Welcome to My working day in Los Angeles, a series that takes you through a day at work with the city’s most fascinating people. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are at the bottom of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ four-level minor league baseball farm system for 14 consecutive years Mike Lindskog has served as its public relations manager and “voice of the Earthquakes,” broadcasting the team’s games on iHeart Radio and the TuneIn app.
Ever wonder what a baseball broadcaster does? For Linskog, 49, the answer is “everything,” and it doesn’t require a small army to make MLB broadcasts. Linskog estimates that what major league broadcasters make in a few games he will make over the course of an entire season.
“I just love this game,” Linskog said. “I live and die on adrenaline, so it’s very easy to get up and compete in these games.”
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What’s your job?
That’s the question My Day in Los Angeles answers. The series takes you through a day at work with the city’s most fascinating people. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Dodgers stalwarts Will Smith and Gavin Lux have both worn Quake uniforms in the recent past, while pitching legend Clayton Kershaw has more than one journey to recovery via LoanMart.
With the help of an assistant, Linskog writes and edits game-day programming for fans. He wrote a fact sheet for the coach that looked like something from a Wall Street analyst. He was his own audio engineer, and his broadcast booth was so close to the seats that fans would call in even during breaks.
Mike Lindskog has been the voice of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes for 14 years.
(Louis Zinco/Los Angeles Times)
7 a.m.: Data crunching and breakfast
While I was downstairs preparing my son’s breakfast, I was in front of my computer sorting through data and putting together a daily stat pack for my coach. I’m writing about today’s game, how we played against our opponents, what happened in the last game, who on the team played well, the starting pitchers for both teams today. You’ve got the stats, the rankings, everything you need, and then I send them out so when team officials wake up, it’s already in their inboxes.
8 a.m.: Get ready for a special week
I take the kids to school at eight and then go home and get ready for the day. This week is special. This is the playoffs. We play 132 games a season and it’s difficult to stand up for every game. But this was the playoffs, best of three, and we got eliminated in the first game. We were playing the Inland Empire 66ers. It’s part of the Angels organization, so it’s a natural competition.
10 a.m.: You can’t tell players without programming
I’m also responsible for developing the team’s game day plans, so that’s a lot of work. This is a print version and takes a little time and effort. This is a new feature for every home field. So when fans come to a game, they can read some characteristics about the players. I actually have an assistant who does a lot of the writing, but it’s my responsibility to put it all together, edit it, and then actually print it to the printer. So all of these things take some time.
1pm: Head to the stadium
I would contact both coaches to make sure they are on the same page on any statistics or if they have questions about other teams or roster changes or anything of that nature. There’s a professional scout in the stands tonight so I’m going to talk to him. He’s Jeff Ishii of the St. Louis Cardinals. I met him when I was working briefly with the Cardinals.
Before a California League playoff game between the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Inland Empire 66ers on Sept. 14 at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga , fans and players stood up to play the national anthem.
(Louis Zinco/Los Angeles Times)
3 p.m.: Practice your swing through batting
Eventually I’ll finish our batting practice, and on a nice day, if I have time, I’ll stop in front of the cage for a minute and check it out and maybe give someone on the Thunderbolts a punch for their outstanding performance the night before. Thumbs up and a pat on the back for working. We used to be “High A” and the players were grown men. Now we are “Low A” and they are 17, 18, and 19 years old. I would rather talk to older people. Because of the 30-year age difference, it’s hard for me to relate on that level. They don’t need to worry about radio people hanging around.
4 p.m.: Get your scorecard ready
I’m filling out the scorecard for the game. Scorecards are like minutes to a court reporter. I have my own shorthand for this. Do you want to know what happened two games ago? This is the language baseball people speak. A 4-3 grounder means the batter hits the ball to the second baseman, who throws the ball to first base. When the same batter comes up again later in the game, I can quickly reflect.
5pm: Enter game mode
I’m locked in and ready to go. At 6:15 we go live and just flip the switch to enter game mode. I have lots of energy, talk fast, and think fast. This is an elimination game. To me, it was too sudden. Either the season is coming to a screeching halt or we win and come back tomorrow. So I meaningfully tell everyone “see you tomorrow” because of course we are going to win.
McClinskog talks to fans before a Rancho Cucamonga Earthquakes minor league baseball game.
(Louis Zinco/Los Angeles Times)
5:50 p.m.: Keeping fans happy
With 25 minutes left before I went on the air, a fan in the broadcast booth window told me that he no longer received emails from the team. Why isn’t he on the email list? I told him to send me his email address and I would make sure he was in the database. But he was unhappy. He’s a season ticket holder, so he has to go through it all again. I’ll make him feel better.
6:10 p.m.: Sound check before broadcast
In Linskog’s tidy broadcast room, his voice doubled as he prepared. He left the windows open to hear as much of the game as possible and get an unfiltered feel of the stadium. In a remote corner of the booth was a Keurig coffee machine, untouched. The last thing Linskog seemed to need was caffeine.
“The main goal is to bring high energy to the game and make it fun for the fans.”
— Mike Lindskog, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes broadcaster
There are still five minutes until broadcast time. I want to make sure my voice is good. I have a standard blender. It has four channels. Number 4 is my microphone. The first is a crowd mic for background noise, ambience, etc. Number 2 is the backup mic. The third point is if there are guests in my booth. I am an energetic person. I mean, obviously I’m not just sitting there going through slow motion and “one-on-one pitch, that’s out there, it’s two-plus-one.” That’s not my speed at all, and it’s not necessarily for everyone. Sometimes things don’t always go my way, but the main goal is to bring high energy to the game and make it fun for the fans.
Mike Lindskog provides play-by-play coverage at a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes game.
(Louis Zinco/Los Angeles Times)
8:46 p.m.: Until the end
Linskog could no longer sit in his seat. He stood up, bouncing occasionally. His neck is red.All the veins came out
In the top of the ninth inning, the Rays led by one run, 4-3, with two outs. The draw ran to first base. Leading runs are batsmen hitting the ball. The field, all the way down to the defender, was wild. The runner moves to second. Now all the Inland Empire needs is a hit. Another wild pitch, so high and so wide that the speed gun didn’t register it. Currently tied for third place. Two more walks and the base is full.
8:49 p.m.: Final pitch announced
Linskog is feeling the drama and feeding off of it. The Quake pitcher threw three straight pitches.Next two asphaltEnglish yes so called strike and a foul ball.
Yes, it is like that. The LoanMart court was empty. It was a full count, three pitches and two hits. 4-3 earthquake. Trying to get into Game 3 on Friday night. court. 3-2 is on its way. Fastball. The batsman took a look. This is a strike. Friday! Friday! Friday night! close the door! I’ll be here! You will be here!
The Thors gritted their teeth and held on, 4-3! The series is juxtaposed! They fought hard and fought hard and finally persevered. Game 3 on Friday night! We will be here and I certainly hope you will be here too.
The next day, September 15, the earthquake Defeated the Inland Empire 66ersadvance to California League Championship Seriesthey were swept in two games in the finals By Modesto Nuts.
