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“ MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE, NOT JUST IN MONTCLAIR BUT IN OTHER COMMUNITIES, IS TOMAKE BASEBALL AFFORDABLE FOR ALL KIDS.”
HAROLD REYNOLDS
HOW DID YOU PREPARE YOURSELF TO BE ASTUDIO ANALYST? Idid alot of interviews when I was a player. I have my own foundation, so Iused to speak a lot in schools, in churches, in different places. All that stuff helped me to be able to put words into sentences and make apoint. Idon’ t look at it like I’ m broadcasting, I’ m just teaching what I know, and just telling people what’ s going on.
WHATDOYOU DO AT MLB ON A TYPICAL DAY? We usually have a meeting three hours before we go on the air. Talk about some of the possibilities, who’ s playing well, who’ s trending … talk about all the things that are happening in that sport in that meeting. And we hope to capture it that night. Greg [ Amsinger, MLB Network studio host ] and I work the late shift. I love it because Greg is one of the most energetic people I know. It’ s a tough shift, it’ s late at night and one of the most important shifts because we’ re reviewing the whole day.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR YOUR CAREER IN THE FUTURE? The biggest thing for me is to do this hopefully for a few more years. And then, really, just raising the kids, watching them grow up. Hang out in Montclair … Iwant to continue to have an impact on youth sports. I have been trying to meet with the people that run Montclair [ youth ] baseball, and my biggest challenge, not just in Montclair but in other communities, is to make baseball affordable for all kids. It’ s too expensive, and I think that’ s unnecessary. So, my biggest thing that Iwant to do and contribute is really try to get this sport to where it’ s affordable. Nobody should pay thousands of dollars to play on the youth level. It’ s not right.
TALKIN’ BASEBALL MLB Network host Greg Amsinger and analyst Harold Reynolds team up at the 2017 All-Star Red Carpet Show; Reynolds throws out the ceremonial first pitch to Ken Griffey Jr.
HOWDID YOUEND UP LIVINGIN MONTCLAIR, AND WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE? We’ ve been here for 10 years now. My wife had first come out here when she was 17 years old; she had friends who lived in Montclair. So, when we were looking to move to New Jersey, she said there was a community that we should look at.
What attracted us were two things. One, it’ s a great school district. We’ ve got three young kids, so we wanted to make sure that they were learning in a fine school district. Secondly, it’ s diverse, a very diverse community. My wife grew up in Nebraska and I grew up in Oregon, and there’ s not too many African-Americans in our communities. So, Ifigured we would give our kids a chance to have a little more diversity than we did.
We love it. Imean, it’ s home. Our children don’ t know better. It’ s home to them. We’ re part of this community now. ■
AMSINGER & REYNOLDS: COURTESY OFMLB NETWORK; FIRST PITCH: OTTO GREULE JR / GETTY IMAGES
36 BACK TOSCHOOL 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE