nelson gave me a good piece of advice during, I believe, my second spring training. He said, ‘If 51% of the people like you, you’re doing a good job.’ ”

Porter said he was barraged with critical letters during his first few years with the Dodgers. “But it dropped off,” he said. “Now, maybe three or four a month is all.

“One thing that bothered me was a headline on the Morning Briefing column a couple of years ago,” Porter said. “The lead item was about statistics, and the headline said, ‘Attention Ross Porter and All You Other Stat Freaks.’

“Well, no one likes being called a freak. But what really bothered me is that I’d cut back on the stats, but apparently I still had the tag. I showed the headline to Peter O’Malley, and he told me not to let it get me down.”

Porter said that O’Malley, the Dodger owner, and other team executives have been very good to him. “I can’t imagine working for a better organization,” he said.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Wouldn’t you rather go to a smaller market where you’d be better received?’ I say, ‘I’d rather be the No. 2 announcer with the Dodgers than No. 1 anywhere else.’

“I don’t expect people to say, ‘That Ross Porter, he’s a great announcer.’ But I would hope they say, ‘That Ross Porter, he’s a pretty good announcer.’ ”

TV-Radio Notes CBS will televise National Basketball Assn. playoff games split nationally this weekend. Saturday at 12:30 p.m., the West will get the Lakers at Golden State, with Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn reporting, and Sunday at 10 a.m., this area will get Boston vs. Milwaukee, with Brent Musburger and Billy Cunningham. . . . Game 4 of the Laker-Warrior series will be televised Sunday at 3 p.m. by Channel 9 and WTBS. . . . The WTBS announcers for tonight’s Atlanta-Detroit game at 4:35 will be Skip Caray and new addition Doug Collins, the Chicago Bulls’ coach. The WTBS announcers for Sunday’s Laker game will be Bob Neal and Jon McGlocklin. . . . Kudos: The networks should take lessons from Prime Ticket on how to cover a track meet. Prime Ticket’s taped coverage of last weekend’s USC-UCLA meet was outstanding. Commentator Vic Holchak was particularly sharp, and Carol Lewis did a fine job of interviewing. . . . Prime Ticket will show the May 16 meet at UCLA on a same-day delay.

Radio engineer Dick Nelson, who has been working Angel games since the team’s inception in 1961, retired last Sunday. During his final broadcast, Nelson was given a microphone and interviewed by the Angel announcers. It was a nice idea, but it wasn’t executed very well. For one thing, Al Conin, the principal interviewer, referred to Nelson only as Trickster. Surely, many listeners had no idea who Trickster was, and what his job was. And when Conin finally asked where the name Trickster came from, he didn’t let Nelson finish explaining. At least, commentator Ken Brett had the presence of mind to call Nelson by name when he asked him a question. For his part, Nelson, despite Conin’s deficiencies as an interviewer, did fine as the interviewee.

Who goofed?: When Paul Azinger dropped in an eagle putt on the final hole to win last weekend’s $1.3- million golf tournament at Las Vegas, NBC missed it totally. There wasn’t even a replay that showed the ball going into the hole. All viewers saw was Azinger celebrating. . . . CBS covered Julius Erving’s final game last Sunday, but there were no postgame comments from the Doctor. Although Erving was later interviewed live at halftime of the Atlanta-Detroit game, which was televised to most of the country, that interview was not shown in the West, which got Golden State-Utah.

New show: “Sports on the Go,” with host Bob Elder, makes its debut on Channel 56 tonight at 8:30. KFI sportscaster Chris Roberts, the Raiders’ Mike Haynes, and former Ram quarterback Vince Ferragamo will be regulars on the show. However, Ferragamo does not appear on tonight’s show. Tonight’s guests include jockey Chris McCarron, the Kings’ Bernie Nichols and the New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor. The show, with the exception of the Taylor interview, was taped at Hollywood Park. . . . Channel 9 sportscaster Scott St. James’ acting career is starting to take off. He has just completed roles in two movies, “Terror Squad” and “Tape Head,” and two television pilots, “J.J. Starbuck” and “Bates Motel,” and also made guest appearances on current TV shows, “Murder She Wrote” and “Tales From the Dark Side.” .