Baseball announcers -- is it just me?

Cafe Society
41

Except he lives in St. Louis. I seriously think he’s expecting Bill DeWitt to call him when Mike Shannon retires and say “Here’s a bucket of cash, come sit in our radio booth.” And that won’t happen.

I sort of get the sense that he doesn’t want the Yankee job because of Steinbrenner.

You’re right, though, that he does a great job of evangelizing baseball. It’s just that his commentary sometimes has problems, namely when he starts romanticizing the first half of last century. He’s got a solid play-by-play style, but he needs to let go of this idealized notion of historic baseball.

42

We Giants fans have been truly blessed when it comes to our radio announcers. Jon Miller is probably the current gold standard, and Krukow and Kuiper have got to be among the best former players to sit in a broadcast booth. And before Miller came over from the Orioles, we had Hank Greenwald.

As an aside regarding Duane Kuiper, are there any other ex-players who fill the play-by-play role? (Mike Krukow is the color guy when they’re working together.)

43

I agree totally with this post. Watching ESPN games, I swear I can hear Jon Miller pause and make a perfectly subtle “WTF” face every time Joe Morgan finishes a “point.”

And Joe Morgan was an ex-Giant, so I should love the guy.

44

I keep hoping Miller will just snap and stab him in the neck with a pen. Or, even better, beat him with a laptop and a copy of “Moneyball.” :smiley:

45

I have three beefs with him:

  1. He provides very, very limited analysis. Morgan spends most of his time babbling about himself or spouting generalities; he very rarely actually provides any actual insights. Morgan was one of the smartest and most situationally perceptive baseball players to ever play the game, but he doesn’t seem to want to pass along that knowledge; he’d rather spout platitudes.

  2. He’s frankly kind of a jerk; Morgan is one of the “I played the game the RIGHT way, by God” types, and is prone to going off on rants about people with whom he disagrees, often embarassing himself in the process by showing that he doesn’t actually know what he’s talking about.

  3. Unlike a good commentator, he doesn’t know when to shut the big hole in the middle of his face.

My favourite Joe Morgan moment was a couple of years ago during the ALCS, in the first game Pedro started for the Red Sox. I was driving from the Twin Cities to Brainerd (yah, you betcha) on business and picked up ESPN radio in my car just as the game started. Now, this was the same year as Pedro’s “they’re our daddies” comment about the Yankees, so of course the New York crowd commenced chanting “Who’s your dad-dy? Who’s your dad-dy?” It was funny. Joe Morgan, however, was in a huff, and said - and I am quoting as best as I can - this:

I was sitting there thinking, “Oh my God, the man is having a stroke in the middle of the broadcast.”

46

If only we could be so lucky.

47

A pox on Bob Costas. I hope he gets a degenerative brain disease and ends his days drooling on himself in a dark corner somewhere. This has nothing to do with baseball, but ever since he chose to fly into our city after we finally got NFL football back in spite of Cooke, Tagliabue and company just to shit all over the Ravens on our very first opening day, then, to add insult to insult, he hopped back into his limo and went back to the airport without even staying for the game (he flew in JUST to piss on our parade. Oh and BTW, where were you in '84, jackass?), I’ve wished him nothing but ill.

48

I feel blessed to have Jon Miller calling Giants games. He does a dead-on Vin Scully among other impressions. And I have to admit that I have a lot of respect for Vin Scully even though he works for the evil Dodgers.

49

How lucky, then, that he’s gonna host the studio portion of Football Night in America this fall.

I’m actually hoping that NBC decides to make a bid for the MLB package for 2007 and beyond. As much as I complain about his rants, NBC getting baseball might spare us Tim McCarver’s inane ramblings. I don’t see Costas and McCarver working as a team, and we might get someone who can actually analyze stuff, like Al Leiter or Orel Hershiser.

50

Hearing other team’s broadcasters once in awhile makes me glad a grew up with the late Jack Buck. I still get goose bumps when I hear him on old highlights.

brianjedi
This is the first im hearing about Costas wanting the St. louis gig. Do you think Cardinal ownership/fans would want him?

51

I first heard it a few years ago, right after JFB passed. Someone asked him about being an “old-school” announcer and he said he’d love to end his career doing PBP for the Cardinals.

I don’t see him being offered the job, really. Rooney’s doing a hell of a job so far, and as a result Moonman’s the best he’s been in years. I don’t know who they’ll choose to replace Shannon when he decides he’s had enough, but I’d say any short list would include Ricky Horton, Ozzie (if TLR’s gone) and maybe the Mad Hungarian if they want to move him over from TV. I would think Joe Buck would be a candidate for the PBP job if he wants to give up his TV schedule.

Would I like to hear him do it? I can think of worse guys to do it, and he definitely has a respect for guys like JFB, Scully, Ernie Harwell and would like to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys. I read in a story about the opening of New Busch that he called his son and was doing PBP over the phone from the box seats on the first base line, and it was described as being an almost dead-on Vin Scully.

52

I agree about Shannon.
He’s been sounding better then he has in years, and I don’t know if its Rooney, the new park, or not being allowed to drink in the new booth :wink:

53

And before Greenwald, there was Al Michaels…and before him, Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges (both in the HOF). Of course, there were some duds mingled in, too.

Kruk & Kuip (especially Kruk) fall into the category of Incredible Homers (I was going to post how Kruk stepped on Jon Miller’s call with his “we’re going to the Series!!!”, but Troy McClure beat me to it) but able & willing to point out good & bad baseball on either side.

54

Speaking of which…Jon Miller tries to avoid saying the name of the Giants home stadium if at all possible. It’s always “here at McCovey Cove…”, or “live, from 24 Willie Mays Plaza…”

Just thought I’d share.

55

Damn you all for starting this thread on a Friday! My SDMBing is spotty over a weekend and I missed this. I was thinking of starting this exact thread, so thanks Asimovian.

I have the MLB Ticket on DirecTV so I get to hear all the announcers and some are so terrible I can’t watch the games. If there are mildly homerish, and you’re a fan of the team you don’t really notice, and vice versa. If they are terribly homerish - it doesn’t matter if you like the team or not, you wil notice. :smiley:

With that being said - the WhiteSox and Angels have got to be the worst. I can’t even watch the games. Yankees and RedSox probably aren’t too bad, but since I hate the teams so much the announcers seem worse (although Ken Singleton is starting to grow on me a little. He was terrible when he first started). I love the Oriole guys (especially Jim Palmer), but again I’m a little biased (huge O’s fan). Of teams I’m neutral about, the Ranger’s and Indian’s guys seem to do pretty good job. Haven’t had a chance to catch too many NL games yet, but no one has jumped out at me as detestable…yet.

Roger what everyone has said about Jon Miller. He’s one of the best. He and Joe Buck are the only national announcers I can stand.

Weirddave - did you catch Jon Miller’s call on the Jeffrey Maiers’ play back in '96? Truly one of the classic clips of all time. I first saw the play in a bar with no sound when it happened, but heard his call the next day on the radio. I think he did an awesome job of describing it since he was the radio man then.

56

Longest. Sentence. Ever. :slight_smile:

57

Just want to add my 2¢ about West Coast vs other announcers.

The characterization that West Coast announcers are not homers seems right. I think it’s largely dictated by the audience, many of whom are originally from other parts of the country and have conflicted rooting interests. An announcer being too much of a homer doesn’t play very well out here. One piece of anectdotal evidence (which you may have heard before): back in the 70s Harry Carey (yes, that Harry Carey) spent one and only one season as the announcer for the A’s. Didn’t work out; nobody like him. Too much a homer. He wound up back in Chicago, and it all worked great for him, but that shit just didn’t play around here.

Today in the Bay Area, we have a lot of announcers who clearly are a part of the organization, but they don’t let that get in the way of acknowledging and recognizing what the other team is doing on the field. Bill King always called a great game for the A’s, always hit the right note of excitement when Oakland made the big play, but he also gave the other team its due. And he would criticize the A’s when they were screwing up, too. (An aside: King was legendary for his brutal treatment of the umpires. Not so much if the A’s weren’t getting calls, but just if the umps were missing too many calls either way. Some of his funniest moments were rants about the umpires.) His style was just right for the Oakland broadcasts, and fit the West Coast mold in general very well. Ken Korach is excellent, in much the same way (though not quite as colorful). Vince Cotroneo seems to be doing a good job fitting in, too, with that same style: understated and as unbiased as can be expected. (Can’t talk about the A’s TV announcers, since I watch with the sound off and listen to the radio broadcasts. I just know the TV side is not worth hearing.)

Jon Miller has been discussed above, and is so widely heard that there’s not much more to say. Kruk and Kuip also do a great job for the Giants. Again, they’re part of the organization, but they don’t let it get in the way of recognizing when the other team makes the play.

I think Vin Scully is unique because of his Brooklyn origins, and the fact that he’s been with the Dodgers for so long. He really doesn’t have to be a homer–he can say what he damn well pleases, because he’s untouchable.

The one real upshot of the West Coast style is, when you are used to listening to those announcers, then get exposed to announcers from around the country, the other guys seem really grating. I get WGN on my cable system, but I can’t watch Sox games, because the announcers (especially Harrleson) really get on my nerves.

And I second the motion to get rid of Joe Morgan. “Gee, Joe, thanks for describing exactly what we saw with our own eyes in that replay. Care to tell us what color the grass is? Great analysis there, Joe.” It’s sometimes almost funny, because there are times when Miller will say something and Morgan will totally miss his point, and you can hear the awkwardness in the ensuing moment of silence. Jon deserves a better partner, but he seems to be stuck with Morgan.

58

WGN’s philosophy appears to be “Let’s hire the worst announcers available now that we’ve run Steve Stone off.” Len Kaspar and Bob Brenly on the Cubs’ side are HORRIBLE. Brenly’s “I was a horrible player” schtick only works for Bob Uecker, and Len Kaspar sounds like Generic Sports Announcer.

ESPN should replace Joe Morgan with Steve Stone, now that I think about it. Stoney is insightful, intelligent and has experience doing national telecasts.

59

I am forever grateful that I had WGN in the summer of 1984 – I was 15 years old, had most afternoons off from my summer job, and was introduced to baseball broadcasting by Harry Caray and Steve Stone. Harry was a huge homer, but he was less an authoritative announcer than a lovable personality. Stone has always provided good, insightful and unbiased analysis (as I recall, he was too unbiased for WGN?) – anyway, I’d also like to see him get a chance at a bigger market.

60

Stoney was too unbiased for the Cubs, particularly when he questioned Dusty Baker’s use of his pitchers and the severity of Mark Prior’s injuries. That’s what got him fired.

ESPN’s been using him on midweek games and DayGame, but they won’t let him sit in the big chair. I think a Miller-Stone team would be incredibly good.