It may be the last call for Trupiano
It is 3 p.m. on a Wednesday, and Jerry Trupiano is talking on the telephone from his perch for most of the past 14 years -- the broadcast booth at Fenway Park. The sun is shining on the clear fall day, but Trupiano said the weather really makes no difference.
``Every day is a beautiful day to be in the booth," he said. ``And that's the truth."
Which is why Sunday might be all the more painful. The last day of the season might also be Trupiano's last day as the Red Sox' radio voice on WEEI.
``There are a lot of rumors out there, but I haven't been told anything," he said, adding that he's been asked all season if this is his last. So the swirling gossip doesn't really surprise him, but he calls reports that he might be taking a job elsewhere ``an absolute lie.
``That's what really irritates me. If I'm not coming back, and people are putting some stuff out there that I've got a job lined up, well that's not true. Because I would love to stay, I'd love to finish my career here. If I leave, it's not going to be because I want to leave."
Meanwhile, no one is talking. WEEI's Jason Wolfe did not return phone calls, and the Red Sox declined to reveal much.
``I'm not trying to be evasive, but we really have nothing to announce, and I don't anticipate any announcements this weekend," said John Blake, Red Sox vice president of media relations. ``As you know, both announcers, their contracts are up, and there have been no final decisions and no announcements to make."
So Trupiano is still in the dark.
``I don't know why [they're not saying anything], but we'll see what happens," Trupiano said.
Trupiano is rumored to be replaced by Glenn Geffner (who worked in media relations for the team), while Joe Castiglione stays on in the broadcast booth. The Red Sox games will be split between WEEI and WRKO, in a 10-year contract agreement with Entercom Corp., parent company of both stations.
Trupiano said his most poignant moment was when the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series in 2004, and not just because it ended an 86-year drought. Where he was broadcasting from was just as significant to Trupiano. When he and Castiglione arrived at Busch Stadium, they had to make room for local radio and television, the national networks, the international broadcasters, and ESPN. So the WEEI crew ended up in an auxiliary booth. It was the booth the St. Louis native used to practice his play-by-play when he worked at KMOX radio as a producer.
``So talk about coming full circle," said Trupiano.
From St. Louis, Trupiano got announcing jobs in Houston (for the World Hockey Association's Aeros), the NFL, the NBA, and then the Astros. He went on to broadcast for the Montreal Expos, but left after they asked him to move his family there.
He was then out of baseball for two years. ``It just killed me to be away from the game."
That feeling could come again as soon as Monday morning.
