Braves find diamond in the southern rough

Posted by Coley Ward on Wednesday March 28th 2007, 5:02 pm - filed in News reel

Here’s a heartwarming local-man-makes-good story, courtesy of the Atlanta Braves. It seems a local pest exterminator beat out a dozen professional voice and radio contestants to win the job of Braves’ PA announcer. From the AJC:

Casey Motter of Newnan, who works for Northwest Exterminator but calls youth football and baseball games in Peachtree City, was named Wednesday as the Braves announcer — with a catch.

He’ll take the mike at Turner Field for Friday and Saturday’s exhibition games against the Chicago White Sox. If all goes well, the job is his, according to the team.

Motter, 38, auditioned last week with 12 other finalists, all of whom had worked in voice or radio.

Motter has worked at the Senoia Raceway, but his longest gig was making $40 a game as the voice of the Peachtree City Packers youth football league.

Motter was discovered by Braves assistant general manager Frank Wren when he was calling a playoff game for Landmark Christian, a team that includes Wren’s son.

“He told me I had a very commanding voice and a southernness to it and that’s what we’re looking for,” said Motter. “I didn’t have the training, but had that southernness.”

Everybody loves southerness and you just can’t fake it, as Hillary Clinton learned the hard way.

The story of Motter beating out a bunch of pros just goes to show that anything can happen. You just have to believe.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting super stoked for the Braves’ 2007 season, aka, Mission: Possible.


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