AUBURN - A legend in baseball broadcasting, Warner Fusselle, graced Falcon Park with his presence again this week, happy to find that there was still a special place for him in the press box.

“I was glad to see that they still have my name up there above my chair,” Fusselle said. “People kept telling me that the welcome sign with my name in it was still up here at Falcon Park and it's nice to see it.”

Fusselle has been the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn Cyclones since they began in 2001.

“I was looking for a job and had been living in New York for a while, so I took the job,” Fusselle said.

Working non-stop, Fusselle spent almost 20 years in television and now about 15 years doing play-by-play for baseball, which happens to be his favorite thing to do.

His resume is impressive, with work on both national and international television programs, announcing for both baseball and basketball and being one of the pioneers of ESPN television.

His career really started to take off when he decided to take a drive and look for a job.

He drove from Georgia to Washington and ended up in New York City in 1977, where he got his big start and where he still lives today.

“I got hired for ‘This Week In Baseball',” Fusselle said. “I started out picking up tapes at the train station for $200 a week and in three weeks they put me in charge of the show, writing scripts and directing Mel Allen. Eventually I got to get on the air and work with him. My pay didn't improve but working with Mel Allen, it doesn't get any bigger than that.”

After that, Fusselle started to work for Major League Baseball Magazine, during the birth of ESPN television.

He has announced for the Philadelphia Phillies minor league organization in both the A and AAA leagues, while also doing some Major League Baseball announcing on television, which he was not entirely fond of, he admits.

Those are just some of the highlights of the legend's long career, though his favorite job is doing the play-by-play for baseball, especially for the Phillies' rival organization in the Mets, despite how difficult the job is at times.

“This is the most grueling job I have ever done,” Fusselle said.

“It does go by quickly though, the travel is so tough and that is what makes it so hard on you. I am tired of worrying about rain every night and you have a terrible trip on the bus all night long, but then you get into the game and forget about it. It amazes me how hard these players work and they are constantly on the road. You really have to learn to sleep on the bus.”

Fusselle said that he would rather do his current job than anything else, especially because of the type of people he works with.

“These guys go out there every game and work hard,” Fusselle said.

“You can't tell which team had a bad trip and which didn't. That makes it interesting, there's always a good game to enjoy.”

Coming to Auburn is a special treat for Fusselle, who said that although he does not get much of a chance to venture into the city itself, he enjoys the people here and especially Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg, who he likes to interview.

“When you get to a town, you don't get to see much of it,” Fusselle said.

“What I have seen of Auburn though, I like. It's also a shorter trip than some of these places we go to and that matters after a while of traveling.”

Although Fusselle loves doing play-by-play announcing he does not see himself doing it for any other team.

“Brooklyn is probably the only place I would do this for,” Fusselle said. “There is a lot of talent here.”