Influential YES Network Producer John Filippelli Celebrates 40 Years in Sports TV

Anything for Flip.

Ask anyone at the YES Network for something and tell them that John Filippelli, the network's president of production and programming, sent you, and that's the response you're likely to get. He's the type of boss that employees will run through a wall for (and there's no proof that there aren't a few who actually have).

It also doesn't hurt that he's a genius at what he does. This summer marks the iconic producer's 40th year in sports television, a career loaded with accomplishments, accolades, and a knack for building television magic from scratch.

With more than 100 national Emmy nominations and more than 100 New York Emmy nominations, Filippelli has established himself as the go-to producer for major national and international sports events. He's also one of the industry's few pillars who have worked their way up from senior positions in the truck to upper management.

The thing that really jumps out at me about him is that most bosses I have come across are all about negatives, says Michael Kay, the lead play-by-play man on Yankees telecasts on YES Network since its launch. You only hear from them when things are bad. Flip is hardly like that at all. Flip will call you and tell you, Great game, What a great call. [With] a boss [who calls] and tells you something good, when he tells you something is bad, you really do take notice. It doesn't become white noise. I think it's really special when you have a boss that tells you when things are going well. He has that run-through-a-wall ability with his workers.

Filippelli understands the tremendous power of a sports-television producer and his or her crew in telling the story of games that matter so much to the viewer at home. He regularly tells those who work for him that the way that we cover a game is almost as important as the game itself, because the imagery and commentary we provide become lasting memories for our viewers.

He's a professional aided by perspective.

It's exhilarating, but it can also be daunting, Filippelli says. You try not to think about it, but you do understand the overview. When you have a moment that is great, you have a responsibility to underscore that moment, not to overproduce or overdirect that moment. You have a responsibility to shape that memory. The pictures, the audio, and the commentary that you send out is going to define that moment and how that moment is remembered.

Fox Sports EVP of Operations Ed Delaney, a longtime colleague at The Baseball Network and YES Network, notes that Filippelli is very creative from the production side. He has attention to detail. He's a tremendous leader. He knows how to motivate people. He knows how to pull back on the reins when he needs to, and he's clear and concise with his direction.

An All-American Story

Filippellli's story is as Americana as it gets. He was born in Brooklyn, where his father owned a bar across the street from Ebbetts Field. Young Flip's first job, at age 16, was as a vendor at, where else, Yankee Stadium.

Throughout his television career, Filippelli has produced a high-profile catalog of events: the Olympic Games, Super Bowls, Monday Night Football, the Indianapolis 500, Wimbledon, the NHL, the PGA Tour, British Open golf, the BCS College Football Championship Series, and ABC's Wide World of Sports. But his true passion was baseball.

During his time at NBC Sports in the '70s and '80s, he was a lead producer for numerous MLB Game of the Week, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and World Series telecasts. His more notable productions included Game 1 of the 1988 World Series (the famous Kirk Gibson game) and, for Fox Sports, the 1998 game where Mark McGwire slugged his record-breaking 62nd home run.

Filippelli also played a key role in The Baseball Network, a short-lived (yet pioneering) broadcasting venture in 1994 that called for the league to produce its own games and make them available to its broadcasting partners at NBC and ABC.

He coordinated every aspect of the production of 14 simultaneous MLB game telecasts on any given night, a concept that seems commonplace in today's world of league and national cable networks but was wildly radical in the early '90s.

When it comes to baseball, he knows the sport better than anybody, says Delaney. His knowledge of baseball and production is top-notch.

A Baseball Breakthrough

To baseball fans, the 1996 World Series - for better or worse - represents the birth of a modern-day New York Yankees dynasty. That Fall Classic, however, was also a pivotal moment in the history of sports television. It marked the first World Series carried by the young, upstart Fox Sports. The industry watched that World Series with a highly critical eye. Thanks in part to Filippelli, Fox's productions stepped up in a big way.

There was such a focus on us at Fox and if we could do baseball, he recalls. The answer was, we really could. Not only could we, we did, and we redefined how baseball coverage was.

He also put an innovative stamp on his career and on the industry during that Series on one of its most decisive plays. In the third inning of Game 6, Joe Girardi smacked an RBI hit over the head of Braves centerfielder Marquis Grissom that the Yankee catcher legged out for a triple. In a medium where so much emphasis is placed on the slow-motion instant replay, Filippelli instead chose to show Girardi chugging around the bases in full speed. Of course, it wasn't the first full-speed replay ever shown, but it was rare, and it certainly made many a producer and director take notice.

Why would you show speed in slow motion? he reflects. You had guys like Mookie Wilson and Dave Winfield, [whose] going from first to third was a thing of beauty. If you want to show

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