‘Say Hey!’: Hayes hits home run with Giants podcast

Manteca High campus monitor Doug Hayes hosts a San Francisco Giants podcast called “Say Hey!” With the baseball season around the corner, the podcast is nearing a milestone of its own — 100 episodes.

By ANDREW ROBISON
The Tower

Manteca High campus monitor Doug Hayes plays a vital role on campus, keeping the students and staff safe on a daily basis, but there is much more to him then a golf cart and walkie talkie.

Away from campus, Hayes, a rabid sports fan, hosts the “Say Hey!” podcast along with Rob Lewis. The title is an ode to San Francisco Giants legend Willie Mays, and the podcast delves into everything San Francisco Giants baseball.

The podcast began in July 2020.

“It was that weird year of Covid where baseball started really late,” Hayes said. “I had just switched over from a Sacramento Kings podcast.”

With that experience and a natural presence on camera, Hayes was easily able to flow into a podcast discussing his favorite Major League Baseball team.

Hayes is happy with the podcast’s productivity over the years, and he hopes to continue to grow his podcast audience in 2023.

“We’re not professionals or journalists,” he said, “but being fans of the game and of the Giants for so long, it’s a great way to connect with other fans and get our voices heard.”

With a catalogue of nearly 100 episodes, Hayes claims he doesn’t really have a favorite episode, but he does have a preference on what topics are discussed.

“I enjoy our lists episodes, whether it’s ranking top players or something that we’re looking forward into ranking,” Hayes said. “Those are always the most fun because Rob and I go back and forth and see how similar or apart we are on our beliefs on a certain topic.”

Hosting a podcast may sound like an easy job. Realistically, though, there is a lot of preparation and research before going live. There’s also the ability to discuss certain topics thoroughly for an extended period of time on a multitude of subjects.

Organization is important, but being too organized could affect the flow of your podcast.

“You also want to keep yourselves from being too limited,” he said. “When you’re too organized, it can get boring because of the structure and feeling like you have to follow things. When you have that structure but limit it, I think it creates a good free-flowing conversation.”

In today’s digital world, there are more than four million podcasts. With so many podcasts, it’s hard to build your name in such a deep market, especially one like baseball. Hayes and the “Say Hey!” podcast are tackling a hefty challenge.

Though still early in the career of their podcasts, “Say Hey!” has gained attention from many Giants insiders like Steven Risotto, Jeff Young, and Eric Nathanson.