Jerry Howarth

Jerry Howarth is the longest-tenured Blue Jay broadcaster to date, having covered the team for more than 36 years. Following brief stints of three games in 1980 and 20 games in 1981, Howarth became a full-time radio voice with the Blue Jays from April 9, 1982, to October 1, 2017.1 Anyone who has heard Howarth broadcast will remember his trademark home-run call (insert your favorite field): “Fly ball to left, deep, yes sir, there she goes.”

Howarth was born in York, Pennsylvania, on March 12, 1946. A month later his father, a mechanical engineer, relocated the family to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue a business opportunity.2 A year and a half later, Jerry and his parents, June and Jerry, welcomed sister Anita to the family.3 

Howarth recalled in his memoir that he responded to a challenging childhood home life by making positive convictions to guide his life:

I would lie awake in bed at night, listening to the uproar in the house and telling myself that I would avoid conflict at all costs the rest of my life. That I would not drink. That I would learn to walk away.4  

Sports was an important part of Howarth’s school life. He played one season as backup quarterback for his Novato High School junior-varsity football team. In his freshman year, he also played guard on the basketball team. However, baseball was his primary sport; he played four years for his high-school team as a third baseman-center fielder while batting leadoff. He also played for a semipro team in the summer and a winter league team in nearby Fairfax, California.5 

Upon graduation from high school in 1964, Howarth received career advice from his father, who explained that he could be drafted and sent to Vietnam right out of high school. However, if he chose to pursue postsecondary education, he would receive a draft deferment.6

Howarth enrolled at Santa Clara University, initially with a major in accounting. He tried out for the Santa Clara Broncos baseball team in his freshman year. Santa Clara had a strong team at that time. As recently as 1962, it had been in the College World Series finals, losing 5-4 to the University of Michigan on a wild pitch in the 15th inning.7 Howarth’s stint with the Broncos was short: He was cut after the first game.8 Howarth shifted his extracurricular activities to working at the campus newspaper covering sports and for one year working at the campus radio station, KSCU.9

In his third year, Howarth decided accounting was not for him and changed his major to economics. He graduated from Santa Clara in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in commerce, majoring in economics with a minor in philosophy.10

While enrolled at Santa Clara University, Howarth spent four years in the ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps), through which students receive military officers’ commissions after graduation. One of the undergraduate training programs was held at Fort Lewis, Washington, where Howarth earned one of six Distinguished Military Student Awards.11 The award allowed Howarth to choose the Adjutant General’s Corps as his branch.

After graduating, Howarth went to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis for three months of officer training.12 Upon completion of his training, Howarth was sent to Frankfurt, Germany, in the fall of 1968 to serve for two years.13 In his memoir he recalled the tension among the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members at the time after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20, 1968.

Howarth returned to the United States in August 1970, retired from active duty and enrolled in law school at the University of California at Hastings in San Francisco.14 In early 1971, two significant events occurred. Jerry met Mary McMorrow, whom he married later in 1971,15 and he withdrew from law school to pursue a career in sports as a fundraiser for the Santa Clara University Bronco Bench Foundation.16

Howarth, who was interested in sports broadcasting, had been told he did not have a major-league voice.17 His response was to buy a tape recorder and practice broadcasting while watching football and basketball games. Two years later, although he had started taking his tapes to radio stations, no openings were available.18 Howarth added baseball to his practice list and was hired by the Pacific Coast League Tacoma Twins to be their broadcaster for the 1974 season.19 

Howarth was the Tacoma broadcaster for two seasons and in the summer of 1975 had a meeting that influenced his play-by-play style from that day forward. He recalled the meeting in his memoir:

Tacoma was in Phoenix to play the Giants. Beside the open broadcast booth sat a couple, Ginny and John Redfield. Ginny was the ballpark organist and was blind. Ginny asked if she could sit next to me to hear the play-by-play and I agreed. I wanted Ginny to see the movement of the ball off the bat. Those calls for Ginny are still my calls today for everyone else.20

At the end of the 1975 season, Howarth successfully applied for a position as assistant general manager and radio broadcaster for the Pacific Coast League Salt Lake City Gulls.21 During their time in Salt Lake City, the Howarth family grew with the adoption of week-old Benjamin George, born October 3, 1976, and week-old Joseph Michael, born June 26, 1978.22

The end of the 1978 season represented five years of broadcasting Triple-A baseball for Howarth. Jerry decided to expand his résumé and was hired as the assistant general manager and broadcaster for the Utah Pros of the newly formed Western Basketball Association.23 The team folded after one year when the New Orleans Jazz of the National Basketball Association relocated to Salt Lake City as the Utah Jazz. Howarth was then hired to work in economic development for the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce.24 Six months later, after receiving advice that the longer one stayed out of sports, the more difficult it would be to return, Howarth hired on as group sales director for the Jazz, for the 1979-80 season.25 After the season he worked as a sports reporter for KWMS Radio.26

Howarth first thought about a major-league baseball broadcasting career with the 1976 announcement that the major leagues were expanding to Seattle and Toronto. Having broadcast in Tacoma, he was interested in the Seattle job but was unsuccessful. As he recalled in his memoir:

Mary suggested I apply to the other team. I said no and Mary repeated the suggestion more earnestly. I asked for the atlas, as I did not know where Toronto was. Mary, being from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and quite familiar with Toronto, found that amusing. From the index, I saw a listing that read “Toronto, Ont., Canada.” I did not know what Ont. stood for and after looking at the distance from Salt Lake City and being a different country, I said I would not apply. Mary persuaded me to apply for the job and I did. A few months later I received a response from the HEWPEX Sports Network telling me they had hired Tom Cheek and Early Wynn, but that I should keep in touch.27 

The HEWPEX Sports Network (HSN) contacted Howarth in June 1980 and offered him an opportunity to work with play-by-play radio announcer Tom Cheek on a weekend series in Detroit. The regular analyst, Early Wynn, was away participating at an old timers game at Dodger Stadium.28 Howarth recalled the experience of broadcasting his first major-league game:

I was in awe of Tiger Stadium and being on the field in one of baseball’s oldest ballparks. As I looked around at the completely enclosed stadium, I also noticed that the upper deck was right over the lower stands in one of the most intimate ballparks ever for the fans to sit and enjoy the games. Then when I went upstairs to the radio booth, I was completely surprised to see our booth almost directly over home plate, too. That was later backed up when from the booth I could hear conversations down at home plate when voices were raised by players arguing with the home plate umpires. I was never that close to the plate in a radio booth ever again. The booth had net coverings over the front because of hard hit foul balls coming straight back from that too nearby plate but I had the security people take my half down because I did not want to call a game in that unique radio booth setting looking through a net. Tom covered his side as did the Tigers radio broadcasters in theirs but not stubborn me. I did that all the years we were at Tiger Stadium until they moved to Comerica Park in April 2000.”29

After those three games, HSN told Howarth that he would be hired to replace Early Wynn at the end of the season. However, a week before that 1980 season ended, HSN advised Howarth that out of sentiment and consideration of Wynn’s Hall of Fame career, he would stay for one more season. Howarth was offered a 40-game schedule to broadcast games throughout the 1981 season. (Because of the two-month midseason strike, the 40-game schedule became 20.)30 After the 1981 season, Wynn joined the Chicago White Sox radio broadcast team and the Blue Jays hired Howarth to replace him as analyst.31

Howarth was assigned the role of analyst despite not having played professional baseball. He notes in his book that at that time most radio broadcast teams were two play-by-play announcers.32 Today, most major-league radio teams consist of a play-by-play announcer and a former player as the analyst.

Howarth believed his pairing with Cheek made an effective broadcast team, in part because of their contrast in styles.33 He recalled Cheek as a Blue Jays fan who could reflect the ups and downs of the team with his voice, and the fans loved him.34 Howarth focused on the game and strove for objectivity. He believed objectivity was a product of preparation and the ability to deliver constructive criticism. “There is a good way to be constructively critical of a player when you are up in the booth,” he wrote. “Pretend the player is right beside you as you say it.”35

Over a 36-year broadcasting career, Howarth had many career experiences. The 1992 season was a highlight. The Blue Jays, after losing the 1991 ALCS to the Minnesota Twins, had strengthened the team by acquiring Dave Winfield and Jack Morris. Howarth recalled having a sense of optimism about the 1992 season heading into spring training. This optimism was reinforced when a Blue Jays pitcher told him, “On day one, Jack Morris showed up in the clubhouse at the crack of dawn before anyone else. We all knew immediately that he meant business. He was here to do one thing; to win another World Series. It was an early wake up call for all of us.”36

During the season, Howarth wrote, he could see that the 1992 Blue Jays were an outstanding team. When the Milwaukee Brewers challenged the Blue Jays starting in late August, Howarth felt that because every game down that last five-week stretch was so important it would make the Blue Jays that much better and stronger mentally to compete in the playoffs. In essence, September was like October and the experience proved to be a huge advantage for the Blue Jays.37

Howarth had 10 years of major-league broadcasting experience, including four League Championship Series (1985, 1989, 1991, and 1992), before he had the opportunity to call World Series games. As to whether broadcasting World Series games for the first time was different, he wrote:

For me, the World Series broadcasts were only different from this standpoint: because the crowds and crowd noise for each and every game was so loud and fun to listen to, it made all those games that much more enjoyable to be a part of including when there were big plays made by either team that allowed me then to purposely stop talking on the air after my call to let that crowd noise come into the microphone for our listeners to enjoy as much as I did. At times, I waited up to 40 and 45 seconds without saying a word for our audience to fully feel like they were at that game, too. My dad told me when I began my radio career in the AAA in Tacoma, Washington, “Jerry, broadcast every game as if it were a major league game” and I did that for my dad with my preparation for each game from day one right to my very last broadcast in the 2016 playoffs against Cleveland.38

After the 1992 World Series, Howarth got a letter from a member of a First Nations Community in Northern Ontario. The letter had an impact on how Howarth called games for the rest of his career.39 The letter-writer’s “polite request” described how the terms “Indians,” “Braves,” “pow-wows on the mound,” and Cleveland’s red-faced Chief Wahoo were so offensive. Howarth wrote back, promised to not use the terms anymore and kept his word for the rest of his career.40

The Blue Jays won the World Series again in 1993, when Joe Carter hit a walk-off Series-ending home run for only the second time in major-league history. The first time was 1960 when Bill Mazeroski hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game Seven as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Yankees.  Among teammates waiting at home plate for Mazeroski to celebrate was Pirates shortstop Dick Schofield. Thirty-three years later, celebrating at home plate with Joe was Blue Jays shortstop Dick Schofield Jr.41 “What are the odds? That’s why baseball is such a fascinating game.”42 

April 21, 1994, was an important day for the Howarth family. On that day, Jerry, his wife, Mary, and their two children, Ben and Joe, were sworn in as Canadian citizens.43

Howarth’s broadcasting career expanded to include some limited television work in 2000 and 2001. Sportsnet, covering Blue Jays games on TV, had asked him  to fill in for a couple of games during the 2000 regular season when none of the regular analysts were available. The network was pleased with his work and he was signed to work 20 TV games in the 2001 season. Howarth broadcast all the other games in the 2001 schedule on the radio with Cheek. After the season, Sportsnet advised Howarth that the number of TV broadcasts would expand to 140 and they were going to hire former Blue Jays pitcher John Cerutti as analyst. Howarth enjoyed his TV experience but “was also very happy to remain on the radio side where I was most comfortable.”44

In 2003 Howarth and Cheek received the Sports Media Canada Award for Achievement in Broadcasting.45

The radio broadcast team continued to work together until Cheek was affected by illness. Howarth recalled that in 2004 Cheek began making serious mistakes in the play-by-play culminating in an incident in which he gave the score mentioning a team Toronto was not playing.46 The next night, medical assistance was called as Cheek was unable to write his opening comments beyond “Live! From the Rogers Centre.”47 Cheek was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and died on October 9, 2005.

Howarth assumed the play-by-play duties and handled them for the balance of his broadcasting career. Told to choose his on-air partner, he elected to work in 2004 with nine different minor-league broadcasters whom he had mentored when their team played the Blue Jays.48

For the balance of Howarth’s career, he worked with a variety of former players as his broadcast partner and analyst:

• 2005-2006: Warren Sawkiw49
• 2007-2012: Alan Ashby50
• 2013: Jack Morris51
• 2014-2017: Joe Siddall52

In 2012 Howarth received the Jack Graney Award for lifetime achievement from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.53 In 2016 he again received the Sports Media Canada award, this time as an individual.54

In the latter stages of Howarth’s career, he did battle some health challenges. In November 2016 he required prostate cancer surgery,55 after which he came back to broadcast for the 2017 season. On February 13, 2018, Howarth announced his retirement after deciding he no longer had the voice or the stamina to meet the level he had set for himself.56     

In early 2022 Howarth was enjoying his retirement with Mary, his wife of 50 years. The couple enjoyed spending quiet time together as well as with their sons’ families including three grandchildren. Playing duplicate bridge was also a favorite activity as well as following the Blue Jays as a fan. “I have been blessed with my life and I know it,” he wrote in his memoir.57

In 2021 Howarth was honored by the City of Toronto with a street named Jerry Howarth Drive in Etobicoke, an area of Toronto where he and Mary live.58

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Jerry Howarth, who provided biographical notes in personal correspondence with the author in January 2022.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com website.

Notes

1 Jerry Howarth, Hello Friends! Stories from My Life and Blue Jays Baseball (Toronto: ECW Press, 2019), ix.

2 Howarth, 1.

3 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

4 Howarth, 9.

5 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

6 Howarth, 8.

7 Ryan Ford, ‘Michigan Baseball’s history at the College World Series,” NCAA.com, June 22, 2019. https://www.ncaa.com/news/baseball/article/2019-06-22/michigan-baseballs-history-college-world-series, last referenced January 7, 2022. 

8 Howarth, 13.

9 Howarth, 13.

10 Howarth, 10.

11 Howarth, 18.

12 Howarth, 18.

13 Howarth, 19.

14 Howarth, 20.

15 Howarth, 25.

16 Howarth, 26.

17 Howarth, 27.

18 Howarth, 29.

19 Howarth, 30.

20 Howarth, 37.

21 Howarth, 39.

22 Howarth, 40.

23 Howarth, 43.

24 Howarth, 47.

25 Howarth, 48.

26 Howarth, 49.

27 Howarth, 42.

28 Howarth, 51.

29 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

30 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

31 Howarth, 53.

32 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

33 Howarth, 87.

34 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

35 Howarth, 288.

36 Howarth, 144.

37 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

38 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

39 Howarth, 180.

40 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

41 Howarth, 165.

42 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

43 Howarth, 202.

44 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

45 Sportsnet staff, “Blue Jays Broadcaster Jerry Howarth Retires After 36 Seasons,” sportsnet.ca, February 13, 2018.  https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-broadcaster-jerry-howarth-retires-36-seasons/, last referenced

February 1, 2022.

46 Howarth, 246.

47 Howarth, 246.

48 Howarth, 246.

49 Howarth, 254.

50 Howarth, 254.

51 Howarth, 284.

52 Howarth, 283.

53 “Blue Jays Broadcaster Jerry Howarth Retires After 36 Seasons.”

54 “Blue Jays Broadcaster Jerry Howarth Retires After 36 Seasons.”

55 Howarth, 287.

56 Howarth, 323.

57 Jerry Howarth, Biographical notes.

58 Mark Zwolinski, “Jerry Howarth Drive Hits Close to Home for the Former Voice of the Blue Jays,” Toronto Star, November 20, 2021.