 |
| Broadcasters Larry Andersen, Scott Franzke and Kalb |
A 73-year-old retiree paid $22,000 for one inning behind the Philadelphia Phillies radio microphone Wednesday night and delivered a smooth, experienced call that surprised the regular announcers.
Lewis Kalb of Medford Lakes, N.J., won the team’s annual Phillies Phanatic Auction and handled play-by-play when the Washington Nationals came to bat in the top of the third at Citizens Bank Park.
The longtime Phillies fan and substitute teacher had called more than 3,000 recreational and school-league games over three decades and treated the opportunity as a professional assignment rather than a novelty.
“It was almost surreal. It was all a blur,” Kalb told The Athletic. He prepared by studying player-name pronunciations and building a position grid, though rain left his notes soggy. About 30 seconds after regular announcer Scott Franzke introduced him, Kalb settled in. Franzke said it was clear immediately that Kalb had broadcast experience.
“He knew what he was doing; it was pretty obvious.” Kalb acknowledged minor errors—a miscalled count and a mispronunciation of Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile’s name—but his natural delivery stood out from typical auction winners.
73-year-old substitute teacher Lewis Kalb won a Phillies charity auction to join the broadcast for an inning
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 7, 2026
He fulfilled his "lifelong dream" by calling the third inning, and he CRUSHED it 🔥
(via @Phillies)pic.twitter.com/Qc8FFiXpgt
The auction, launched in 2013 with SportsRadio 94WIP, had previously drawn winning bids as low as $6,000. Kalb, who had bid unsuccessfully in earlier years, went higher than expected after treating the chance as a bucket-list item shared with his small community.
Kalb’s résumé includes disc-jockey work in Atlantic City, freelance radio reporting in the Philadelphia area in the 1980s and ’90s, three seasons appearing with Howie Rose on Mets Extra, and an unsuccessful audition for the 76ers radio job that led him to call youth games and build a local following.
“For the rest of my life, I’m always able to say I was a big-league announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies,” he said. “Nobody knows whether it was one inning or 10 seasons; I’m still in that group.”