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How are your local MLB announcer teams? (1 Viewer)

set57hike

Footballguy
So, how do you like your MLB announcer teams? The loss of Harry Kalas in Philly leaves me wondering which broadcasting teams I should be checking out. The new Iphone MLB app provides live audio for home and (in most cases) road teams for all games without blackouts, so now it is really convenient for me to check out more games. (This app is a highly recommended bargain for $10, by the way).

 
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Vin Scully is still superb. Rick Monday and Charlie Steiner are solid. It won't be the same when Scully goes though, and I fear that day's not far off (he'll be 82 in November). I pity whoever it is that follows him into the booth.

 
Vin Scully is still superb. Rick Monday and Charlie Steiner are solid. It won't be the same when Scully goes though, and I fear that day's not far off (he'll be 82 in November). I pity whoever it is that follows him into the booth.
:popcorn: I'm listening to LA-SF right now. :) I was hoping to hear Scully. Does he have the day off?
 
Dan Dickerson for the Tigers is probably one of the very best younger announcers in baseball. We were lucky to have found him after Ernie Harwell.

I feel ya though, after Harwell one of the all-time greats, it's hard to get used to anything else. Dickerson is really good but it still took me a few years to warm up to him. I still hear the Harwell call sometimes though, even if I'm just daydreaming it.

Calas was one of my all-time favorites, he was one of the old timers who didn't feel they needed to say something during every minute of the broadcast and let the sounds of the game leak through. I listened to more games than I watch having grown up with Harwell, and I still prefer baseball on the radio over the TV until the playoffs.

 
Radio: Mike Shannon and John Rooney. Great tandem, these two. Rooney is solid play by play guy while Shannon is the affable former ballplayer. Very happy that the Cards finally got a guy like Rooney after Buck passed away. Joel Meyers was meh.

TV: Dan McLaughlin and Al Hrabosky. I've never been a fan of McLaughlin and I'm still not a fan. Hrabosky isn't great shakes either, but he gets the job done. My dad helped train Hrabosky when he first started broadcasting after his career ended. Dad said Hrabosky was probably the most stubborn guy he ever dealt with in broadcasting, but also one of the hardest workers.

 
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Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson are the White Sox guys and aren't very good.

For the Cubs, Pat Hughes IMO is fantastic, but every great moment he brings is brought down by Ron Santo's bafoonery.

 
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Tigers TV guys kind of stink, they definitely aren't very good.

The guy working with Dickerson on the radio is a huge homer but he gets some really good clubhouse scoop and when he gets mad at the team he goes off. I guess that makes him ok but he's pretty annoying a lot of the time (Jim Price).

 
Tigers TV guys kind of stink, they definitely aren't very good. The guy working with Dickerson on the radio is a huge homer but he gets some really good clubhouse scoop and when he gets mad at the team he goes off. I guess that makes him ok but he's pretty annoying a lot of the time (Jim Price).
Dickerson is awesome - if for no other reason than he made the HR call. "It's WAY BACK! THE TIGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!"
 
Vin Scully is still superb. Rick Monday and Charlie Steiner are solid. It won't be the same when Scully goes though, and I fear that day's not far off (he'll be 82 in November). I pity whoever it is that follows him into the booth.
:no: I'm listening to LA-SF right now. :( I was hoping to hear Scully. Does he have the day off?
No, he was announcing the start the game. What they do is they have a three-inning rotation, where he'll do radio-TV-radio, or TV-radio-TV. I've not been watching TV, but I assume that he's doing TV right now.
 
Dan Dickerson for the Tigers is probably one of the very best younger announcers in baseball. We were lucky to have found him after Ernie Harwell.

I feel ya though, after Harwell one of the all-time greats, it's hard to get used to anything else. Dickerson is really good but it still took me a few years to warm up to him. I still hear the Harwell call sometimes though, even if I'm just daydreaming it.

Calas was one of my all-time favorites, he was one of the old timers who didn't feel they needed to say something during every minute of the broadcast and let the sounds of the game leak through. I listened to more games than I watch having grown up with Harwell, and I still prefer baseball on the radio over the TV until the playoffs.
:no: There's a lot of drama from just shutting up and letting the crowd speak for you. One of the coolest things ever to me was Scully going silent for more than a minute after the Kirk Gibson home run on the TV broadcast. He of course didn't need to say anything, but that was his team and he'd just witnessed one of the most memorable moments in baseball history, and he had the presence of mind to not run off at the mouth in understandable enthusiasm and let the moment speak for itself. Very cool. There just aren't many announcers I can think of that would have done that - too many would have been trying to put their "stamp" on the moment.

 
Yankees. They suck. TV. Radio. All of them.
It's bizarre to me that a team that is both the flagship franchise for its sport, and is also located in the media capital of the world, could have gotten it that wrong for that long in the broadcast booth. I've never understood it.
 
The Twins radio team features John Gordon - a pro's pro if there ever was one. He learned and worked with the Hall of Famer Herb Carneal for many years until Carneal's passing 2 seasons ago.

Gordon now works with former Twins Dan Gladden and (less frequently) Black Jack Morris. Gladden has improved greatly over the years and isn't afraid to share his opinion about the goings on with the organization. He and Black Jack have had some entertaining and heated exchanges from time to time over the seasons.

The Twins TV team is led by **** Bremer who calls a decent enough game but he has to contend with Bert Blyleven. Some folks love Bert but I grow tired of his shtick pretty early on in the season.

 
They aren't my local announcers, but I think Mark Grace and Daron Sutton are the best I've heard with MLB.TV.

I find myself watching alot of D-backs games because of them. They have an energy that I don't find with other announcers. It's not a contrived energy, just 2 guys that seem genuinely fired up about some D-backs baseball.

 
Tigers TV guys kind of stink, they definitely aren't very good.

The guy working with Dickerson on the radio is a huge homer but he gets some really good clubhouse scoop and when he gets mad at the team he goes off. I guess that makes him ok but he's pretty annoying a lot of the time (Jim Price).
I don't like Price at all. Especially when he does play-by-play in the 4th-6th (though I think he's not doing that this year).As for being a homer - he's the ultimate homer, just moreso for himself in his catching days than for the Tigers.

Dickerson is great.

TV-Wise Mario Impemba is average to below-average. He's not horrible to where I won't watch. And Rod, well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSxFl3le25o

 
The White Sox have the best in the business according to many(Steve Stone, did the radio calls last year after a taking a break following his work with the Cubs) and the worst(Hawk Harreleson). The clash of egos is entertaining to say the least, although Stone will eventually, if he hasn't already, assert himself as "the" guy in the booth, which will make the Sox broadcast go from horrible to excellent very fast.

The radio guy(Ed Farmer) is as monotone as they come, although Darren Jackson helps a bit. The Stone addition really saves the TV broadcast, and keeps fans of opposing teams sane.

 
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Vin Scully is still superb. Rick Monday and Charlie Steiner are solid. It won't be the same when Scully goes though, and I fear that day's not far off (he'll be 82 in November). I pity whoever it is that follows him into the booth.
:no: I'm listening to LA-SF right now. :) I was hoping to hear Scully. Does he have the day off?
No, he was announcing the start the game. What they do is they have a three-inning rotation, where he'll do radio-TV-radio, or TV-radio-TV. I've not been watching TV, but I assume that he's doing TV right now.
He was doing TV at that time. He also threw out the first pitch today. :thumbup:
 
Michael Kay and John Sterling used to be money when they were on the radio together in the 80's and 90's. But once Kay went to TV, each of them has taken his shtick to all new levels.

Kay and his corny jokes are still amusing, but he's not a great baseball announcer. Sterling has become as bad as anyone in the game. Fortunately for him, the absolute worst announcer in history sits right beside him on the radio.

As far as the TV guys, Paul O'Neill isn't too good but he's only on 20 games or so per year. John Flaherty and Al Leiter are both very good in my opinion, Ken Singleton isn't bad...smooth voice...but Jim Kaat was the best. He definitely brought a lot to the booth that has been lacking a bit in recent years.

 
The White Sox have the best in the business according to many(Steve Stone, did the radio calls last year after a taking a break following his work with the Cubs) and the worst(Hawk Harreleson). The clash of egos is entertaining to say the least, although Stone will eventually, if he hasn't already, assert himself as "the" guy in the booth, which will make the Sox broadcast go from horrible to excellent very fast.The radio guy(Ed Farmer) is as monotone as they come, although Darren Jackson helps a bit. The Stone addition really saves the TV broadcast, and keeps fans of opposing teams sane.
Stone is very good. I'll never understand why the Cubs let him go.
 
Vin Scully is still superb. Rick Monday and Charlie Steiner are solid. It won't be the same when Scully goes though, and I fear that day's not far off (he'll be 82 in November). I pity whoever it is that follows him into the booth.
:shrug: I'm listening to LA-SF right now. :shrug: I was hoping to hear Scully. Does he have the day off?
No, he was announcing the start the game. What they do is they have a three-inning rotation, where he'll do radio-TV-radio, or TV-radio-TV. I've not been watching TV, but I assume that he's doing TV right now.
He was doing TV at that time. He also threw out the first pitch today. :fro:
Vin Scully is an amazing personality. His ability to know what to say and when to say it is amazing. More importantly he knows what not to say. And he is the most humble guy you';; ever hear speak. The Dodgers actually Simulcast the first three innings of the games he does. So he does the whole game on TV and on the radio you hear the same thing he broadcast on TV for first 3 innings. After that Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday take over the radio broadcast and you only hear Scully on TV. Vin Only does games west of the Rockies as well so there isn't a simulcast when they are back east.I'll miss that guy when he's done.
 
Uecker's getting up there in age but still :) He's definitely lost a bit of zip on his fastball, but fills airtime with stories and anecdotes with the best of them. It's going to be a sad day in Milwaukee (and around baseball) when he goes.

He only works about 5 innings these days. Corey Provus from Chicago is filling in and does an ok job. I've only heard him twice this season so the jury is still out.

Brian Anderson and Bill Schroeder on TV are hit and miss. Schroeder is somewhat Madden-esque with some of his color commentary and gets a little caught up in the homerism. Anderson is getting better in his 2nd or 3rd year after being on the Golf Channel for awhile. He had some great calls for the Crew down the stretch last year.

I miss Vasgersian who was awesome announcing for some really bad Brewer teams.

 
You probably know all about Jon Miller but he's even better on radio and without Joe Morgan in the booth. If you listen to him on a daily basis, you get a better appreciation of his wit and knowledge. Duane Kuiper is above average as an ex-jock play-by-play guy. His low key style and dry sense of humor fits in well with a mediocre ballclub. He's paired up with Mike Krukow, an unabashed homer who can be entertaining in small doses but his schtick can wear thin. Dave Flemming is solid and at age 31 has a long and bright future.

I probably should know more about the A's broadcasters but I'd be hard pressed to find them on the radio dial.

 
Yankees radio have the worst announcers in sports
If they're the ones on 880 AM you may be right. There's a dead spot in north central Ohio in which the only baseball games I can pick up are Cubs (1000) and Yanks (880), unless the Tigers are playing the Yanks I'd rather listen to the sounds of silence than tune into 880 again. Awful. Seriously...I'd rather listen to the Sunday Night crew...I'm not kidding. I really need to get Sirius radio back, but I just don't travel as much as I used to.The Indians radio guy Tom Hamilton is fantastic, the Tigers TV guys are...tolerable? same can't be said for the Indians guys. Whenever I have an Indians game booted on the big screen it's on mute, I'm either listening to Hamilton or have the volume on for whoever is up on my laptop, obviously the Tigers if they're playing.
 
Fred Manfra and Joe Angel do a great job for the Orioles on the Radio. I listen to every game that is on when I am in the car. It's great to have them on an FM station with no static.

Most of the TV guys are great too. I really enjoy Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer. Palmer has a lot of knowledge about the game from being a HOF pitcher that I wouldn't have thought about if he didn't say it. Inside stuff that comes from playing experiences.

Jim Hunter and Buck Martinez are pretty good, but I could do without Rick Dempsey.

 
Reds are great overall. Brantley is awful relieving Marty and Thom Brenneman when needed, but those 2 are solid. TV pairing of Grande and Welsh are a little cheesy, but overall they do a good job. Been the same crew on TV for 17 years, and Marty is 30+ on the radio side.

 
MAC_32 said:
blackjack23 said:
Yankees radio have the worst announcers in sports
If they're the ones on 880 AM you may be right. There's a dead spot in north central Ohio in which the only baseball games I can pick up are Cubs (1000) and Yanks (880), unless the Tigers are playing the Yanks I'd rather listen to the sounds of silence than tune into 880 again. Awful. Seriously...I'd rather listen to the Sunday Night crew...I'm not kidding. I really need to get Sirius radio back, but I just don't travel as much as I used to.The Indians radio guy Tom Hamilton is fantastic, the Tigers TV guys are...tolerable? same can't be said for the Indians guys. Whenever I have an Indians game booted on the big screen it's on mute, I'm either listening to Hamilton or have the volume on for whoever is up on my laptop, obviously the Tigers if they're playing.
Love Tom Hamilton
 
Ernie Harwell was just on Dan Patrick and he just said that Harry Kalas was good enough to put the game first - people don't tune in to hear the announcer. They want to hear the game.

Too many of the young guys today think they have to entertain us outside of just calling the game.

 
jabarony said:
Tigers TV guys kind of stink, they definitely aren't very good.

The guy working with Dickerson on the radio is a huge homer but he gets some really good clubhouse scoop and when he gets mad at the team he goes off. I guess that makes him ok but he's pretty annoying a lot of the time (Jim Price).
I don't like Price at all. Especially when he does play-by-play in the 4th-6th (though I think he's not doing that this year).As for being a homer - he's the ultimate homer, just moreso for himself in his catching days than for the Tigers.

Dickerson is great.

TV-Wise Mario Impemba is average to below-average. He's not horrible to where I won't watch. And Rod, well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSxFl3le25o
I cannot stand the sound of Jim Price's voice. Even when he's not saying something stupid, it sounds like he's saying something stupid.
 
With this iPhone app, the hardest decision I've had to make this year is which awful broadcast to listen to when the Yanks and Red Sox play.

 
Yeah, Castiglione is painful in Boston and the new guy is no better.

TV is a different story: I honestly believe we have the best young play-by-play guy in the business in Don Orsillo. He lost Jerry Remy earlier this year and has had to work with Eck and Dave Roberts, 2 neophytes, and has brought out the best in both of them.

 
Josh Lewin & Tom Grieve on Texas Rangers TV = brutal

Eric Nadel's great on the radio, but he hasn't had a great partner since Mark Holtz passed away. Dave Barnett is serviceable this year.

 
You probably know all about Jon Miller but he's even better on radio and without Joe Morgan in the booth. If you listen to him on a daily basis, you get a better appreciation of his wit and knowledge. Duane Kuiper is above average as an ex-jock play-by-play guy. His low key style and dry sense of humor fits in well with a mediocre ballclub. He's paired up with Mike Krukow, an unabashed homer who can be entertaining in small doses but his schtick can wear thin. Dave Flemming is solid and at age 31 has a long and bright future.

I probably should know more about the A's broadcasters but I'd be hard pressed to find them on the radio dial.
Krukow is horrible. I don't get it how people say he and Kuiper are the best in the business. For the A's: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/athlet...;entry_id=34165.

Also, when he was around, Bill King was the BEST. RIP. Ken Korach has actually done a good job following Bill.

 
You probably know all about Jon Miller but he's even better on radio and without Joe Morgan in the booth. If you listen to him on a daily basis, you get a better appreciation of his wit and knowledge. Duane Kuiper is above average as an ex-jock play-by-play guy. His low key style and dry sense of humor fits in well with a mediocre ballclub. He's paired up with Mike Krukow, an unabashed homer who can be entertaining in small doses but his schtick can wear thin. Dave Flemming is solid and at age 31 has a long and bright future.

I probably should know more about the A's broadcasters but I'd be hard pressed to find them on the radio dial.
Krukow is horrible. I don't get it how people say he and Kuiper are the best in the business. For the A's: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/athlet...;entry_id=34165.

Also, when he was around, Bill King was the BEST. RIP. Ken Korach has actually done a good job following Bill.
I think King's strongest sport was hoops
 
You probably know all about Jon Miller but he's even better on radio and without Joe Morgan in the booth. If you listen to him on a daily basis, you get a better appreciation of his wit and knowledge. Duane Kuiper is above average as an ex-jock play-by-play guy. His low key style and dry sense of humor fits in well with a mediocre ballclub. He's paired up with Mike Krukow, an unabashed homer who can be entertaining in small doses but his schtick can wear thin. Dave Flemming is solid and at age 31 has a long and bright future.I probably should know more about the A's broadcasters but I'd be hard pressed to find them on the radio dial.
That doesn't surprise me. The great ones are best on their own. Scully to this day announces solo, and if anyone is in the booth with him it just cramps his style.
 
Dan Dickerson for the Tigers is probably one of the very best younger announcers in baseball. We were lucky to have found him after Ernie Harwell.

I feel ya though, after Harwell one of the all-time greats, it's hard to get used to anything else. Dickerson is really good but it still took me a few years to warm up to him. I still hear the Harwell call sometimes though, even if I'm just daydreaming it.

Calas was one of my all-time favorites, he was one of the old timers who didn't feel they needed to say something during every minute of the broadcast and let the sounds of the game leak through. I listened to more games than I watch having grown up with Harwell, and I still prefer baseball on the radio over the TV until the playoffs.
:confused: There's a lot of drama from just shutting up and letting the crowd speak for you. One of the coolest things ever to me was Scully going silent for more than a minute after the Kirk Gibson home run on the TV broadcast. He of course didn't need to say anything, but that was his team and he'd just witnessed one of the most memorable moments in baseball history, and he had the presence of mind to not run off at the mouth in understandable enthusiasm and let the moment speak for itself. Very cool. There just aren't many announcers I can think of that would have done that - too many would have been trying to put their "stamp" on the moment.
Scully's line at the time was SOOOOO much better then the one that gets played everytime you see the HR. You always hear "I dont believe what i just saw! I DONT believe what i just saw"Scully's line: "In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened!!" Summed up 88 like no other.

It was said above but Vinny has cut back, he doesnt go east of the rockies and he doesnt do the full simulcast anymore. Monday and Steiner are decent but its going to be sad when Vin is gone.

Steve Lyons is HORRIBLE but noone is worse then Joe Morgan. Was watching the Dodgers on ESPN the other night and a line drive off the pitchers glove and he is explaining how the runner was able to score from third saying "watch the runner break immediately after the hit so when the itcher misses it he scores easily" Yet while he is saying this and telling you to watch the runner on third, the runner doesnt leave 3rd until after it hits the ground behind the pitcher.

And his arguments with Steve Phillips are classic since Morgan is an idiot and is rarely correct.

 
Yankees radio have the worst announcers in sports
If they're the ones on 880 AM you may be right. There's a dead spot in north central Ohio in which the only baseball games I can pick up are Cubs (1000) and Yanks (880), unless the Tigers are playing the Yanks I'd rather listen to the sounds of silence than tune into 880 again. Awful. Seriously...I'd rather listen to the Sunday Night crew...I'm not kidding. I really need to get Sirius radio back, but I just don't travel as much as I used to.The Indians radio guy Tom Hamilton is fantastic, the Tigers TV guys are...tolerable? same can't be said for the Indians guys. Whenever I have an Indians game booted on the big screen it's on mute, I'm either listening to Hamilton or have the volume on for whoever is up on my laptop, obviously the Tigers if they're playing.
:popcorn: Yep, Hamilton is great. Some regional people might get a feel for him also on Big Ten (I think) games.Underwood on TV is terrible. I like Rick Manning, I'm not sure how he does it with Underwood though. Manning will usually pair with somebody else when the game is broadcast regionally/nationally on FOX Saturday.
 
Radio: Mike Shannon and John Rooney. Great tandem, these two. Rooney is solid play by play guy while Shannon is the affable former ballplayer. Very happy that the Cards finally got a guy like Rooney after Buck passed away. Joel Meyers was meh.TV: Dan McLaughlin and Al Hrabosky. I've never been a fan of McLaughlin and I'm still not a fan. Hrabosky isn't great shakes either, but he gets the job done. My dad helped train Hrabosky when he first started broadcasting after his career ended. Dad said Hrabosky was probably the most stubborn guy he ever dealt with in broadcasting, but also one of the hardest workers.
I forgot to mention that old coot Jay Randolph does games on TV on KSDK Channel 5, the St. Louis NBC affiliate. This whole arrangemnt is terrible for so many reasons:1. I can't get KSDK on my Extra Innings package, which relegates me to the mix channel if I want to see my Cards on Sunday.2. When I lived in St. Louis, no HD NHL or any other sport broadcasted on KSDK because it gets bumped to Channel 46, and they don't do HD.3. Jay Randolph. Clearly, no one on KSDK listens to their own games because this guy is beyond bad. Way behind the action, no emotion when good things do happen, and he botches names like it was trendy.Thankfully, the radio team of Rooney and Shannon are pretty solid.
 
Yeah, Castiglione is painful in Boston and the new guy is no better.TV is a different story: I honestly believe we have the best young play-by-play guy in the business in Don Orsillo. He lost Jerry Remy earlier this year and has had to work with Eck and Dave Roberts, 2 neophytes, and has brought out the best in both of them.
:confused: Orsillo is awesome I don't care what folks say. Unbiased and a great narrator. Eck and Roberts are brilliant ballplayers who know their stuff... but they just make me miss Remy, who's again, brilliant guy. Love him or hate him.... he's got a bit of self promotion in him, but when it comes to the actual game I cant think of anyone I'd rather have in the booth. I hope all is well Jerry and we got you back in the booth soon.
 
YES has Al Lieter, who is perhaps the best announcer in baseball.

Extraordinarily intelligent and succinct without ever coming across as pretentious or arrogant. Sticks to the game. Will toss in an amusing story from his playing days, but only rarely. His game analysis is spot on.

As for the rest of the team, David Cone is the only one I don't like. The rest are good. They don't get geeked up and annoying like the White Sox announcers. They stick to the game, tell some amusing side stories, talk interesting baseball history when it's a blowout, and most importantly, seem to get along well with each other. They have good chemistry.

 
Vin Scully is still superb.
Agree with this 100%. When I lived in LA I had weekend season tickets and followed the Dodgers quite closely. Scully always stuck out as a rare bird in baseball. I wish the younger broadcasters would emulate him instead of fantasy baseball geeks in cyberspace. If I want to hear some annoying stats-obsessed dork call a game, I'll hit mute and talk to myself. Scully is great.
 
Another thing I like about the YES guys: the have respect for the opposing team and aren't afraid to give them accolades when they earn it.

This even goes for the Red Sox players. They speak very highly of Big Papi, for instance, even now when he's slumping so badly. I admire that type of sportsmanship.

The antithesis of this is the White Sox announcers. Every time I've ever heard them (which admittedly isn't that often) they came off as the biggest group of unprofessional, unsportsmanlike jerks I'd ever heard.

 
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