When I was invited to attend the Northwest Passages Book Club event featuring Paul Olden, a.k.a. the Voice of the Yankees, I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, this soft-spoken man in round glasses who never seemed to not be smiling was not quite who I’d envisioned. His presence on the stage came so naturally to him, and I was excited to learn what he was all about.
As someone who is not too heavily invested in baseball myself, I did not know how to engage or where to hold expectations. However, Olden’s “magical” voice, love for storytelling and passion for the game of baseball kept the room alive that evening. As a people, African Americans have mastered the art of spoken word, and he is no exception. He reflected during Northwest Passages on the power of oral language, once one of the only means of literacy that Black people had at their disposal. “Some of the great orators, of course, come from the Black churches…whether it’s the Black church, or Blues music, the fields and the songs that the slaves had to sing, that was another way of communicating of course.” He talked about how the Black community has always found a way to communicate with each other in a manner that is understood within the context of familiarity. He gave a nod to hop hop, which has become replicated and made into a larger than life industry, yet was initially a vehicle of expression for us, by us.
Coming from Los Angeles, Olden explains the trials he went through to get to the Big Apple, and how the Spokane Indians got him started on his journey forward. His story is a simple one: he was a young boy, hailing from a family where his father made a living as a preacher. Growing up, he knew exactly what he wanted to do for a career. He stood out from peers and other people in his field because he always seemed to be willing to do the work nobody wanted to do. He became masterful and keen when it came to finding, and then seizing, opportunities.
Olden believes that it’s not always what you know, but who you know, and is invested in keeping his connections abundant. He regularly keeps up with old friends from every city he’s worked in or traveled to, and that’s how he found his way back to Spokane. One of his first big gigs was actually the Spokane Indians, and he reached out after finding them on Instagram as they showcased many stories from their 125 year history.
Olden truly is an extraordinary man full of warmth, stories and laughter. When I asked him about any sort of self-doubt he may have experienced, or any sort of setbacks that made him question his decisions, he paused for a second, and said something I wasn’t expecting: he’d never had any. For me, this was almost preposterous; surely this Black man from L.A., who reflected on seeing the National Guard during the Watts Riots of 1965, driving down his street, from a window in his home, may have experienced that doomed feeling in the pit of his stomach that he may never make it. To the contrary, Olden said that was never an issue for him. His journey was not without incidents; he just stayed focused on what gave him the most satisfaction, and that was his love for baseball and his broadcast career. That inspired me because it really shows that if you put your mind to something, and if you’re passionate enough about what you do, obstacles do not have to stop you from getting there. Olden’s longevity and climb through the years is a dance with many moments with legends in both broadcast journalism and the sports world. There were times when he would reconnect with people from many years prior, but he always kept going. He knew he was capable; he knew he was worth it, just like any of us.
Check out his instagram where he takes time out of his busy life to still take pictures of families and animals, Olden believes that pictures are important for the representation of community, authentically and genuinely, and having them for memories is a point of focus for him.
Regardless of if you’re a baseball fan or not, I highly recommend learning more about Paul Olden and his journeys.
See the full Northwest Passages Interview by going here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/rtog8gGVuY8?si=psTQN8h7NW7xnhyl