Voice of a nation: Gowdy was team's best

Before the continental cult of all things RemDawg . . .

Before Announcer Boy Orsillo, Troop, and Joe Castig . . .

Before Sean McDonough, Ken Coleman, Dick Stockton, Jim Woods, Monty, and Mel Parnell . . .

Before the estimable Ned Martin ever uttered, ''Mercy" . . .

. . . there was Curt Gowdy, the greatest Red Sox broadcaster of them all.

A majority of those reading this have no clue what I'm talking about, which is nobody's fault. It's impossible for anyone under the age of 45 to comprehend what the voice of Gowdy once meant to New England.

We're talking old school. Back in the day. Never mind giant plasma screens with high definition, the Gowdy phenomenon predates instant replay and color television. Along with the sounds of the crickets, Curt's voice was wafting across our back porches and into the Cape Cod summer night long before the Massachusetts Turnpike was built.

In the years after leaving the Red Sox, Curt would become the nation's first famous TV sports broadcaster, working for all three major networks and earning plaques in the baseball, football, and basketball halls of fame. He called Super Bowls, World Series, Rose Bowls, Final Fours, and Olympics. He hosted ABC's ''American Sportsman" for 15 years.

But in Scituate and Saugus, Greenfield and Groton, he forever will be the voice of the Red Sox, the man who said goodbye to Ted and hello to Yaz, the man who can still make some of us 10 years old if we hear him say, ''Hi, neighbor, have a 'Gansett."

The Red Sox are honoring Curt before today's game against the Tigers. It's a nice touch by an ownership group that has consistently paid homage to those who came before. On the cover of the 2005 Sox media guide, superimposed over a photo of the celebration in St. Louis (Somebody, grab that ball from Doug!) and an embossed image of the World Series trophy, it reads, ''This championship isn't just about these 25 guys. This is for every fan who has ever been to Fenway Park . . . This championship is for everyone who came so close and for everyone who cared so much."

The Sox never came close when Curt worked at Fenway from 1951-65, but we all cared, and one of the reasons we cared was the brilliance of Curt Gowdy. His voice and delivery went down like a tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer afternoon. He relaxed us while he told the story of a Red Sox game, too often a loss to the Yankees, Tigers, or White Sox.

''It wasn't like it is now," Gowdy, 86, said yesterday. ''But for the types of teams we had, the fans were very good here. On some Thursday afternoon games, we'd get 25,000 fans. That was remarkable. This has always been a great Red Sox city."

He came to us from Wyoming, after two years of broadcasting Yankee games with Mel Allen. He remembers Ted Williams sidling up to him around the batting cage at spring training in 1951.

''He came up to me and said, 'Somebody told me you like to fish,' and I said I'd grown up trout fishing in Wyoming and we were buddies from then on. We fished together a lot in the Florida Keys and sometimes he'd come out to Wyoming."

Gowdy was master of ceremonies on that September day in 1960 when Ted homered in his last at-bat in the big leagues.

''It was one of the big thrills of my life," said Gowdy. ''Before the game, [equipment czar] Johnny Orlando called me over and said, 'This is the Kid's last game. [Owner Tom] Yawkey and [AL president Joe] Cronin gave him permission to skip the last weekend in New York.' Well, Ted hit a long fly to right that didn't quite make it his third time up. Then his last time up, he hit that ball, and I saw it start to soar and get some distance. I got all excited and I said, 'It's going, going, gone!' and then I stopped and said, 'Ted Williams has hit a home run in his last time at bat in the major leagues.' "

Like the rest of Ted's friends, Gowdy was saddened by the bizarre events following Williams's death in 2002.

''I thought it was terrible," said Gowdy. ''I don't know who to believe. Williams was very loyal and honest. Nobody could ever say different. Sometimes, that got him into a lot of trouble. But after he died and they cut his head off, that made me sick."

Still with his lovely wife of 56 years, Curt was watching at home in Boston when the Red Sox finally won the World Series last October.

''I was thrilled," he remembered. ''I was with the Red Sox for a lot of years and they had some good teams, but never much pitching. I saw them struggle. And to see them win it, it was great for the city.

''Everything I did in Boston worked out great. One thing that was good for me here was the ownership. Mr. Yawkey was great to me, and Cronin was like a father to me. They were top people. I hated that they couldn't get a better team, but I was lucky."

And what does he think of the state of Red Sox broadcasting in 2005?

''I know the town's got a love affair with Jerry Remy, which is nice," he said. ''I think the guys are all good. They should be. They've had the chance to listen to the best through the years."

Amen. None better than Curt Gowdy.