For my entire life and most of my dad’s life, Jim Ellis has been the voice of Mississippi State baseball. Today, he announced his retirement from calling games on the radio after 46 years. 

It will be odd to say the least. I grew up listening to the voice of Chuck Barrett call games for the Arkansas Razorbacks alongside color commentator Rick Schaefer. 

The calls they made over the radio are what sucked me into sportswriting in the first place. I first heard the voice of Ellis while job shadowing Schaefer and Barrett in a game between Mississippi State and Arkansas baseball. 

Several years later, I made the decision to attend Mississippi State University, my dad’s alma mater and now mine. The first baseball game I covered was on the road at Jackson State University, it was Gary Henderson’s first game as the interim head coach. I spent much of the game listening to Ellis call it under a tent serving as a radio booth following a torrential downpour.

Mississippi State overcame great adversity that year to punch a ticket to the College World Series. I was back home working in the produce department for Harps Food Stores when Mississippi State’s Elijah MacNamee stepped up to the plate down 2-0 to Florida State.

He was down to his last strike and I nervously paced around the produce cooler when Ellis called out “Here’s the ball, in the air, deep in the outfield. Got a chance, got a chance, Gone.” I jumped around as Ellis described MacNamee was jumping around the bases celebrating the walk-off home run. 

There are two plays I wish I could have heard Ellis call. The first play is one most people associate with MacNamee. Mississippi State was up 5-1 in the second and final game of the 2019 Super Regional against Stanford. I watched from the press box as MacNamee blasted a home run ball down the third base line. From my perspective, the ball moved so slow past the windows you could see the red stitched seams on the ball. 

It wasn’t a walkoff but it was an exclamation point to cap off a great career for MacNamee and a whole group of great Bulldogs. Mississippi State sadly could not keep the magic going in the College World Series that year. 

Which brings me to the call I wish I could have heard most in real time. Mississippi State made 11 trips to the College World Series before finally winning the national championship in 2021. I watched the ending at an undisclosed location in Natchez. While I remember the moment, the anxiety I felt and relief when it was over, I don’t remember any of the words ESPN’s broadcast crew said. 

What makes Ellis and so many other radio play by play guys so special is they are your guide the entire season. They describe what you can’t see so well you are transported into the bleachers at the stadium. Radio is intimate and the calls become etched into your heart for a lifetime. 

Baseball season will not sound the same this year but I’ll still be tuning into Mississippi State baseball on the radio.