On a daily basis, you may be tasked with recording an interview for the pregame show.  Whether you are interviewing the manager, a coach, or a player, the information you gather in these interviews not only provides you with content for that night’s broadcast, but it can also serve you in the future as well.

One of the biggest regrets I have looking back on my career is not transcribing the countless interviews that I recorded over the years.  I had the opportunity to pick the brains of Hall of Famers like Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson.  Not to mention some of the game’s greatest managers like Jim Leyland, Joe Maddon, Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre and Dusty Baker.  The one thing I failed to do was to preserve their words.  If I would have taken the time to transcribe the thoughts of some of the game’s biggest names, I would have an impressive collection of knowledge from some of the greatest to play the game.

Yet, it’s not just the interviews you score with the game’s elite that deserve to be preserved, but rather any skull session you record with any player or coach that includes information that may help you in the future.  For instance, it can be very valuable in September to have the ability to go back and revisit an interview you may have done with the manager in April.  Going back to review what the manager said about the club at the beginning of the season can allow you to revisit how the season has progressed.

You’d be surprised how much you can reference what a player has previously said and relate it to how your club is currently performing.  Or, you may be in a discussion about how analytics has affected the game for example, and recall a certain answer that a player or manager gave you in an interview months ago.  Instead of relying on your memory to recall the information, having it transcribed can make it much easier to incorporate it on the broadcast.

At minimum, putting your interviews into words and saving them over the years will provide you with a treasure trove of ideas and thoughts from the wide range of subjects you interview.  It will also serve as a way for you to enhance your knowledge of the game.

While the effort it takes to transcribe and catalog the interviews that you record is sizable, the rewards can be huge as well.  It is at least an endeavor worth considering..