Famed Broadcaster Doug Greenwald Joins Yolo High Wheelers

After spending nearly 20 years broadcasting professional baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area for the Fresno Grizzlies and even handling some San Francisco Giants games, Doug Greenwald, son of legendary broadcaster Hank Greenwald, took a break from announcing in Northern California to spend 2023 behind the microphone for the American Association's WinnipegGoldeyes before returning home once again. 

This year, Greenwald will announce games for the newly formed Yolo High Wheelers as the Pioneer Baseball League, an MLB Partner League, brings professional baseball to Davis, Calif. for the first time.

"I'm excited and it's an exciting time for the city of Davis to have professional baseball, something it's never had, and for me personally [to be a part of it]," he said.

While his return to these familiar stomping grounds was not his original plan, Greenwald explained the process of finding the job as "throwing darts at a map and seeing what sticks." 

After hearing about the new Davis team from someone in MLB, he reached out to long-time friend and league president Mike Shapiro and got a few other recommendations that secured his return to nearby Yolo County.

But Greenwald's return to familiar territory also presents some new challenges with broadcasting the game at a level he never has before.

"You broadcast baseball the same way, I mean a ground ball is a ground ball no matter what level, it's just the guy that hits the ground ball is different in terms of experience… But I think as a broadcaster at this level you might have to dig a little deeper," he said.  "At the end of the day, you're still broadcasting professional baseball."

With this change, Greenwald expressed the importance of knowing the players and staff that he's covering every night. His general preparation for a game or series includes an extensive preparation of unique notes, talking to the opposing broadcaster for further anecdotes on players and even chatting with any scouts at the games to learn more about an individual's baseball-related personality.

"My general preparation is I've always looked at it like this: it's like when you go to a buffet. You take a little bit of this and a little bit of that and mix it around and have your meal," he said. "I just kind of take a little bit of something from all sorts of angles and mix it around… Often with baseball, you can prepare, prepare, prepare, and next thing you know, you might have a game where you don't need any of those notes. But that's baseball, it's a mystery and you don't know what you're going to see every night. 

While this is not the first time Greenwald has served as a broadcaster for a brand new ball club — he worked with a professional independent team in Lafayette, La. in 1998 —he will now be part of a new milestone with his broadcast this season when the High Wheelers open their season in Oakland facing another brand-new club.

"It's exciting to be able to broadcast a couple of historical games. One, obviously, is the first professional baseball game in Davis on May 21st and the first home game in the history of the Ballers on June 4th," he said. "That will be fun because we're the opponent."

Being owned by the same group, the Ballers and High Wheelers hope to frequently cross-promote this season, whether playing each other or not, to add on to this new chapter in history and landscape of baseball in Northern California. 

"Something else that's interesting is that one town is completely new to professional baseball, that's Davis. In Davis we're trying to build a tradition, something that's obviously never happened there," he said. "But in Oakland, they're continuing the tradition, they're going to play in Raimondi Park, and that's a place where a lot of players who grew up in Oakland started to play their baseball… So, I think it's going to be a good balance of old and new." 

With new opportunities in a field he's more than familiar with, Greenwald's goal stays the same, as he continues to focus on connecting with fans and showcasing the personality of a new team of athletes.

"Sharing my experiences with fans every night is something which I look forward [to doing]," he said. "I'm extremely appreciative of this opportunity… It's a new team, but with a professional front office and certainly a well-experienced coaching staff."

For the proven veteran Greenwald, like his fledgling new High Wheelers team, this will be a season of firsts and an opportunity to build a legacy for the Davis and the greater Yolo County communities.

To listen in on Doug Greenwald's coverage of Yolo High Wheelers games watch on flobaseball.tv and for tickets go to highwheelers.com.  

By Avery Hamel, Pioneer Baseball League