Broadcaster with familiar names is paying dues

A three-day vacation allowed Doug Greenwald to rest his voice. It was hardly a break from baseball.Greenwald is in his eighth season as the radio voice of the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A affiliate in Fresno. The Triple-A All-Star game in July gave him his only three-day break of the season.What did he do? He took a baseball trip. His first stop was Redding, Pa. He then went to Wilmington, Del., and Newark, N.J., before returning to Pennsylvania for the All-Star game in Allentown, Pa.The 35-year-old is a baseball junkie. That may explain why he is approaching middle age as a bachelor. He inherited his love of the game from his father, Hank, the former Giants broadcaster."I'm a baseball broadcaster all the way," Greenwald conceded. "(His name) might have helped me get in the door, but I still have to perform. Either you have it or you don't. That's the business."Greenwald will be in Sacramento through the weekend as the Grizzles face the River Cats in a five-game series at Raley Field that will decide the Pacific Coast League South Division championship.Sacramento won 6-5 in the series opener Wednesday night to climb within one game of Fresno for the division lead.Players come and go through Fresno, but Greenwald has been a fixture. As much as he appreciates the job security, he is just like the players in that he is determined to reach the major leagues.Greenwald got a brief taste July 23-25 during the Giants' three-game series in Arizona. The Giants needed a pinch hitter in the radio booth with Jon Miller and David Fleming both absent.Miller was in Cooperstown, N.Y., for his Hall of Fame induction. Fleming went along for the festivities.There is little chance of the Giants needing a play-by-play man any time soon. They have Miller, Fleming and Duane Kuiper. Greenwald will have to be content with the Grizzlies as plays the waiting game."When a player's 30, they think they're running out of time. When a broadcaster's 30, he's a young pup," he said. "Players have the biological clock ticking, but we can be in the booth when we're 90."No player wants to spend much time in Fresno, and that is not a knock against the city. Players climbing through the minors don't want to stop. Players falling from the majors hope to ricochet."There's no definition of the word 'team' here," Greenwald said. "This is a mixed bag of guys."