When I went off to college, I had never had cable in my life, so I hadn’t seen all that many baseball games on TV. I was something of a White Sox fan (not my first team, but a team I liked), and I was excited that I was going to be able to watch many of their games.
By the time I graduated, I hated them with a passion that has yet to subside. The reason? Hawk Harrelson. You can put that on the board. Yesss.
I like Kay’s afternoon drive show too…at least during baseball season, but he is a homer when calling the games. The sad part is that he doesn’t see it, he thinks he’s right down the middle.
As a Mets fan, I’ve been spoiled with great radio broadcasts. Up until last year, the booth of Gary Cohen & Howie Rose was among the best in baseball (I listen to a lot of games on XM) but Cohen has moved to the SNY TV side of things, where he’s still trying to figure it out. I have to say that I’m surprised how un-homerish he & Keith Hernandez have been (when Keith’s not too busy putting women in their place :smack: ) considering that the team is in first place and has been playing great.
Sometimes the homer thing realy works for me. I think John Sterling (Yanks) is a fun listen on the radio, and just hearing Ron Santo makes it so I can’t help but root, root root for the Cubbies.
I had never given much thought to Rex Hudler’s Angels broadcasting partner, Steve Physioc. I thought he was fine, pretty good baseball knowledge but not Vin Scully or anything.
Then I heard him call some football games. And some basketball. Hell, for all I know, he calls college hockey too! He has a lot of knowledge about sports, and believe me, we could be a lot worse off.
Myself, I always like Ken Wilson and Ken Brett when they did Angels TV broadcasts. The best thing about Ken Brett was that you would get a couple of great Brother George anecdotes each and every game! Ken Brett’s MLB career seemd to consist of being the “and a left-hander” piece of any trade deal for other players! 
Vin is certainly a fantastic announcer, but I’d put John Miller in the same catagory. We enjoyed him for years and years here in B-more, he was THE voice of summer, until King Peter fired him because he wasn’t willing to verbally fellate the O’s in general and Pete in particular all the time. Almost 10 years along and it’s STILL a huge loss for Baltimore baseball.
You know, I didn’t realize Miller used to be a team announcer because I’d never given it any thought. He is immensely enjoyable to listen to on ESPN broadcasts. I’ve never heard him do a solo broadcast, so I’m not prepared to put him in quite the same category as Vin, who can obviously carry a game all by himself (and probably works far better alone). Did Miller do solo broadcasts for the O’s?
Don’t get me wrong. I like Physioc…hell, I like Rex Hudler, too. He cracks me up. I don’t change the channel because they’re announcing or anything like that. It’s just the one quirk that annoys me. I think they’re both perfectly good announcers and deserve to be in the position they’re in.
It’s very possible he’s a brilliant baseball mind, with plenty to say. It’s completely possible that he’s great on his drive-time show (is it just a regional ESPN radio show or can I pick it up on the internet or elsewhere? I’d certainly be willing to try it out). I just find something about his voice, manner, and style when he’s doing play-by-play that really turns me off for some reason.
I just caught this:
Leiter was excellent when he did that playoff series with Fox a season or two ago. He was absolutely the highlight of the booth, even as the “third guy”, and there was definite potential there; I love announcers who actually can say something significant in their analysis rather than just all the typical Tim McCarver bullshit or rah-rah-go-home-team!, and it sounded like Leiter had some ability.
(speaking of that, what do we have to do to never hear McCarver do a game again? Or Joe Morgan, for that matter? How are the national color guys so astoundingly poor?)
Vin Scully is a “West Coast” announcer in terms of style. I don’t buy that.
Here are some of the other announcers on the West Coast:
Jon Miller (Giants) - closest in style to Scully
Jerry Coleman (Padres) - Phil Rizzuto West
Ted Leitner (Padres) - He calls the team “My Padres”. Insufferable jerk
Matt Vasgersian (Padres) - He’s the TV guy and he’s an overgrown frat boy who likes to quote line from “Animal House”
Duane Kuiper/Mike Krukow (Giants) - They’re the TV pair and they work pretty well together and they aren’t incredible homers, but you know which team they want to win
Ken Korach/Ray Fosse (A’s) - They’re fairly understated. Bill King passed away last year and he was passionate about the A’s, but he could criticize them. A lot.
Dave Niehaus (Mariners) - Slight homer, but very good and fun. The other M’s announcer never make much of an impression
Thom Brennaman (DBacks) - OW! My ears! What hath Marty Brennaman spawned
Mark Grace (DBacks) - Some people like him. I loathe him.
Steve Physioc (Angels) - Career hack
Rex Hudler (Angels) - Give him some valium. He has some insights when he’s lucid and I think he’s better than Physioc.
No one cares about the Rockies announcers (Yes, I know the Rockies are in first place.)
Actually, according to airport police, I believe that weed was the drug of choice there…
I love Rex the Wonder Dog.
Is that what happened? Shit. I spent a summer at Towson State some years back, and I listened to Miller do the O’s games every night. Not that the Orioles are the first team to fire an announcer for not being biased enough.
Jon Miller is the only National Announcer I like, funny that you compare him to the great Vin Scully. I wish they could get Jon a better partner than Morgan.
I am sure you know this, but Coleman basically learned from Scooter. He shared the booth with him in NY when I was a really little kid. I don’t remember him but my father liked him. I think he was there from 63-69. I could be wrong.
WordMan Thank you.
I enjoy Kay’s drive time show also. But I am far enough South (Ocean & Monmouth counties that the signal is not strong and I lose it on my way home at different times.
Kiros: Al has been pretty good. I like having him on the broadcast.
He was also kind of one of my idols growing up. He was one year ahead of me in High School and made the local paper* every week it seems like for 3 years. I think all Monmouth & Ocean county baseball fans were hoping he would go to their team and sure enough, the Yanks drafted him, incredible!
The day I found out he got traded for Jesse Barfield I stopped watching baseball for the year. I was too disgusted. One of the worst trades the Yanks every made.
Jim
Whenever I watch or listen to another team’s game, I am so very grateful that the Giants have who they do. Kruk & Kuip are a joy to listen to, as is Jon “The Big Kahuna” Miller. Kruk & Kuip were Giants, and Miller grew up here, so they’re certainly Giants fans, but it doesn’t really show all that much.
One exception was when Lofton got the game-winning RBI to send the Giants to the World Series. Miller’s call was fantastic (“Kenny Lofton has driven a stake through the heart of the Cardinals!”) but I almost like Krukow yelling in the background “We’re going!” as much. 
And I’m certainly glad Miller was calling, and not Tim McFucking Carver. What the hell were we thinking, hiring him?
Do you ever pass up an opportunity to mention that in my presence?
Mike “Moonman” Shannon is a huge Cardinal homer, but he’s not anywhere close to Hawk Harrelson bad. It’s kinda funny, actually: screaming “Get up, baby!” at 400-foot homers, carrying such hatred against Angel Hernandez that he refuses to even say his name, asking/begging for or predicting double (and triple!) plays. Jack Buck was a lot like Vin Scully when calling games.
John Rooney’s been pretty even so far, but is still a tremendous improvement over Wayne "Robo-"Hagin. Robo-Hagin wouldn’t get excited about anything.
Agreed. Leiter was phenomenal; he provided more insights in one series than useless Joe Morgan or Tim McCarver have provided in their entire broadcasting careers. He wasn’t entirely comfortable, but he seemed to understand that if he was going to open his yap it should be to provide some genuine analysis.
Morgan is ten times worse than McCarver.
Local ones too; the Blue Jays just added Rance Mulliniks as their color man on Rogers Sportsnet games (which is to say pretty much all games) and he’s… well, he’s not nearly as bad as Joe Morgan, but he’s not terrific. Pat Tabler was even worse. They seem to be cycling through all the former Blue Jay mediocrities; I bet next year they hire Darnell Coles, and in 2008 they’ll bring Rick Leach onboard.
There seems to be a requirement that color men must be former ballplayers, so it’s mostly a parade of jocks who really aren’t much into geniune analysis. Every now and then you get a gem, like Leiter or Buck Martinez, who’s a terrible manager but really grew as a color man. But they’re just lucky exceptions.
As to the OP, it really varies from city to city. I was horrified the first time I heard Hawk Harrelson.
Good Lord, Darnell Coles. ESPN had him doing a couple of the Asian WBC games, and I could have gotten more useful analysis from a coatrack. He’s like a less-insightful Harold Reynolds, if that’s possible.
Out of curiousity, to those of you coming down on Joe Morgan: he’s never really bothered me all that much (not that I think he’s all that great). What’s the beef?
He absolutely refuses to admit that anyone could know more about the game than him. Witness his absolute refusal to read Moneyball because “no one who’s never played the game can tell me, a player, how to play.” He also eschews every statistic created since he retired, even if they can accurately evaluate players. He doesn’t even believe in the validity of OBP as a tool for rating all players rather than just leadoff guys.
Also, his observations are… well, not observations at all. He either points out the blindingly obvious or starts talking about one of his ex-Reds teammates. My happiest night of the year is the Sunday night game on Hall of Fame Weekend, since Joe’s not in the booth.
Dave Concepcion was not the greatest shortstop ever, Joe. And no one gives a crap about your daughter’s gymnastics competitions.
If you want some Joe Morgan related humor, read Fire Joe Morgan
brianjedi: You summed that up so well, I agree with every point.
Did it just flow front pent up disgust or have you thought about it for a while.
I don’t catch Sunday Night Baseball all that often, but now that you’ve pointed that stuff out, I can recall hearing some of that from him before.
I suspect that I won’t be able to help noticing it from now on. Thanks a lot. 
My dislike for Joe’s “commentary” actually goes back to his days on NBC with Bob “I’m a hyper-traditionalist who hates everything baseball’s done since 1968” Costas. Even then I could recognize inane rambling.
And I have a love-hate relationship with Costas. He knows his baseball, which I have to respect, but I can’t stand his rants against every advance MLB has made since the introduction of the LCS. I think the worst thing that could happen would be his election as Commissioner of Baseball.
Also, his bandwagon attachment to the Cardinals despite growing up a Yankees fan, to the point of carrying a Mantle card in his wallet, really annoys me. He thinks that working at KMOX and sucking up to Jack Buck entitles him to someday semi-retiring his way into the broadcast booth for the Cards, since he’s mentioned on several occasions that he’d like to end his career doing radio for them.
Ah, Bob Costas, I love hearing him talk baseball but I hated when he announced it. I never completely understood the disconnect.
He can wax rhapsodic about Baseball in a way that makes you go to a game a soon a possible. He is a great speaker and a good writer. Somehow he is almost as bad as McCarver announcing.
It is kind of weird, Costas has had tremendous success and yet it is Michael Kay that is living his dream. He speaks about how he knew he couldn’t grow up to be Mickey Mantle, so hoped he could at least be the Yankee Announcer and get to see every game.
Jim