Jason Benetti once described calling a game with Bill Walton like working a crossword puzzle, without any clues.
The Detroit Tigers announcer made his affection for the colorful former player and longtime broadcaster clear when he said that, however, and following Walton’s death May 26 at age 71, Benetti appeared on the Awful Announcing Podcast to share his thoughts on Walton.
Podcast host Brandon Contes acknowledged what many felt upon hearing of Walton’s death.
“When you hear 71 years old, you think, man, that’s too young,” Contes said. “But if anybody made the most out of their 71 years on Earth, it was Bill.”
“He made the most out of days,” Benetti said. “I’m sad for Earth because Earth, as Charles Barkley said, the planet was better, the world was better when Bill was on it. But you know the amount he got out of life was unbelievable.”
Benetti and Walton spent quite a bit of time together through the years (Walton even once announced an MLB game with him) but Benetti recalled one adventure they had in particular. Benetti and Walton were working a game at Arizona State and took a day trip.
“The day of the game, we went to the Arizona State baseball practice and we met Spencer Torkelson (current Detroit Tigers star) and Tork taught Bill how to hit. And then afterward, there’s a fire museum in Tempe which has fire engines and the history of the fire department and fire departments. Bill and I went and … we sat on fire engines and wore fire uniforms and just played for a little while.
“And there’s this video that I have of him … the camera goes on and he goes, ‘Come on, we have to get there, we have to go’ and I’m sitting in the driver’s seat with an oversized hat and Bill’s like, ready to jump off the fire engine to spring into action.”
That sounds like a classic Walton tale, the affable giant with the heart of a kid having fun and sharing that joy with others.
Walton, a huge Grateful Dead fan, definitely had his strange moments.
“Then we go do the game and I’m wearing this Jerry Garcia tie in the game,” Benetti said. “And I say to Bill, ‘I wore this tie for you.’ And he says, ‘How do you know it’s a Jerry Garcia tie?’ And I said, ‘Well, you know, it says it on the tag’ and he grabbed the tie and he licked it and he looks at me and he goes, ‘Yeah, that’s a Jerry Garcia.'”
“But that was all in like a 36-hour span and, and it’s like an entire month of entertainment for some people. And he squeezed it into one trip.”
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