If she only had a nickel for every time someone said, “You have the best job on Earth,” Kelly Crull would have a lot of nickels.
As an on-field game reporter and studio host for the Atlanta Braves on Bally Sports, the Indiana native has a front row seat for one of the best teams in baseball.
Fans see her for a few minutes before each game, two or three times during the game, and for post-game interviews, which are usually joyful thanks to the Braves’ winning ways.
What they don’t see is the the planning, the preparation, and the homework that goes into making the broadcast informative and entertaining.
Much like the players themselves, Kelly’s day starts much earlier than the 7 p.m. first pitch. She said, “On most days I get to the stadium around 2, and I meet with our production team to plan what we will cover that day. It may be a particular pitcher/hitter matchup, or a player who just got called up from the minor leagues, or it could be some superstition the team is doing to extend a winning streak. So we begin with that plan, but we’ve also learned to expect the unexpected.”
By “the unexpected” she is referring to what makes the game great. This might be the night a Braves hitter smashes three home runs, or a pitcher throws a no-hitter. The team might score twenty runs, or on a bad night they might lose by twenty. Either way, at game’s end she dashes onto the field or into the clubhouse to interview manager Brian Snitker, or any player who may have played a key role in the outcome. A player who drove in the game-winning run makes for an easy interview. However, a pitcher who had a bad game that resulted in a Braves loss might not be so gracious.
“Players are just like you and me,” she said. “They have good days and bad days, and I’m out there with them every day from spring training in March until hopefully the World Series in November. I try to learn when they’re in the mood to talk, or when they need some space.” She also gets the opportunity to join the players in fun feature videos, like a recent one at the bowling lanes.
As a veteran broadcaster, she understands the realities of being on live television before millions of viewers. “We can never have a bad day,” she said. “And don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it. But just like the players, if I’m not feeling one-hundred percent, or if I didn’t get a good night’s sleep, the fan watching at home doesn’t need to know that. We all put on our game faces and try to bring you a good broadcast every day.”
She also faces the slings and arrows of social media. “It can be hurtful, and I try not to take it personally. People are free to post whatever they want, so if they don’t like my hair or my outfit, they will put it online for everyone to see. But you know what? I meet a lot of fans at the ball park, and no one has ever said anything negative. They’re all so nice and kind. So that’s just the nature of social media.”
A self-professed tomboy, Kelly’s family encouraged her to participate in sports, and she played tennis at the University of Missouri. Not bad, she says, but not good enough to advance to the next level.
Instead, she immersed herself into Mizzou’s broadcasting program, and was a quick study. For the past several years she has roamed the sidelines of college football, reported on college hoops from courtside, and has covered major league baseball from the dugouts of the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs and now the Braves.
She said. “I was hired by the Braves in 2020 just a few days before the pandemic shut down spring training, and we spent the rest of that year playing before cardboard cutout fans. We got back to normal the next year and won the World Series. Now we have big crowds every night, expectations are high, and people are having fun again.”
Braves broadcasters Brandon Gaudin, Kelly Crull, and Peter Moylan
The smile you see on TV is real. No one is having more fun than Kelly Crull.
