Mike Emrick’s connection to hockey is so strong — and his play-by-play so vivid — that it may be surprising that he has such a strong love for baseball.

But Emrick, 69, grew up listening to the Pittsburgh Pirates on KDKA Radio, with Bob Prince on the microphone; played baseball in tiny, rural La Fontaine, Ind., where 200 or 300 people would turn out for Little League games; and looked up to baseball coaches as his heroes. And on Aug. 9, 1959, he, his parents, his older brother Dan, and another family drove four hours in a station wagon to Forbes Field and saw the Pirates play the Chicago Cubs. It was the first major league game that Emrick attended, in general-admission seats behind home plate.

“If anything could follow up on the radio appeal of the Pirates, it was seeing Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski play in person and see Elroy Face’s 15th win,” he said. “He was 15-0.”

Face was on his way to an 18-1 season, all in relief.

Emrick kept that scorecard.

Fifty-seven years later, Emrick will call a game with Bob Costas for M.L.B. Network when the Cubs play the Pirates on July 8 at PNC Park.