Quad City Man’s Amazing Radio/TV Broadcasting Career Could End Tonight
He grew up in the western part of Illinois and his voice has become loved by millions of fans. Tonight could be his last broadcast.
Greg Schulte was born in Silvis, Illinois, just a handful of miles from the Quad Cities. By the time he was eight, Schulte knew he wanted to be a baseball broadcaster. A lover of Jack Buck and Harry Caray, he listened to St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcasts every night during the summer. Schulte would later become good friends with Buck, and his career path was well on its way to being cemented.
By the fall of 1995, Schulte already had a huge amount of sports broadcasting experience. In November of that year, he was offered a position doing play-by-play on radio and television for the Arizona Diamondbacks... a team that wouldn't begin play for another two-plus years.
In 1998, Schulte was clad in a tuxedo in the Diamondbacks broadcast booth when Arizona played their first game. In the franchise's first 24 years, he was the only radio play-by-play voice Diamondbacks fans had known.
In 2001, Arizona was in the World Series and Schulte delivered this memorable call as the Diamondbacks won their first World Series title.
I promise you Schulte's full call of that ending is worth hearing. After the winning run scores, he tells Diamondbacks fans, "Honk your horns, stomp your feet, celebrate in Arizona! The Diamondbacks have won the World Series!" That incredible moment begins at 3:25.17 in the video below.
Schulte, 71, missed a portion of the 2022 season due to a battle with cancer. In both 2022 and 2023, he has broadcast only Arizona home games.
In September of 2023, the Diamondbacks renamed the home broadcast booth at Chase Field the Greg Schulte Radio Booth. Schulte's nickname "Gub-nuh" is also part of the booth, as you can see over his right shoulder.
Last month, Arizona made the World Series for only the second time. Of course, Schulte was there to call it. You can hear his call of the final out in the National League Championship Series here.
Tonight is Game Four of the World Series in Phoenix. The Texas Rangers lead the best-of-seven series over Arizona three games to one. A Rangers win tonight and the baseball season is over... and so is the incredible career of a "kid from a small town in western Illinois who wanted to be a broadcaster from the time he was eight years old."
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Gallery Credit: Seth Berkman
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