Billy Sample is coming back to town.

But this time, the former major-league outfielder isn't returning to Salem just to see his mother, brothers, aunts or grandmother. This time, it's for work.

Sample, who graduated from Andrew Lewis High School, is a broadcaster for MLB.com and its minor-league arm, MILB.com. He will be working on a feature report (with video and audio) for MILB.com on tonight's Carolina League-California League All-Star Game at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.

Andrew Lewis "had so many good and talented athletes, not only in baseball but in football especially, I never feel as though I'm some conquering hero coming back," Sample, 51, said last week in a phone interview from his New York office. "Your peers know who was good and who wasn't good and who may have gotten a little more attention than they should have."

Sample, a former color commentator for the Atlanta Braves, California Angels, Seattle Mariners and ESPN, has worked for MLB.com for 6 ¹₂ years. He serves as an announcer, host, narrator and reporter. On Monday afternoon, Sample and Ed Randall could be seen and heard serving as substitute hosts for the two-hour "Baseball Today" show on MLB.com's MLB Radio.

"They really are expanding so quickly," he said of MLB.com. "From audio to video, it's like an amoeba just taking over the country."

Next month, Sample will be the play-by-play announcer for MLB.com's broadcasts of the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby in Pittsburgh. He has done MLB.com play-by-play for spring training games, the World Baseball Classic and Roger Clemens' first minor-league game of the year.

Most former ballplayers stick to analysis when they become broadcasters, but Sample got the chance to do both play-by-play and color commentary while doing Braves games for TBS and the radio. He later did both while with the Angels' radio network. He prefers doing play-by-play.

"I enjoy calling the game," he said. "Being a former player, you're exposed to more nuances of the game in which you can take people to, especially on radio, that you can't do sometimes when you're strictly the analyst.

"I'm not particularly voluble. I don't think I say more than I have to say."

Sample, who lives in Washington, N.J., usually gets back to Salem twice a year. He didn't only make his mark in the city in baseball. He played for the 1971 Andrew Lewis football team that made it to the state title game.

In a memorable game at Victory Stadium, the Wolverines rallied to beat E.C. Glass 20-14 in the state quarterfinals. Andrew Lewis trailed 14-0 with just over six minutes left, but the Wolverines scored three TDs in 1:45. He has vivid memories of that game.

"We were down 14-0 ... and my thought was, 'I wonder if I can make the basketball team?' That's how close I thought the season was to coming to a close," Sample said.

Sample caught the winning TD pass from Eddie Joyce Jr. He still gets chills when he recalls Joyce saying, "and curl man, look out," as he called the play in the huddle. Sample was the curl man on the play.

"I curled and had a little separation between the linebacker and the safety, caught it and scored," he said. "I had one walk-off home run in the majors and that was exciting, and I had a couple diving catches that were game-savers, but that was the most memorable comeback."

Andrew Lewis lost to T.C. Williams of "Remember the Titans" fame 27-0 in the state final at Victory Stadium.

"As much as they dominated the game, it's still one of those I wish we could've played again," Sample said. "We had no offense that day. They had a dominant defense."

Sample's best sport, of course, was baseball. He went on to play nine seasons in the majors.

"I'm sure I had [Andrew Lewis] teammates in baseball that wondered how I made it," he said. "In high school I was playing third and they'd hit a groundball to me and I'd throw it to the trees. I had better American Legion seasons than I did high school seasons."

Sample was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 28th round out of Andrew Lewis. He was disappointed by the round, and opted to play for James Madison instead. He was drafted by the Rangers again in 1976, as a 10th-round pick after his junior year at JMU.

"My worst fear was that the Pirates were going to draft me and send me to Salem," Sample said. "I don't know that I would've enjoyed the attention."