Former major leaguer and current MLB.com radio broadcaster Billy Sample and Curt Smith, considered by many the voice of authority on baseball broadcasting, kicked off a six-part Hall of Fame series featuring "great baseball broadcasters" in the museum's Bullpen Theater Saturday afternoon.

Upcoming series participants include former Ford C. Frick award winners Ernie Harwell and Bob Wolff; Ken "Hawk" Harrelson," the voice of the World Series champion Chicago White Sox; ESPN Sunday night broadcaster Jon Miller; and Joe Castiglione, the voice of the Boston Red Sox.

Sample said he, like many baseball fans growing up in the 1960s and early 70s, used to listen to baseball games on the radio at night before going to bed.

That may have been his early inspiration for becoming a broadcaster, and with MLB.com games airing on XM satellite radio, young and old fans alike can now hear every broadcaster from every team on any given night, he said.

"I like to educate, and I like talking about the history of the game," Sample said. "I think I've always had a unique perspective on things that I bring to the broadcast booth."

Like many baseball analysts on radio and television, Sample can draw on his experiences as a player in the broadcast booth. Sample broke into the major leagues in September of 1978 with the Texas Rangers, and played eight more seasons, including one each with the New York Yankees (1985) and Atlanta Braves (1986).

There was the time one of Sample's managers with the Rangers, Doug Rader, told a group of Little Leaguers they should eat their baseball cards, and through osmosis they would get absorb the players' talents.

Or, in Sample's final season in 1986, when Braves slugger Dale Murphy pinch hit and hit a home run with eight stitches in his right hand.

"Most players would have been out for two weeks but he didn't miss a game," Sample said.

Sample said one of the scary parts about being a broadcaster is the fear of saying things the wrong way, which prompted Smith to talk about some of the most famous malapropisms ever uttered by broadcasters.

Jerry Coleman, longtime voice of the San Diego Padres: "He slides safely into second base with a stand-up double." And "The outfielder goes back, back, and hits his head on the outfield wall. It's rolling back toward the infield."

Ralph Kiner, longtime voice of the New York Mets: "On this Father's Day, we'd like to wish all the fathers out there a happy birthday."

On a more serious note, both Sample and Smith said MLB.com and XM radio give fans the opportunity to hear broadcasters like the Dodgers Vin Scully, who has been with the team for 57 seasons, and Chuck Thompson, of whom Jon Miller once said "I don't care what he says, as long as he's saying it."

"I like to think of myself as a conduit between the fans and the game," Sample said. "I like the opportunity to bring my knowledge of the game to the fans."

The second part of the series will be held on Saturday, May 27 at 2 p.m. when 1981 Ford C. Frick winner Ernie Harwell will be the guest. The rest of the schedule includes Bob Wolff, June 17; Ken Harrelson, Sept. 9; Jon Miller, Sept. 16; and finally Joe Castiglione, Oct. 21.

The series will be featured as programming on XM satellite radio channel 75 throughout the season.