ONEONTA _ The younger generation might be shocked to know there was once a time without the Internet.
And a time without so many cable channels.
Or, shockingly enough, a time when people got the majority of their television shows via rabbit ears.
In this age when accessing sports information is as simple as a click of the mouse or switching on one of ESPN's countless channels, baseball highlights in the 1970s, '80s and even early '90s were a little harder to come by.
For many youngsters, it often came on a Saturday during This Week in Baseball _ or "TWIB" as it was affectionately called.
The highlight packages and other segments were enough to keep me glued to the set before heading out for an afternoon of sandlot baseball. Usually it was the voice was Mel Allen, but sometimes it was Warner Fusselle.
Both had soothing voices, knew when to get excited and were recognized personalities. Fusselle had his own segment on the show for several years and took over as the main host for three years after Allen died in 1996.
Fusselle, who has done several national and international sports shows as well as Major League Baseball Magazine on ESPN for six years, is currently the radio voice for the Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League.
Make no mistake, this isn't a retirement gig for the 64-year-old Fusselle.
"This is all day, every single day," said Fusselle, who was in Oneonta from Wednesday through Friday announcing Brooklyn's three-game set at Damaschke Field. "This is the hardest work you can do. This is the most grueling thing I've done. It goes quickly, but this travel is really tough. Even like here, we don't stay in Oneonta. We stay in Johnson City. Just the ride to the ballpark from the hotel is 60 miles. It's very tough. It's not a little halfway retirement job, that's for sure."
Fusselle's start with This Week in Baseball wasn't by design. He had been in New York City in 1977, looking for work at the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.
He was sent to TWIB and ended up with a messenger job. Basically, he got highlight tapes when they came in at the airport or train stations. A few weeks into the job, he said he wanted to meet Allen and went to a taping of the show. When things went wrong during that taping, someone asked Fusselle what he would do if he was in charge of the show.
"I just came up with some common-sense type things and they said, Next week, you're in charge,'" Fusselle said.
So began a relationship that he said ran 20-something years.
Fast-forward to 2001 when Brooklyn got a New York-Penn League franchise. Fusselle inquired about the possibility of being the radio voice.
"I don't think I would have applied for anything anywhere else because I had already done all that," he said. "I had enjoyed it everywhere. But with Brooklyn, this could be interesting. They have a new stadium and it could be a huge thing. I didn't know it would be as huge as it turned out to be, but that is what got me going."
He's been the lone voice for the Cyclones ever since.
Fusselle missed one two-city road trip _ to Aberdeen and Oneonta _ a couple of years ago because of illness. Outside of that blip, he said he's called every Brooklyn game.
That includes the NY-Penn-record, 26-inning marathon between the Cyclones and O-Tigers, won by visiting Oneonta, 6-1, on July 20, 2006.
Fusselle did the entire game by himself, one that took 6 hours and 40 minutes to complete, and said he didn't even take a bathroom break.
He's done it all, from football to hockey, but baseball and basketball are his two top sports, he said.
It's easy to see why baseball is among his best.
His preparation might be unmatched _ especially for a short-season Single-A team. He carries notebooks with tidbits most fans wouldn't dream of knowing (did you know, for example, that during an hour-plus rain delay when Brooklyn visited Oneonta last season, there were 53 bolts of lightning?).
Most impressive might be his large three-ring binder that has game-by-game information on every member of the Cyclones. His stat sheets can take hours to update, he said.
His voice is perfect for radio and easily captivating. He keeps listeners entertained and connects with them by often starting sentences with "Folks, ... " speaking directly to his audience. He adds notes and tidbits throughout a broadcast, leaving nary a spot of dead air.
I've had the opportunity to hear many of the radio personalities in the NY-Penn over the past several seasons. Some are very good. Some are average and some still need polishing.
A throwback to the golden age of radio broadcasting, Fusselle is by far the league's best.
He's likely to remain in Brooklyn for as long as he chooses.
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P.J. Harmer covers the Oneonta Tigers for The Daily Star. E-mail him at pharmer@thedailystar.com.
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