Dan Baker, in year 54, hopes to break current All-Star Game trend: ‘It would mean a great deal to me’

On a warm Friday night on August 1, 2025, the Phillies trailed the Detroit Tigers for six and a half innings. Earlier that night, Jimmy Rollins had been inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame, honoring a franchise legend who built his career on overcoming doubt. His former team did the same that night.

The Phillies tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, and then took the lead in the eighth, setting up for the first save opportunity for their flashy new closer: Jhoan Duran.

The bells chimed throughout Citizens Bank Park for the first time. The sold-out crowd of 43,241 turned on their cellphone flashlights. The stadium lights went out. Flames lit throughout the screens along the ballpark. The Spanish music thundered. It was Duran’s first entrance in Philadelphia, one that had become popular in Minnesota before the trade to the Phillies.

Once Duran made it to the mound and the lights came back on, one final blow was delivered. In most ballparks, a reliever’s introduction fades into the background. However, for the past 54 years, it has been a voice that Philadelphians could never ignore.

“Now pitching for the Phillies,” long-time public address announcer Dan Baker announced over the blaring music that Friday night. “Number 59… JHOOOANNN… DUUURANN!”

Baker, as he typically does, nailed it. It was the cherry on top for Duran’s first introduction in a Phillies uniform. Four pitches and hundreds of miles per hour later, Duran recorded his first save.

JHOAN DURAN EVERYONE pic.twitter.com/RlYLHoB0at

— cam ! (@aokstott) August 2, 2025

“I’m a Phillies fan, through and through. I’m a fan of everything Philadelphia,” Baker said to me in an exclusive conversation. “It’s almost like the WWE has taken over the other sports.”

Baker has been in the business a long time. The 79-year-old from Mount Ephraim, N.J., has been the voice of Phillies home games since 1972. He held the same role for the Eagles for 29 years. He was an extremely important figure in Philadelphia college basketball’s Big 5 for decades.

He is observing and noticing the evolution of PA announcing.

“The public address announcing at all of the sports is taking on more of a theatrical presentation. I don’t like to take away from the game. If it ever gets to the point where it’s taking away from the game, then I’m probably not going to be as big a fan of some of the intros. I think that it has added to the drama and luster of professional sports in Philadelphia … it has its place. It just can’t be every out, of every inning, of every game.”

But when that time does arrive, Baker delivers with enthusiasm and excitement. He has done that for 54 years. Baker knows when to tune it up and turn it down.

“You can’t treat every game like it’s the seventh game of the World Series. You have to know when to emote, and you have to know when not to. If you’re always yelling, if everything is always up here, where do you go? I think that one thing that makes me a pretty good announcer is I know when to bump it, I know when not to, I know when to pause for effect…

“The function of a public address announcer is to supply information about the players to the audience. It’s a service. That’s what Bill Giles [former Phillies President] told me. ‘Remember, you’re not the show, the players are the show. You’re here to provide information. So you do, you get in, and you get out … You set the table, and then the stars of the show take over.'”

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On my initial phone call with Baker to schedule a time to talk for this story, it was ill-timed.

“You’re going to need to give me a minute. I just locked my keys in my car,” he said.

In my first phone call with Dan Baker, a man I have been listening to and looking up to in the sports industry for my entire life, he locked his keys in his car when he stopped to get the mail at the bottom of his driveway. I called him back the next day.

“I had everything going on at once,” he joked. “I was getting out of the car and answering the phone, because you had to call at that moment.”

We spoke for about 10 minutes. It was just about a week before Opening Day, and he had a cold. We talked about some baseball, some college, and how he and my grandmother were at Glassboro State (now Rowan University) at the same time. Two weeks later, I went to Baker’s house in South Jersey for this interview.

Baker welcomed me into his home warmly. We sat at his kitchen table. There was a stack of newspapers to my right, the sports page recapping the Phillies’ win over the Washington Nationals on top. His house had a classic feel. So did Baker, in a way. He had on a blue Phillies polo shirt and khaki dress pants. He offered me water or a Diet Coke, and if his wife of 52 years, Cathy, who was out shopping, needed to pick anything up for me.

Since 1972, attending a Phillies game without hearing Baker’s voice is an anomaly. It only happened about 15 times, he stated, until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“It’s always been like heaven,” Baker said vigorously. “Since I was a kid going to Connie Mack Stadium at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. When I went inside the gates and saw all that beautiful green grass in the middle of the city, and looked up and saw those huge light standards that illuminated the field, and it made a night game seem like a day game, and to hear all of the people cheering, and not to be too esoteric, but the smells of the food and the concessions. I’m not a smoker, but I mean, I enjoy cigar smoke … all of those things come together. And when I’m at that game, I just feel like all is right with the world. I can put aside politics and things that aren’t right with the world and find enjoyment in a boy’s game: baseball.”

Baker’s descriptions of Connie Mack Stadium were so vivid that every word formed an image you could see the moment you closed your eyes. His love for his profession, the Phillies, and his life was palpable.

“I feel as if I’ve led a charmed life,” he said. “I have been so lucky to have been given this opportunity to do something that I love, and I so look forward to and I am excited. My coworkers could tell you that I have just as much enthusiasm today in the booth as I did 54 years ago.”

Baker’s extra enthusiasm in recent years, along with the Phillies’ success on the field, may also be owed to the fact that he was unsure if he would be returning to the booth after the pandemic. He was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his right sinus, which is extremely visible on his right cheek. He started feeling symptoms in 2019 and missed the 2020 season after surgery in August.

Baker lost teeth and had his cheekbone invaded, along with a soft tissue tumor. The cancer team at Jefferson Otolaryngology removed his cheekbone, and then they took bones from his lower left leg near his ankle, cut them out of his leg, sliced them up, and formed them into a round shape with “little nuts and bolts,” as Baker described, and reconstructed his face. Baker showed me the scar on his leg.

The farther Baker is removed from the cancer, the higher the chances become of it not returning. He has been removed from the surgery for nearly six years.

“People said, ‘You realize how close that was?’ I never gave it a thought,” Baker said. “I have an obligation to my wife and children, and I love announcing so much, and I think that really helped pull me through. Just ‘hey, I have to overcome this. I got to get out to that ballpark again.'”

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Baker is one of three MLB public address announcers to announce two All-Star Games: 1976 and 1996 at Veterans Stadium. He remembers them well. He recalled the scene in 1976 with Independence Hall in center field and a huge star in the outfield, as well as the Phillies’ lone representative in 1996, Ricky Bottalico.

Still, I showed Baker his introductions of the American and National League starting lineups, along with the Phillies’ representatives in both games, and he sat back and relived it all — the Vet, the players, the crowd, and his voice rising above it all. It offered a look back at a role Baker once held, one that becomes relevant again with the All-Star Game returning to Philadelphia this summer.

A 23-year-old George Brett. Thurman Munson. Pete Rose. Joe Morgan. Johnny Bench. Rookie Alex Rodriguez. Cal Ripken Jr. Barry Bonds. Mike Piazza. Chipper Jones. John Smoltz. Legends, all of them introduced in Baker’s unmistakable voice.

But the best part was when the Phillies were announced in 1976. Baker, at that time, paused for 30 seconds and let the sold-out crowd’s roar take over. The smile on Baker’s face said everything. Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Dave Cash, Mike Schmidt in his first All-Star Game, and the starting left fielder, Greg Luzinski.

The home public address announcer has not emceed the All-Star Game’s introductions since 2003. The 2004 All-Star Game in Houston, Texas, began the trend that still lasts to this past season’s mid-summer classic in Atlanta, Ga., where the FOX play-by-play commentator, Joe Buck — until 2022 when Joe Davis took over after Buck’s departure to ESPN — does the honors of announcing both leagues’ rosters. Baker does not know the plan yet for 2026 when the game returns to Philadelphia on Tuesday, July 14.

“Time will tell,” Baker responded. “I hope it’s me [emceeing the intros]. I’m a team player. Whatever the league and the Phillies agree to I will comply with.”

No matter the outcome, Baker’s résumé and connection to the city make him a deserving choice to handle the introductions in 2026. His presence has defined generations of baseball in Philadelphia, and his prior experience on the All-Star stage only strengthens the case. In a moment meant to celebrate the sport, there is added value in having a voice that authentically represents the host city. Beyond this, it would give Baker the record of three mid-summer classics behind the microphone.

Baker has recognized that shift over the last two decades. For last season’s Home Run Derby at Truist Park, the introductions were performed by former Indianapolis Colts punter and current show host on ESPN, Pat McAfee. The networks are the ones paying top dollar for the rights, and they seem to have the say on their personalities’ involvement.

“There’s things that happen … Hey, you don’t think I was thrilled when the Eagles told me they were going in a different direction? I was very disappointed, and I enjoyed doing that very much, and thought I was very, very good at it, but, you know, in this business, it happens.”

Baker understands what it comes down to. The decision ultimately rests with Major League Baseball and the Phillies, and he has no interest in lobbying for it. He has always been a team player. Whatever is asked of him, he will do. But that does not take away from what the moment would mean.

“It would mean a great deal to me, and I think it would mean a great deal to Philadelphia,” Baker said. “But this is a Major League Baseball decision and a Phillies decision, and I work for them, and I will do what I’m told.”

Baker will never be the one to make the case for himself. That has never been his style, nor does he want to disrespect the MLB or the Phillies. But the case is there in his body of work, his experience, and the voice that has defined baseball in Philadelphia for more than five decades.

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For Baker’s 54th Opening Day, he made an extremely rare mistake. After announcing the Phillies’ reserves, Baker began introducing Kane Kalas, who was performing the national anthem, skipping the Phillies’ manager and starting lineup. Baker’s papers were stuck together when he turned the page.

He said that had never happened to him before.

“I turned it over, and thank goodness that one of our entertainment team realized right away,” Baker said. “And of course, I realized, and was really disappointed. I am not in the habit of making mistakes. And I think for people who followed my career, I think that they, even my detractors, would admit that I’m pretty accurate and not given to a lot of miscues. But another thing that I’ve learned from, not just myself, but I’ve learned from others too, because you could practically look at any sports announcer, athlete, actor, actress, there is, and they’ve made mistakes, but they can correct so quickly.”

Baker trails just two legendary PA announcers for the record of longest-serving: Bob Sheppard with the New York Yankees for 57 years, and Pat Pieper of the Chicago Cubs for 59 years. Baker’s goal is to surpass both of them.

“If I’m in good health and I’m performing at a high level, and if the Phillies will have me, I hope to have the chance to set the record,” Baker emphasized.

Baker needs six more seasons to break Pieper’s record. The year would be 2032. Baker has confidence that he could go beyond that. When Sheppard retired from the Yankees in 2007, he was 97 years old. He passed two and a half years later at the age of 99.

“So I’m still a kid,” Baker joked.

“Despite some of the challenges that I’ve faced health-wise, I think I’m in pretty good shape,” Baker said. “I mean, you see my enthusiasm, and I, while not a good enough athlete to play professional sports, I’ve been pretty active most of my life … I think, like somebody who, as they get older, might retire to a rocking chair in the corner of the room … I could see a physical or mental deterioration more likely than if one is active and interacts with people and still keeps their mind active and physically active.”

Baker still sounds great on the microphone, moves well, and maintains a sharp presence. The key to it is his positive approach to life. Whether it is with the Phillies’ roster, the decision that will be made on the All-Star Game, or his family, which has especially needed a proliferation of optimism recently.

Baker’s daughter, Courtney, has been dealing with a major health concern for the last two years. She had significant surgery in early March. Dan and Cathy have been visiting Courtney’s home in Houston at least once a month to offer any and as much assistance as possible, whether it is babysitting his five-year-old and two-year-old grandkids, or just simply loving and supporting.

“Our children are the most important thing to us, as they are to most parents,” Baker said. Dan and Cathy have two children, Darren, 46, and Courtney, 43.

“Some people are dealt a worse hand than that. You know, they’re diagnosed with something that they can’t overcome,” Baker said. “We feel very good about her outcome, and she’s doing remarkably well.”

Baker, even during tough times, never dwells on the negatives.

“That’s kind of like my theme in life. And you know, if you want to find them, you can; there’s negatives out there. But hey, I’d rather just try to push them aside if I can. And that’s not to say that nothing negative ever happens. No, it’s how you deal with it. And to me, again, emphasizing the positive. And so I’m going to stick with that.”

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