The last time Francisco Romero stepped foot into the Minute Maid Park broadcasting booth, the Houston Astros were playing for a championship in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series.
When he returns Friday, Romero — the Astros’ Spanish-language radio play-by-play announcer and a longtime Tucsonan — will be labeled not as media but as a member of a “Tier 3” group that includes broadcasters, sportswriters and other people you might see roaming a press box or clubhouse on a typical gameday.
Romero and other Tier 3 people must avoid personal contact with anyone in the second or first tiers, groups that could include anyone from Astros star Jose Altuve to a member of the front office.
The goal: To keep as many people safe from contracting COVID-19 while playing a truncated big-league season. The Astros will open play at home Friday against the Seattle Mariners, Game 1 in what Major League Baseball officials hope will be a completed 60-game schedule.
There will be no fans in the stands in Houston — or anywhere else baseball is played.
For a creature of habit like Romero, a Pueblo High School and UA grad, these are strange times.
“I have mixed emotions — I’m excited about it,” he said. “But at the same time, just like everyone else, I’m a little bit scared and there’s a little uncertainty.”
Normally, Romero arrives at the ballpark a few hours before first pitch to begin prep work for the upcoming broadcast. Going over lineups for both teams and staying up to date with the team’s disabled list and transactions is a constant task during the season. Broadcasters watch batting practice, talk with scouts and do interviews in the clubhouse. Romero, along with the Astros’ media corps, typically meets with the manager before every game. He even eats at the stadium.
That routine is gone.
When he arrives at the ballpark Friday, Romero will first undergo a temperature check. First-year Astros manager Dusty Baker’s pregame press conference will be done via Zoom, as will the post-game interviews with players. Romero’s meals will be delivered to his broadcast booth, in part to keep him — and other media members and staffers — from socializing around the buffet line.
Romero has even been told to avoid personal contact with Alex Trevino, his longtime broadcast partner.
“So we’re pretty much isolated, and we’re already in an empty stadium to begin with,” Romero said. “So it’ll be different and something that we’ve never seen before.”
Romero has a leg up on his fellow broadcasters, at least in one way.
Since joining the Astros in 2008, Romero has called nearly all games — home and road — from the same booth. He watches road games on a television monitor, calling the action as it happens. He uses real-time audio and a computer software program to make it feel as if he’s on the road with the team.
Romero, a 20-year broadcast veteran who calls UA basketball games in Spanish during the baseball offseason, says the technological aspect of his job is “amazing.”
“Because when all of this first started … everyone was questioning how it could be done,” Romero said. “I don’t want to say it’s easy, but it’s something we’ve done in the past. We’ve gone through the growing pains of adjusting the audio with the video and synchronizing the sound.”
Broadcasters throughout baseball (and their engineers) are trying to catch up. Play-by-play voices and color analysts are not allowed to fly on team charters this season because of health reasons, meaning most — if not all — will call road games remotely from their home booths. Artificial crowd noise, lifted from the “MLB: The Show” video game franchise, will be pumped into stadiums — and into broadcasts. Many teams will put cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands.
For Romero, the condensed 60-game schedule serves as another chance to add to his ring collection. He proudly sports the Astros’ 2017 World Series championship ring and an ALCS championship ring from last year.
The Astros, marred by a sign-stealing scandal that cost manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow their jobs, are still considered one of the best teams in the American League. Las Vegas oddsmakers list them second among likely American League champions, behind the New York Yankees. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yankees have better odds to win the World Series.
Romero said there has been “a lot of hype” surrounding the sign-stealing scandal, which was the talk of the sports world before the pandemic hit.
“But the reality is we have one of the best teams in baseball, one of the best hitters and a lot of people tend to forget we have one of the best pitching staffs. … There’s a great core of players so call it whatever you want, it’s one of the best teams in Major League Baseball,” he said. “We’re expecting to go deep into the playoffs and win a World Series. We have a very good chance to get another ring.”
