SCRAPPERS PROFILE/GREG GANIA Busy schedule includes return to broadcast booth

The Bowling Green student is also the team's media representative.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- Greg Gania's day working for a minor league baseball team involves solving tasks that are anything but minor.
The Bowling Green State University student serves as the Mahoning Valley Scrappers' media representative; he directs the team's host-family program; and he's there to perform any other odd jobs the Scrappers ask of him.
"Just when you think you have a break for lunch, you get five phone calls," Gania said.
Night shift
That's why Gania, a Warren Harding High graduate, looks forward to nightfall.
When the sun goes down and the stadium lights come on, the 21-year-old can be heard across the airwaves on the Scrappers' radio home, WNIO-AM (1390).
"That's the peaceful part of my day," he said.
Gania, who will be a senior in the fall as a broadcast journalism major, begins his second season doing play-by-play for the Scrappers.
"How often do you get to go and watch baseball for 76 games during the season?" Gania asked. "This is what I want to do. The ultimate goal of every broadcaster is getting to the big leagues."
When Gania secured his headset for the 2003 season opener in Batavia, N.Y., he didn't have much experience in the booth.
Nearly three months later, after riding countless bus miles on the New York Thruway and living out of hotels in unknown New York-Penn League towns, Gania wasn't green to the minor league scene.
"It was definitely a learning experience," Gania said.
Road warriors
Especially the travel, which can wear on players, coaches and radio broadcasters.
During one stretch of the 2003 season, the Scrappers played two games in Auburn, N.Y. (302 miles away), came home for two games against Jamestown, then set off on a 585-mile trek to Vermont after playing a 12-inning game.
"Shame on the New York-Penn League for doing that," said Gania, labeling it a "trip from hell."
Ripken Stadium, 2-year-old home of the Aberdeen Ironbirds in Aberdeen, Md., was Gania's favorite road stadium for its facilities and atmosphere.
Gania had a bad experience at Hudson Valley's Dutchess Stadium ("miserable") in Fishkill, N.Y., which was his least favorite road stop of 2003. The public address announcer there talked too much, said Gania, who also had one of his microphones stolen from the booth.
Gania is looking forward to part of this season's road schedule. The Scrappers make trips to New York City venues Brooklyn and Staten Island -- arguably the best two stadiums in the league.
Grading scale
Gania graded his 2003 performance in the booth as a B-minus.
"At the beginning of the season, I was around a D," he said. "At the end of the season, I was pushing a high B. I definitely improved."
For two reasons: He became accustomed to the first-year players and their backgrounds, and he acclimated himself to broadcasting games alone.
"It was an adjustment," he said of being the sole man in the booth. "I had never done it by myself, other than sitting in front of the PlayStation and calling Marlins games."
Gania said the station will enhance its broadcasts this season with ticket giveaways and birthday promotions.
richesson@vindy.com