Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio Is A Hit

Hey all you sports fans, I got a special one for you this week. Y’all know I like to review independent shows. Some are so independent, you may actually call them niche. Well this one certainty falls into that category.

Here’s the premise: you’re a baseball fan who longs for the days of your youth when you would fall asleep with a radio next to your bed tuned to your personal favorite of those legendary announcers like Marty Brennaman (Cincinnati Reds), Bob Uecker (Milwaukee Brewers), Phil Ruzzuto (New York Yankees), or Vin Scully (Brooklyn, then LA Dodgers). Sadly, all those men are retired (and a few are dead), and calling games sounds a bit different today than in those good ol’ days of America’s favorite pastime. Enter Wally McCarthy.

Wally, the alter ego of a man known only as “Mr. King”, calls games on WSLP-AM in Big Rapids, Michigan for the (semi) fictional Northwoods Baseball League. I say (semi) fictional because there actually is a Northwoods Baseball League, a collegiate-level summer league akin to the more famous Cape Cod League, but Mr. King claims to have forgotten he knew that when he created this particular Northwoods Baseball League, which is, actually, fantasy.

If you’re still reading this, you’re probably wondering what exactly is this podcast? To put it simply, as the show’s website says, Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio is “Baseball ASMR.” Every moment of the show is designed to be soothing, if you find molasses- speed baseball games soothing. Which I do. I am a die-hard Cincinnati Reds fan and have a small shrine to the aforementioned Mr. Brennaman in my office. Some of my favorite memories are of summer nights spent falling asleep to Marty and his long-time broadcast partner, former Reds’ pitcher Joe Nuxhall. And for the four years I attended summer camp in Wisconsin in my youth, I became a devotee of the great Harry Carry of the Chicago Cubs, another days-gone-by icon. So, when I read the review of this show on the baseball nerd website Fangraphs, my hope was that I’d be able to tap into a bit of that love when listening to this show. And boy did it deliver.

Unlike the more famous fake announcer of recent time, Jim Brockmire (played by Hank Azaria, of The Simpsons and The Birdcage fame, on the show Brockmire, which ran four seasons on TV before spawning a podcast of its own), Wally McCarthy isn’t doing his best 70s sports announcer voice. You know the one. And if you don’t, here’s a great example from Brockmire himself (a Funny or Die video that was so popular it spawned the show). Instead, McCarthy is doing his best to actually lull you into a deep, comfortable sleep. From pop flies to homeruns, this baseball game is safe to listen to on full volume next to a sleeping newborn because there’s nothing that’s going to disturb their slumber.

That’s what’s so great about this podcast: it’s not just the announcer. The background chatter is soft sounds of the ballfield, from crowd chatter to stadium announcements and hot dog vendors. The ads are for bait shops and other mom and pop establishments. Even the background music in the ads is, well it’s muzak, plain and simple. And whether it’s the Cadillac Cars vs the Big Rapids Timbers or the Tomah Tigers vs the Baraboo Bombers (all fictional teams full of fictional players with names like Flipper, Pinky, and Gilligan), each game feels more like a meaningless late August matchup between two awful minor league teams than Game 7 of the World Series, as sports content usually skews towards. Which, if you’re looking for something to fall asleep to, is just wonderful.

The pros of this show are numerous. The attention to detail is fantastic (you could actually score the game if you wanted to, because Wally’s calling is detailed and each episode is an entire game) and if I haven’t made it clear, it’s incredibly soothing. Honestly, besides the fact that this review will appeal to MAYBE one reader, I can’t identify any minuses. It’s an incredibly weird concept, taking fantasy baseball to a whole new level. But Mr. King set out to create Baseball ASMR and he did it and did it well. Now I’m going to go listen to the Cadillac Cars vs the Manistee Eagles and take a nap.

I give this show a resounding 5/5!

Check out Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio at their website or on GreatPods!