Meet the new (Jewish) voice of IronPigs radio

By Carl Zebrowski Editor

As I walked toward the business entrance of CocaCola Park in Allentown, I was thinking about Sam Jellinek’s voice. Jellinek is the new Lehigh Valley IronPigs radio announcer.

During the Jewish Heritage Night game a couple of weeks earlier, a few of us from the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley spent an inning with him in the broadcast booth. A burning question came up afterward: Is that how he talks in real life?

It is! Which makes him a good fit for his job. But considering that he probably didn’t have that husky voice when he was a kid, something else must have steered him toward his career. He was always a Philadelphia Phillies fan, and announcer Harry Kalas definitely was an influence. Jellinek listened to Kalas call games on his bedside clock radio. It’s no coincidence that there’s a cabinettop shrine to the play-by-play legend in Jellinek’s broadcast booth-office.

It was back in those days that his Jewish grandfather gave him a baseball card collection that featured all the Jewish major leaguers. Jellinek remembers reading the backs of those cards and getting an education in Jewish baseball history. There were Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg, outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, and Sandy Koufax, pitcher for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, and more.

This casual research led him to investigate more deeply the story of the Jewish people as it unfolded over the centuries and in recent times. “I was always intrigued by Jewish culture and history,” he said.

Jellinek grew up in a Jewish household in Doylestown, an hour southeast of CocaCola Park. He was the only boy in a set of triplets. All three of them went to Sunday school together and celebrated their b’nai mitzvah at the same time.

Jellinek started out in broadcasting calling college summer league games. He eventually wound up in Salisbury, Maryland, doing games for the Delmarva Shorebirds in the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league system.

One day with the Shorebirds last season, he heard Daniel Federman talking with another pitcher. Both said they were planning to try out for Team Israel for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. A player doesn’t have to be a citizen to play; for Team Israel, he simply needs to have a Jewish grandparent.

Jelllinek started chatting with Federman about trying out. “He saw an opportunity to represent Israel,” Jellinek said. “I said, ‘Best of luck to you. Make it happen.’ Turns out he actually made the roster, ended up pitching.” He threw a 1-2-3 shutout inning against Puerto Rico.

Finding broadcasting work in the minor leagues can be difficult. Since it’s seasonal work, broadcasters often move from one gig to the next. Things worked out here in the Lehigh Valley for Jellinek, as his girlfriend took a residency in family medicine with the Lehigh Valley Health Network and he got the IronPigs job, a yearround position that includes media relations duties.

He went to work right away, commuting for two weeks from Doylestown, where his parents still live. Then he and his girlfriend got a place in Lower Macungie.

Baseball jobs are busy during the season. Unlike in the National Football League, where games are scheduled one day a week, professional baseball teams play six games a week. “I go to the synagogue for holidays when I can,” he said, pointing out that he doesn’t have the clout of a Koufax, who was given the day off on Shabbat.

Not that Jellinek generally minds the busyness. “I enjoy waking up every day and being able to call a baseball game,” he said. He also enjoys his time before games hanging out with the players. “My favorite part of the day is batting practice,” he said. “You get to talk with the guys and see what they’re working to improve. You get to know them as people.” Which leads to what’s become his favorite part of the job. “My reasons to do this have changed from what got me into it,” he said. While he started out enamored with the game itself, drawn to its stars and inspired by the announcers, he ended up rooting for the players as people. “You have the power to share other people’s stories,” he said, to present these people to the fans as more than just extraordinary athletes.

With that, he defines his role more broadly these days, to include simply, and importantly, bringing something positive to the players, their families tuned in to the broadcasts, and his other listeners alike. He alluded to the Jewish value of tikkun olam: “Sometimes repairing the world is just kindness and happiness.”

| HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY