Grantland: Marv Albert Comes Home

The Aufrichtig brothers — Marv, Al, Steve — had a ritual. After dinner, they’d walk from the dining room into the living room and close the door. They’d turn on whatever baseball game was on TV. And then they’d turn the sound way down.

They placed a table in front of the television. Marv, who was the oldest by six years, took a seat on the right. He did play-by-play. Al sat in the middle. He was in charge of a sound-effects record that replicated crowd noise. Steve sat on the left. He had two price-marking pencils from their father’s grocery store, and when he hit the pencils together, the sound mimicked the crack of a bat.

The Aufrichtigs would begin … broadcasting. In front of the boys was a Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder, which captured every word. They did this almost every night. After a couple of innings, they switched places.

Then they played dress-up in mom’s closet.