Although the New York Yankees fell just short of making it to the World Series this year, those who tune in to the Washington Nationals’ radio broadcasts of the Series will hear a voice honed in the Bronx and at Fordham.
Charlie Slowes, FCRH ’83, is the play-by-play announcer for Nationals games on the FM radio station 106.7 The Fan in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
With the Nationals currently up two games to none against the Houston Astros in the World Series, listeners may soon hear Slowes make some particularly enthusiastic calls. Tonight’s Game 3 will mark the team’s first World Series home game and the first World Series game in Washington, D.C., since 1933.
Slowes, who was born in the Bronx and grew up in Yonkers, got his start in radio at Fordham’s WFUV, which has produced many professional broadcasters over the years, from Vin Scully, FCRH ’49, who retired in 2016, to current announcers including Mike Breen, FCRH ’83; Michael Kay, FCRH ’82; and Ryan Ruocco, FCRH ’08. After previously doing play-by-play for the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, and the New York Mets, as well as the NBA’s Washington Bullets (now known as the Wizards), Slowes has called Nationals games since 2005, the team’s inaugural season.
In a Washington Post article from 2005, Slowes recounted watching Mets games as a child in the late 1960s and becoming hooked not only on the game but also on the way that broadcasters could create a sense of drama.
That sense of drama can be heard in Slowes’ calls, including his description of the scene at Nationals Park when the team recorded the final out to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. Slowes encouraged fans to appreciate the historical significance of the moment: “Remember where you are, so you’ll remember were you were … when you heard the Nationals have won the National League championship!”
Slowes isn’t the only person in the Nationals’ orbit with a Fordham connection. Sean Doolittle, a relief pitcher who earned the save in Washington’s Game 1 victory, is married to Eireann Dolan, who enrolled in Fordham’s online master’s degree program in pastoral studies in 2017.
Game 3 of the World Series takes place at 8:07 p.m. tonight, and fans can hear Slowes’ game call on 106.7 The Fan’s online stream.
