Ricky Bottalico ‘tells it like it is’ and understands it might bother some Phillies

Ricky Bottalico often walks NBC Sports Philadelphia with a hockey stick, pacing the newsroom like a third-line enforcer before it’s his turn to dissect that night’s Phillies game.

Bottalico battled that same restlessness during his 12-year major league career, often bothering fellow relievers with his inability to simply relax in the bullpen while they waited for the phone to ring. It’s only fitting that he prepares for TV the same way.

“He’ll take slap shots at people,” said Sean Kane, a senior producer who oversees the network’s Phillies coverage. “People are trying to get work done, and he’s shooting hockey pucks. He’s all amped up talking to people. It’s just how he is. How he’s wired. And it makes for good TV.”

» READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the MLB All-Star Game coming to Philly

Bottalico pitched with intensity — he once started a brawl by beaning Barry Bonds and cursed at his old manager after earning a save — once he left those jitters in the bullpen. His fastball was blazing, and his stare was glaring. Bottalico had an edge. So does the guy who carries the hockey stick around the newsroom.

The 56-year-old Bottalico has made his name on TV as a no-nonsense analyst who isn’t afraid to criticize the Phillies, even though the team owns part of the station. Bottalico is irate after a loss, fumes when relievers don’t throw strikes, and blows his lid when fundamentals are lacking.

He does praise the Phils when they deserve it and is just as heavy-handed with the opponent. But it is his barbs against the Phils — “This is pathetic,” he said after a rough loss one night — that players have bristled at over the years. Bottalico pitched seven seasons for the Phils, and it’s uncommon for a former player working as an analyst on the station that carries the games to have as strong opinions as him.

The former player said he never takes a cheap shot as he speaks solely on what happens on the field. It’s never personal. He’s doing his job, just like he did when he was on the mound. Bottalico is throwing strikes.

“I’m sure there are some guys who are pissed at me,” Bottalico said. “You don’t want to piss anyone off. That’s not why we do it. I’m sure there are some people who enjoy teeing off on players. I don’t enjoy teeing off on something that happens in a game, but you have to. It’s part of the job. The way I look at it is if you can look in the mirror and see that you had a bad game or you made some bad pitches, then everything is status quo.”

Bottalico started with the network, then called Comcast SportsNet, late in the 2007 season. He retired two years earlier and was looking for the next chapter.

“You get your first summer off in 15 or 20 years,” Bottalico said. “And I’m like, ‘This is going to be great.’ Then you realize that it’s not everything you thought it would be. You’re sitting around a lot. Everything is getting stale. I missed the game.”

Bottalico’s TV gig gave him a chance to get back to baseball. He didn’t have much experience, but station fixture Michael Barkann said the former All-Star closer had what it took to be in front of a camera: knowledge, passion, and an opinion.

» READ MORE: Meet the All-Stars: What to know about baseball’s best coming to Philly

“He’s just so good at conveying what’s going on on the field,” said Barkann, who hosts the pregame and postgame show. “Many people will say baseball is just as simple as ‘See ball, hit ball, field ball, and throw ball.’ But it’s so much more than that situationally. When you absolutely live it and it just runs right through you and it’s a language you can speak with other people who have been there, it enables you to explain the game in a much more clear way. That’s him.”

Bottalico’s work that season led to more postgame shifts in 2008 along with work as a color commentator for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. A Daily News review of broadcasters in 2009 said Bottalico would be a star once he lost “the alumni-bias that sometimes causes him to broad-brush obvious chinks in the Phillies’ armor.” That soon happened.

“You have to be truthful to the fans,” said Bottalico, who also cohosts an afternoon radio show on 97.5 FM. “I don’t like to beat around the bush. I learned early on that you have to be truthful about what happens because fans see what happens. But the other side of that is when they’re good, you point out that they’re good. I will say it’s a lot easier to do the show when they’re good.

“I’ve been doing this job for a long time. I now work with Cole Hamels. I see Ryan Howard around all the time. Jimmy Rollins, I played with and analyzed. They never had a problem with me. They might say, ‘Ah, you’re getting on me today.’ But that’s about it.”

The network started broadcasting Phillies games in 1998 and gave the team a share of the station in 2014 as part of its current $2.5 billion TV deal. So Kane said it can be “a little tricky sometimes” when the studio analyst working for the rights-holder takes a dig at the team.

Kane said he’s heard Bottalico might not be the most popular person if he walked into the Phillies clubhouse, but he’s never fielded a complaint from anyone. So Bottalico keeps bringing the heat.

MLB All-Star Game in Philly

Baseball's biggest stars are descending on Philadelphia for the 96th All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park on July 14. Follow all of The Inquirer's coverage here.

• Everything you need to know about the All-Star Game
• Meet the All-Stars: What to know about baseball’s best coming to town
• Phillies get a sixth All-Star as Jesús Luzardo is added to NL roster
• Kyle Schwarber joins Bryce Harper in the Home Run Derby
• Who's competing in the Home Run Derby? Here's who is in already
• MLB All-Star Week brings a Philly MVP back to Citizens Bank Park’s food lineup

» READ MORE: Phillies radio calls give him ‘goose bumps.’ Then he shares those chills with everyone on social media.

“He’s going to tell it like it is, and I think that’s why fans love him,” Kane said. “He’s not going to worry about ‘Well, if I say this it might upset the players or it might upset the front office.’ I don’t think he takes cheap shots, but I just think he tells it like it is. If someone needs to play better or if someone needs to be more accountable, then he’s going to say it on TV.

“I’m sure over the years that has rubbed some guys in the clubhouse the wrong way. Like, ‘What’s this former player doing? He should be more protective. He should be more of a player-friendly analyst like, ‘They’re trying hard. That’s all you can ask.’ But I really don’t think he takes cheap shots. I just think he’s objectively watching this like a fan and ‘This guy needs to be better’ and ‘This guy needs to hustle’ and ‘This was a stupid decision’ and ‘They should’ve done this.’ When they’re not playing well, he’ll get angry. It’s not manufactured.”

If you think Bottalico is intense, he said you should watch a Phillies game with his dad in Connecticut.

“It’s unreal. It is unreal,” Bottalico said. “I’ll be there every once in a while and be outside with my brothers and we’ll hear ‘What the heck are they doing?’ You’re like, ‘Wow. OK. I guess I know where I got it.’”

The intensity Bottalico inherited from his father, Jay, proved to be a perfect match with Barkann, the host who rides an emotional roller-coaster every night during a 162-game season.

» READ MORE: ‘Overlooked’ Santino Harwood got his chance at an HBCU despite not being Black. Now he’s in the Swingman Classic.

“He made a comment the other night and said, ‘You know what I love about Philadelphia is that we treat it like the Eagles, and they play once a week. That’s how we do every game,’” Bottalico said. “But it’s true. Because that’s our job. A lot of people don’t understand, ‘How are you getting so excited over this one game?’ Because that’s our job to bring what we feel that night. I think he’s a perfect example of what Philadelphia is and how intense the city has always been.”

Treating the result of a baseball game the same as a football score is the antithesis of how baseball players manage the grind of a season that often is characterized as a marathon. But how many viewers would tune in after a loss if the hosts simply said, “That’s baseball?” This is TV they’re making, and even the pitcher who ran those marathons for years had to become a sprinter.

“When you’re playing, you don’t do this,” Bottalico said. “But let’s face it: If I wasn’t true to what’s happening each and every game, I wouldn’t be doing this anymore. It’s one of those things where you have to have a love of the game, a passion for what you’re doing, and you have to be able to talk and explain it.”

The analysts know their tone may not resonate in the clubhouse, but their audience is the fans who are reeling — or riding high — like they are. The team’s postgame show meets the die-hards where they are.

“You want to be true to them,” Barkann said. “If you treat 162 games like Don Mattingly treats 162 games or Dave Dombrowski does, then come on. You want people to watch the program. You want people to get excited. You also understand as a fan that it’s not one of 162. It’s everything on that particular day or night. I pride our program on the fact that we do get excited, maybe a little over the top, about every win or every loss.”

Bottalico signed his first professional contract with the Phillies in 1991 in the backseat of a scout’s car after being discovered in a men’s league in Hartford, Conn. He was a catcher who didn’t start pitching until his junior year of college before going undrafted. Bottalico reported to Clearwater, Fla., and another pitcher wondered how Bottalico fell through the cracks.

“He looks at me and goes, ‘You throw harder than anyone else in here,’” Bottalico said.

It would have been easy to be bitter about the route he needed to take, but Bottalico never felt slighted. The edge he pitched with was not because he was overlooked. It was just him.

» READ MORE: What makes Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber such unique stars? We asked each about the other.

“I had it in Little League,” Bottalico said. “And I’m being honest. In Little League, I wanted to win every game. I wanted to get a hit every at-bat. At that point of your life, you don’t realize that the game is a game of failures. I always wanted to win. I always had that desire to make everyone on the team better, no matter where it was. I just think you’re born with that fire and desire.”

Five years after being undrafted, he was the lone Phillies’ All-Star in 1996 at Veterans Stadium. He was a big league closer, which meant the reporters flocked to his locker after a blown save but practically ignored him after a 1-2-3 ninth. Like a kicker, the closer usually makes news only after a botch. Bottalico understood the game.

“John Marzano was doing pre- and postgame, and he would rip us apart,” Bottalico said. “But I thought it was funny. I never took it offensively. I’d be like, ‘OK, John. Get on me. What are you going to do? Rip me tonight.’ It was just one of those things. I was always the look-in-the-mirror-first guy. We used to have to stand in front of our lockers, and if I had a bad game, I would tear myself apart before they even asked a question. I was true to myself. If you can look in the mirror and self-evaluate, then you don’t have a problem with getting ripped apart.”

The analyst who presses the Phillies every night once was the player who got pressed. He didn’t have issues taking it, so he has no issues dishing it out. Bottalico is doing his job just like Marzano was. The guy who carries a hockey stick around the office can still pump one by you.

“Let’s face it: People criticize me,” Bottalico said. “You know what I do? I laugh at it. OK. You have your opinion, and I have mine. I’ve never thought about it as a critical thing. It’s just that I have a job to do. I’m doing my job, and they have a job to do, and they do their jobs.”

Watch the latest episode

Ryan Howard was a three-time All-Star and champion of the 2006 Home Run Derby in his legendary run with the Phillies. With the baseball world coming together in Philadelphia for the 96th All-Star Game, Howard sat down with Phillies Extra to discuss his All-Star memories, his expectations for a Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park, his outlook on the Phillies' season, Kyle Schwarber's chances of breaking his single-season franchise mark for homers, and more. Watch here.

You can also subscribe to the podcast version of Phillies Extra on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Previous episodes: Dan Baker | Ricky Bottalico | Preston Mattingly | Caleb Cotham | Larry Bowa | Joe Maddon | Rhys Hoskins | Terry Francona | Aaron Rowand