The following is an excerpt from Major League Mindset:  Elevate Your Baseball Play-by-Play.

It happens to every announcer. You will be labeled a jinx at some point in your career. It’s inevitable, so just accept it. And for heaven sakes, don’t ever use the words “no-hitter” in the broadcast if one is in progress. You’ll get eaten alive if it’s broken up. I say this tongue in cheek, but at one point in my career I would spar with fans that blamed me for something that happened on the field.

Dealing with superstition in the broadcast booth is something all baseball announcers will encounter.  There are differing schools of thought on the subject.  Some believe that you should always respect the superstitions of the game, while other scoff at the notion, claiming that doing your job is more important.

Typically for baseball announcers the issue arrises when a no-hitter is in progress.  Should I use the words “no-hitter, or not?  I’ve always felt on radio that superstitions are meaningless.  You need to use the words “no-hitter” if you want to do your job correctly.  You are doing listeners a disservice otherwise.  Television leaves some room for interpretation.  I called six no-hitters in my career, four of them were on television.  The last two thrown by a player on the team I was covering were authored by Justin Verlander.  I did not use the words “no-hitter.”  Looking back, I wish that I had.  I felt at the time, that I wanted to honor the superstitions of the game and felt that on TV, our graphics alerted the viewers that a no-hitter was in progress anyway.  It was the wrong decision.  To do my job accurately, I should have verbalized that Verlander was throwing a no-hitter.

Vin Scully never yielded to silly superstitions.  I probably shouldn’t have either.  Truth be told, a little part of me didn’t want to deal with the backlash I almost certainly would have received on social media had I uttered the words and the no-hitter was lost.  That’s a bad way to do business.  Allowing social media to dictate the manner in which you call a game is dangerous.

I tell young announcers these days to call the game.  If that includes using the words “no-hitter,” then superstitions be damned.  The listeners come first, and doing your job correctly should be the main focus.  Not some fan that will read you the riot act if you “cause” a player to lose a no-hitter.