One pronounced voice

Just before 8 p.m., Dan Baker stood at a microphone behind home plate, the master of ceremonies, welcoming everybody to beautiful Citizens Bank Park.

Baker introduced the Phillies ball girls and Gary Matthews to throw out the first pitch. He announced the San Francisco Giants starters, the Phillies' lineup (Raaa-uuuuul . . . E-bannnn-yesssss), and then the six umpires working Sunday night's Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. He welcomed the National League East champion Phillies to the field.

Then he turned into the fastest-walking man in the ballpark.

The PA announcer double-timed it down the 11 steps from the field, zigzagged the hallways underneath the stands to the press box elevator ("Just missed it!"), and never lost his trademark politeness ("Thanks, Bill . . . Hi, Andrew") as he speed-walked the final steps through the Hall of Fame Club to his perch along the first-base line. The trip took 3 minutes, 14 seconds.

During Baker's trip, Dave Abramson, chief engineer for the broadcast center, announced the first two Giants batters.

"Every day I'm Wally Pipp," Abramson joked as he spotted Baker and gave up the chair.

The man who took over shares some characteristics with Lou Gehrig. Baker, 64, is in his 39th season as the Phillies' PA announcer, longer than anyone in Major League Baseball, he believes. He also has done the Eagles' PA for 26 years.

Sunday, Baker did both, walking across the parking lot between jobs.

"I've always been lucky that my voice is very resilient," he said between games.

Baker keeps score himself, then picks up the score sheet, staring at it even as he announces the most familiar names. His tools haven't changed in four decades. They are a pencil and a couple of spares, plus a pair of binoculars, although he rarely needs them.

In that booth, Baker sounds dramatic but not theatrical as he announces each Phillies name, taking care to pronounce each syllable. His parents were sticklers for grammar and diction, said Baker, who grew up in Southwest Philadelphia and Mount Ephraim. (He also announced pro wrestling for a spell years back, which helped that sense of the dramatic.)

When Baker, a Glassboro State graduate and former junior high school teacher, was hired before the 1972 season, Phillies president Bill Giles told him that he didn't want the PA announcer being the show. That's never changed.

"I'm not a yeller or screamer," Baker said.