Greenwich Resident Inducted Into Sports Broadcasting Hall Of Fame

GREENWICH, CT — Memories from a big sporting event or individual play are powerful. You remember how you felt, where you were and who you were with. These moments can connect generations, and unite people from all walks of life.

One longtime Greenwich resident who has spent a large part of his life crafting the way people remember their sports memories recently got inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

John J. Filippelli, also known as "Flip", is the current president of production and programming at the YES Network. He was officially enshrined on Dec. 14, 2021, during a ceremony at the New York Hilton in Manhattan. The ceremony had been delayed from 2020 because of COVID-19.

"To be enshrined where the greats of our business have gone before me is an incredible honor," Filippelli told Patch recently. "I'm not so sure it's an honor I deserve, but it's an honor I accept and it's an honor I'll obviously always cherish."

Getting A Start

Filippelli's career as a groundbreaking producer spans 46 years, and covers nearly every sporting event imaginable. Over his career, Filippelli has embraced technology and revolutionized the way sports are seen on television, especially baseball, which he calls his "first, second and third love."

His father owned a bar across the street from Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Players like Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges frequented the joint, so he grew up around the game.

When the Dodgers left Brooklyn for the West Coast after the 1957 season, Filippelli was heartbroken, and he pledged his allegiance to the New York Yankees. His first job was as a vendor outside of Yankee Stadium as a 16-year-old.

Filippelli's interest in the television business was sparked in the mid-1970's after he graduated college and went on a tour of NBC, which cost him $2.50. He kept asking for a job until he was hired as a desk assistant. His first credit was working on a special about President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974.

Filippelli met the president of NBC Sports at the time, Chet Simmons.

"He said to me, 'Can you name the starting lineup of the 1961 Yankees since you say you know baseball so well?' I said, 'Not only can I do that, I can name the entire team. If I can name the entire team, can you give me a job?'" Filippelli recalled.

True to his word, Filippelli rattled off the entire roster. He didn't get a job right away, but he was eventually hired, and his career took off.

Filippelli worked his way up the ladder at NBC Sports to become the lead producer for Major League Baseball's game of the week, and for League Championship Series games, All-Star Games and World Series telecasts.

He was in the producer's chair for Kirk Gibson's iconic walk-off home run off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Filippelli said out of all the events he's covered, which include Olympic Games, Super Bowls, National Hockey League games, pro golf, the Indianapolis 500, and many more, the Gibson home run is his favorite moment.

After two decades at NBC, Filippelli went to the Baseball Network, where he was able to hone his skills and put high production quality into local MLB broadcasts on a nightly basis. Following the baseball strike in 1994, Filippelli was hired by Fox, and he became the coordinating producer for the network's first World Series broadcast in 1996.

Revolutionizing Sports Telecasts

It was during the decisive Game 6 of that World Series between the Yankees and Atlanta Braves when Filippelli had a career-defining moment.

Replays in sports up until that point had always been in slow-motion, so Filippelli wanted to try something new and different. He wanted a regular-speed replay, but had to pick the right time.

Near the beginning of the game, a batter hit a ball in the shortstop hole and was hustling to first base, so Filippelli produced a replay at full-speed, but a freeze was placed at the end of the play.

"The tape guys weren't used to doing full-speed replays. They had no idea what it meant," Filippelli said, admitting that the replay "kind of worked", but the timing wasn’t perfect.

With a scoreless game in the bottom of the third inning, Paul O'Neill was on third base and Joe Girardi was up at bat.

Girardi ripped a triple over the head of center fielder Marquis Grissom and the Yankees took a 1-0 lead. Yankee Stadium was roaring.

"I said, 'That's it, here we go. Take it right out of the box, all the way around the bases, don't worry about stopping it, just go,'" Filippelli said.

It's believed to be the first regular-speed replay in sports broadcasting history, and it’s now one of the signature plays in Yankees history.

"How you chronicle the game is almost as important as the game itself. It's how people are going to remember it. The idea of being charged with creating memories is an incredible responsibility as far as I'm concerned," Filippelli said.

Filippelli was instrumental in having a permanent scorebug left up on the screen showing the count and number of outs, including the pitch count. He also helped pioneer tight, close-up camera shots of bases.

Filippelli helped break the glass ceiling in sports broadcasting, something he said he's extremely proud of. He hired the first full-time woman announcer in the booth for baseball, the first woman producer ever in the truck at the Baseball Network, and the full-time regular season basketball analyst.

The Birth Of YES Network

After working at Fox, Filippelli moved to ABC for several years. On Sept. 10, 2001, he was hired by then Yankees owner George Steinbrenner as the first employee of the Yankees' new network, the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES).

Filippelli said the effort to put together the network from scratch in just five months was "Herculean."

"We started this with nothing. No producers, no directors, no mobile unit, no technical facilities, no programming of any kind," Filippelli said. "From the back of a cocktail napkin I put it together, and the rest is history. We took network quality production values and put it into production. We changed the whole benchmark for what a local baseball telecast was supposed to be."

Since YES began, the network has amassed 571 Emmy nominations, along with 134 Emmy wins. It has been the most-watched Regional Sports Network in the country in 16 of the past 18 years.

Leaving A Legacy

Calling his recent induction "the capstone to 46 years in the business," Filippelli said he's not sure how much longer he wants to work.

"As long as I enjoy it, and I'm still good at it and do it at a high level, and the Yankees are satisfied with my work, I guess I'll keep going. I don't think it's going to be all that much longer," he said.

He credited those he has worked with over the years for shaping his career. Filippelli has worked with the likes of Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Ralph Kiner and Al Michaels, among many others.

"I'm very thrilled to have added to the greats who have taught me how to produce baseball on television. Hopefully I've taught someone how to produce who will follow me. That's what it's all about," he said.

From being a vendor outside Yankee Stadium to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Filippelli said it's been an "improbable journey."

"When I was a vendor I never thought I'd wind up in any hall of fame. I was just hoping to move on from being a vendor and stay in the sports business. I was able to follow my dream and do some things I'm very proud of with people who are really wonderful, and do some of the biggest events," Filippelli said.

"Sometimes you get a little lucky in life, and I think I got lucky."