SAN ANTONIO — Whether it's on the field or in the broadcast booth, Keith Moreland has had a great perspective on big-time athletics his entire life.
“If you can't play, you might as well broadcast it," said 68-year-old Moreland. "It’s so close to playing. People don't realize you get the same nerves. You get the same sweaty palms. It’s hard to breathe.”
Moreland felt those sensations for the better part of two decades during his playing career — first as a three-time All-American baseball player at the University of Texas, then as a pro for 15 years, including 12 in Major League Baseball.
He started on the microphone with Longhorns baseball in the 1990s. He's called Texas football, Chicago Cubs baseball and pretty much everything in between.
“You want to compete and do the best job you can do for folks that are tuning in to watch the telecast, or turning on the radio in the deer stand in West Texas,” Moreland said.
A perspective he's now viewing a little differently after a health scare in May 2022. It happened following a round of golf with his son, Cole, at Barton Creek Country Club in Austin.
"I was walking back uphill and having a little trouble getting my breath," Moreland said. "I said [to Cole], 'I'm gonna go to the car,' and that's the last thing I remember."
"We didn't notice anything. I don't think Dad felt bad at all," Cole Moreland said. "When we got back to the car, it just kind of went sideways. I heard the crash and the next thing I know he's on the ground."
Keith Moreland lost consciousness and collapsed in the parking lot. He was rushed to the hospital. The initial tests were inconclusive on his condition. He went to the Heart Hospital of Austin the following day where he was diagnosed with aortic stenosis.
“Calcium deposits on the aortic valve where it would not open and flow," Keith Moreland said.
Open-heart surgery was the only remedy.
"I said, 'No, we're not gonna have to do this. We're really not gonna have to split my chest open, are we?'" Moreland said. "And yes, they did.”
And suddenly, Moreland was in a position that he wasn't used to playing.
“He probably got tired of all of us wearing on him to do PT [physical therapy] and breathing exercises," Cole Moreland said. "It's a wake-up call without the nail in the coffin. You lean into it when you have the scare."
Things are starting to return to normal more than four months after the surgery. The first step was getting back to the booth to call little league baseball in August.
“At the end of the day, I was tired. My voice was struggling a little bit," Moreland said. "But it was fun, and each day since then, it's gotten easier.”
He's also now re-assumed his duties as color commentator for Texas State Football.
“It's not easy. I'm not going to put that through, that you can get through this easily," Moreland said.
And now that he's on the mic again, Moreland wants to make sure everyone hears this commentary.
“This can happen to anybody. I just want to reiterate that," Moreland said. "If you're in your 60s, just take an EKG and have a sonogram. It may very well save your life.”
Grateful that his career isn't over. Grateful to be back in the action.
“When I left the hospital room for the operating table, I was just hoping to be here," Moreland said. "I’m not 100 percent. I’m not back to where I was, but I'm working toward that process.”