What better venue than Wrigley Field to recreate one of the most famous broadcasts in sports?
For Sunday’s Pirates series finale against the Cubs, SportsNet Pittsburgh delivered a fantastic homage to the Masters golf tournament, which held its final round Sunday in Augusta, Ga.
After soft piano music and an artistic shot of local flora outside the ballpark in Chicago, play-by-play broadcaster Greg Brown delivered the perfect opening line: “Welcome to the final round at the Wrigley.”
The broadcast’s opening segment had a host of tributes to the iconic event at Augusta National, with the font and color of the on-screen graphics clearly evoking a Masters broadcast. First pitch between the Pirates and Cubs -- 2:20 p.m. ET on Friday -- was represented by “tee time,” while the NL Central standings were displayed in terms of games above .500, with the Pirates described as “better than par” in the early going.
Brown even closed the entertaining intro with “Hello, friends,” a nod to longtime Masters broadcaster Jim Nantz. With Sunday’s game ending in a walk-off win for the Cubs, there was even drama reminiscent of a thrilling final round in Augusta.