Portland Sea Dogs broadcaster Emma Tiedemann is set to make Red Sox history with her on-air partner Rylee Pay when the duo calls Boston's matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park on Monday night.
The duo has been calling games in Portland for the past two seasons, but for Tiedemann, making her Red Sox broadcasting debut at the historic ballpark has more personal meaning than professional.
"My grandfather was a baseball broadcaster, and he was a broadcaster for the Texas Rangers," Tiedemann told NESN.com. "He always said his favorite place was Fenway to call games because he actually got a death threat there. He said that he felt like he made it. So, it's gonna be a really cool, full circle moment when that happens, when I get to call my first major league game at his favorite ballpark."
Tiedemann is the granddaughter of the multi-faceted sportscaster Bill Mercer. Mercer voiced baseball, football, basketball and wrestling in his 60-plus-year career.
Along with the unique tie she holds with Fenway, Tiedemann is not lost on what it means to be a part of the Red Sox organization.
"It's everything," she said. "I think that you grow up as a baseball fan, and no matter where you grow up ... I grew up in Texas and a fan of the Texas Rangers, but you were always kind of wondering, 'Oh, I wonder what the Red Sox did.' The Red Sox were always on your radar just because of the history of the franchise. The history of Fenway. No matter where you're from, if you're a baseball fan, you know about the Red Sox and you know about their history.
"Even when I first accepted this job in Portland, I was really intimidated because I knew the level of loyalty that these fans have in the franchise. I was really nervous that I wouldn't be accepted because I'm from far away. I'm not from New England and I'm not from Maine or Boston."
