Tim Kurkjian thought he had time to go grocery shopping.
Since he was a nervous wreck waiting to hear if he might be named the winner of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for 2022, Kurkjian went to Harris Teeter. He was dragging a rotisserie chicken through self-checkout when Jack O’Connell called. And O’Connell, who is the BBWAA secretary-treasurer, only calls when you win. So, as Kurkjian realized he’d won the award, he broke down right there in the Harris Teeter.
Kurkjian told host Jessica Kleinshcmidt on Awful Announcing’s Short and to the Point podcast that he’s not so sure that’s ever happened for any other recipient of this award.
“The next morning after I got through 24 hours, Johnny Bench, the greatest catcher of all time, called me on the phone,” Kurkjian says. “And he says, ‘Tim, it’s Johnny Bench. I just wanted to welcome you to the club. You’re one of us now.’ I told him, ‘Johnny, c’mon. I’m not one of you. I’m not one of them. I’m a writer you’re players. There’s a real big difference there.’ And then he says to me, ‘You know, Tim, it’s moments like this to take you back to Little League.'”
And here Kurkjian was just about ready to start crying again.
“And Johnny says, ‘Let’s face it, Tim, you could still fit into a Little League uniform,'” Kurkjian recalls. “So, Johnny Bench made me laugh while almost making me cry. And ever since that day, my life has changed. I could tell you a 1,000 stories, but I won’t. But that weekend in Cooperstown is like nothing I will ever forget. It was the greatest professional moment of my life. And I can’t imagine anything coming close to topping that.”
After Kurkjian made his speech, which he almost didn’t make it through. That was the most nervous he’d ever been in his life doing anything; he was terrified. And this was a speech that Kurkjian practiced out loud over 200 times so he didn’t foul it up.
“The point is, the same Johnny Bench sees me in the lobby of the Otesaga hotel,” said Kurkjian. “He takes me out onto the porch — and it’s overlooking this absolutely gorgeous lake — and he says, ‘I want you to sit down and I want you to look at that lake for one minute. I don’t want you to say a word. I just want you to think about where you are, how you got here and how many people helped you get here.’ And I looked at that lake with me and the greatest catcher of all time sitting side-by-side, and I teared up again. Because he took the time to take me out there.
“That was his way of saying, ‘Now, you are here.’ He does this with all the Hall of Fame players. Every time a new one gets in, he has them do the same thing. This time he did it for a writer and I still get choked up thinking about that.”
Short and to the Point with Jessica Kleinschmidt is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. The full episode with Tim Kukjian will be available on Wednesday, June 5.
