Jerry Howarth wasn't around for the start of the Toronto Blue Jays franchise in 1977, and he's not there now - retiring early in 2018. But he saw almost everything in between.

Howarth came aboard the organization as one of the team's broadcasters in 1982. That means he was around for almost every big moment in the team's history.

That history certainly is well covered in his book, "Hello, Friends!" It looks back on those 36 years on the job in almost painstaking detail, at least in terms of the team and its players.

Tom Cheek was the first voice of the Blue Jays, and he was a smooth pro from Day One of the team's games in 1977. Howarth added another professional voice a few years after that. The latter grew up in the San Francisco area, and eventually deciding that something in the sports communication business would work for him. Sports writing was an option, but eventually he turned to broadcasting and stuck with it. Yes, he had to pay some dues - bouncing around a few cities on the minor-league baseball circuit and working on other sports' broadcasts as well as taking odd jobs (sales, community relations, etc.) to get by. It's a pretty typical story of a business that requires some skill and a little luck.

Finally, though, he got the call to move a couple of thousand miles to Toronto and away he went. The focus of the book changes at that point. Howarth gets out of the way in a sense, concentrating on his stories about the players, managers, etc. Each year gets a quick once-over, and the new players arriving each year are reviewed.

The Blue Jays won championships in 1992 and 1993, and made it to the playoffs a few other times. Those seasons get a little more coverage. Mostly, though, the years go by as the personalities come and go. Howarth comes across as optimist by nature, and almost everyone in the book comes across pretty well. That might be simply a case of personality. Good baseball announcers usually are the ones who wear well and get along with almost everyone. It's easy to see Howarth as a welcoming personality on radio (and to a limited extent, television) during a nice career. There are also stories about the players and their families, which are also pleasant.

In fact, only one person really comes off badly in the entire book. Howarth tells a couple of episodes of encounters with new Hall of Famer Mike Mussina. The pitcher comes off as rather surly. It's kind of nice to know that the old saying is true - you can't please everyone.

This all must sound like an easy, pleasant read for Blue Jays' fans at this point, and that's probably going to be true for some north of the border. Even so, it's easy to think that the book could have used a little editing.

The e-book version I have checks in at more than 400 pages of reading (at least according to the table of contents). It might have been a better book if it had lost some of those pages, and perhaps discarded some of the information on the seasons. It wouldn't have been that difficult; some of the players aren't that well known and/or don't have interesting background stories. There is some overlap of content too, as some information gets repeated. And it could have used some more words on the life of a broadcaster on a personal level. After all, it is Howarth's book.

Speaking of that, Howarth's retirement isn't even discussed here, which is odd. The story more or less ends at the end of 2016, although there are a couple of updates of a few people's lives. It's easy to wonder if this book's publication was delayed for a year for some reason.

Reading "Hello, Friends!" makes me believe that the fine announcer has another book in him down the road. This one is decent, though, and will fill the reader in on the people involved in the history of Canada's major league baseball team.

When a broadcaster does the games for one team for a long time, that person will have a vast collection of stories to share. That is the case for Jerry Howarth, who was a radio broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982 to 2017. He shares many of those stories and some about himself as well in this memoir.

As one might imagine, a person who has had the same job for 36 years will have a wide variety of stories to tell. Of course, he shares his recollections on famous moments in Blue Jays history, such as Joe Carter’s walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series and the famous bat flip by Jose Bautista in the 2015 American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers. However, what makes the book a little different from other collections of stories like this are all the personal connections Howarth had with so many Blue Jays players and personnel over the years.

Some of these stories will be sad, such as the death of Howarth’s long time broadcast partner, Tom Cheek. His telling of the last half inning Cheek called for the Blue Jays will make the toughest of readers generate at least a sniffle. But many, many more of them are uplifting and tell about the successes and positive accomplishments of the subject, especially if it was a player. Howarth rarely has a bad thing to say about anyone in this book.

The most interesting part of the book turned out to be the beginning as he tells his tale of how he sent tapes of college games he broadcast and his jobs in sports outside of broadcasting. He worked for a few years for the Utah Jazz before starting his broadcasting career doing the games of the AAA Tacoma Twins. While this read much like any other memoir, it was good material and advice for readers who may wish to pursue this profession. The rest of the book with its storytelling is much like any other collection of stories, fictional as well as non-fictional – some good, some not so good (either very short or just telling the reader “Hey, I talked once to so-and-so).

Overall, this book is one that Blue Jays fans will certainly enjoy and fans of other teams may like as well. If nothing else, Howarth can say he has shared a treasure trove of stories that many generations of Blue Jays fans will pass along from generation to generation.

I wish to thank ECW Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

For 36 years, Jerry Howarth ushered in eternal hope each spring and thrived in the drive of each fall as the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays. In 1982, the lifelong avid sports fan joined Tom Cheek as full-time play-by-play radio announcer for the Blue Jays, and for the next 23 years, “Tom and Jerry” were the voices of the franchise. Jerry became part of the fabric of a nation and a team, covering historic moments like the rise of the Blue Jays through the 1980s that culminated in back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993. His Hall of Fame–worthy broadcasting career has been nothing short of legendary. When Jerry retired in February 2018, the tributes poured in and made one thing perfectly clear: Toronto baseball would never be the same.
Howarth brings together thoughts on life, family, work, and baseball. Featuring stories about everyone from Dave Stieb, Jack Morris, Duane Ward, Roberto Alomar, and Joe Carter to John Gibbons, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, and the late Roy Halladay, Hello, Friends! is a must-read for sports fans everywhere.

I am a recent convert to baseball - and, in particular, the Toronto Blue Jays - so I was very interested to have a read of this book.

A memoir of Jerry Howarth, the man who spent 36 years being the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays on the radio, this book is a pretty standard biography - where he grew up, how he got involved in radio, famous names, memorable events etc. It was fascinating reading for a newbie, with lots of information I hadn't known previously. But I am not sure how interesting it would be for a long-term die-hard fan. It could be just a little light on for depth.


Paul
ARH

Jerry Howarth is a former sportscaster. He was born in the U.S. and became a Canadian citizen in 1994. He is best known as the radio play-by-play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1981 through the 2017 season.

Howarth started his career in Toronto where he worked part of the 1981 Blue Jays season as a commentator. In 1982, he joined Tom Cheek as his full-time play-by-play partner. For the next 23 years, "Tom and Jerry" would be the radio voices of the Blue Jays (Cheek passed away in 2005).

Howarth had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016 and had surgery to remove a small tumor. He retired from broadcasting in February 2018 due to health reasons.

This book is Howarth's story of his life. He starts off by telling us about his childhood and education. It was interesting to learn that he had gone to university to study law but his love of sports was so great that he quit school to give broadcasting a try. Obviously it has worked out for him!

He shares stories of the Toronto Blue Jays and managers who have been on the team over the years right up to today's line-up including Dave Stieb, Jack Morris, Duane Ward, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, John Gibbons, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson and the late Roy Halladay. He also shares stories about players and managers from other teams.

If you are a baseball fan, you'll like this book. If you are a big-time Blue Jays fan, you'll probably love it. I liked it as it was interesting and nice to hear about the various players from Howarth's personal experience and friendships.