NY Islanders: 3 fun facts about legendary announcer Jiggs McDonald

He called Mets games during the 1982 season

While in Los Angeles, Jiggs listened to the sweet sounds of Vin Scully calling Dodgers games throughout the summer, and that came in handy when SportsChannel asked him to broadcast roughly 60 Mets games during the 1982 season.

McDonald soaked in the knowledge of HOF Ralph Kiner during that season and also struck up a relationship with radio announcer Bob Murphy. There were noticeable differences between life in MLB compared to NHL, and for Jiggs, one of the things that stood out most was how teams traveled.

MLB teams traveled in a manner not customary in the NHL, with small things like parking, hotel rooms, and luggage all being taken care of for baseball players and announcers while hockey players were responsible for everything and carried their own bags as they traveled from one city to the next.

It was for only one season, but a time McDonald enjoyed and treasured before the start of the 1982-83 season as the Islanders chased a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.