World Series the crowning glory for blind commentator

Published on Tuesday 28 October 2008 21:57

RADIO commentator Enrique Oliu lives and breathes baseball, and is like a human baseball encyclopedia, with an uncanny ability to make his listeners get a full feel for the game. But what really sets him apart is that the analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays' Spanish radio broadcasts is blind.

"I always run into sceptical people, but I've never had any problem doing my job," Oliu said during the World Series between the Rays and Philadelphia. "I'm a smart guy, and I've always wanted to be a leader, to be an example."

Born blind, he was aged ten when his parents sent him to the United States to attend the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St Augustine. Oliu quickly showed an interest in sport and later majored in communications at the University of South Florida.

"I started knocking doors everywhere, trying to get a break. I covered for free a lot of stuff just to get into radio," the 45-year-old Nicaraguan said.

His first job doing professional commentary was with a minor league affiliate of the Montreal Expos in 1989 in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1998, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, about to make their debut in the major leagues, asked him to become the colour analyst of the team.

Several hours before each game at Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay's home ground, Oliu starts his routine of interviewing players, coaches and colleagues to gather every possible piece of information and detail to help him in his broadcasts.

At the booth of the radio station, Genesis 680 AM, he works alongside his wife, Debbie. She whispers statistical data to him and descriptions about the game.

"The rest is just intuition and instincts," he said. "I played this sport and a bunch of others. Adapted, but I played. Blind or not blind, I have an opinion and I just state mine. That's what people want."

Oliu and broadcast partner Ricardo Taveras do all 81 home games. When the Rays are on the road, as they were in Philadelphia this week, Oliu and Taveras broadcast from a studio at Tropicana Field off a television feed.

The one person who never stops marvelling at Oliu's gift is Taveras, who has done play-by-play with him since 1999.

"I will never forget when there was a roller toward second base and he goes to make the description, 'roller to second, the second baseman fields it, throw to first and he's out," Taveras said. "I was shocked. I didn't know what to say. I told him, 'Hey Enrique, how do you know that?' Nobody was telling him anything.

"He just said, 'I just heard the crack of the bat and I knew it that the ball was headed to second base'."

Oliu's crowning achievement is getting to work the World Series with the Rays. He mentions spring training trips to Mexico and Venezuela as his most rewarding experiences.

"As a blind person, it was something that gave me a lot of pride, to work in countries in which there are now laws to protect the rights of the handicapped," he said. "I was so proud of showing people that you can do it."