Sorta OT - Baseball Announcers

[John Foley]

Bill G

great catch on TWIB!!!

Remember this was pre ESPN - Had to catch it Sat before the game of the week!!!

[Wayne_Freedman]

Essentially, we're talking about voices of our youths.

As a kid, I remember going to sleep with Vin Scully in the radio under my pillow. Kinda' sing-songy, but he patented it. The man is timeless, and makes old guys like me feel young.

Red Barber will remain timeless.

Bill King was a total pro covering the Athletics.

In the present day, if  you haven't heard Duane Kuiper call a game, you're missing out.
Dolcid tones. Almost as good as  Hank Greenwald, who could make grass growing sound interesting.

Most overrated=Jon Miller. He's a vocal narcissist who calls plays in passive voice.
"Catching it is Santiago..."

Please. "Santiago moves in and has it."

[Bill Shamleffer]

One of my favorite Scully stories is that so many people used to bring radios to the game to listen to him that he got the spectators to sing happy birthday to one of the umpires.

I wish I had gotten to hear Red Barber in his prime.  I loved his segments on Morning Edition.

Quite a few Cardinals’ fans also used to bring a radio to the game so as to listen to Jack Buck.

During the 1998 home run race between McGwire & Sosa, during a weekend day game the home plate ump through out McGwire during the 1st inning for arguing balls & strikes.  I think it was seat cushion day.  A lot of fans from around the Mid-West plan weekend visits to catch a Cards game.  So with a stadium full of seat cushions and with quite a few fans attending one of their few visits of the year to Busch Stadium, and with McGwire being the whole story of the season, the fans were on the verge of a riot.

Well supposedly one of the reasons the place did not go completely nuts and the game was able to continue was because of the many fans with radios hearing Jack Buck saying the fans needed to accept the ejection and  let the game continue, and to not allow the visiting team to get a forfeit win.

Thank goodness the Cards added John Rooney to their radio broadcast team last year.

[Brad Tufts]

I have to say John Sterling absolved himself of all dislike when he greeted Suzy Waldman's breakdown into tears at the end of last year's Yankee season (still during the broadcast, it was pitiful) with about 6 or 7 seconds of wonderfully sarcastic silence.

Who knew his greatest broadcasting moment would be several seconds of perfectly placed silence?

[Tom Huckaby]

One of the many joys of the greatest baseball day of my life (10/15/88) was that each of Jack Buck and Vin Scully made separate calls... Buck on radio, Scully on TV.

Both are very famous, both are great.  As is the case with golf courses, one's preference comes down to one's personal preferences.

Buck:  I can't believe what I just saw!

Scully:  she is..... GONE!  Followed by 45 seconds of silence, giving us full access to the delirious crowd.


Now my preference is for Scully in this, but I'm a life-long Dodger fan.  I have to say Buck's call gives darn near equal goosebumps.

 

[Dan Herrmann]

Vin is why I have the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV.

(oh yeah - and that little factor about being married to a crazy Mets fan, who still rues the loss of Bob Murphy).

[Tim Book]

Nice to see so many members of Red Bird Nation mention the late great Jack Buck.  As a life long Cards fan living on the west coast most of my life I didn't get to hear him as much as my father, uncles and grandfathers did ,but when ever I hear 'Go Crazy Folks Go Crazy' I definately get chills.  Now I just need the Sirius / XM merger to go thru to listen to Cards games on the ride home.

[wsmorrison]

Dan and all you Phillies fans, here's a preview of Richie Asbhurn: A Baseball Life

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0U1Jqu5g69o&feature=Responses&parent_video=zt982t5aoew&index=0&playnext=1&playnext_from=RL

[Tom Huckaby]

Vin is why I have the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV.

(oh yeah - and that little factor about being married to a crazy Mets fan, who still rues the loss of Bob Murphy).

Bought it, love it, it's like being a kid again for this transplanted Angeleno.

 

[Dan Kelly]

Nice to see so many members of Red Bird Nation mention the late great Jack Buck.  As a life long Cards fan living on the west coast most of my life I didn't get to hear him as much as my father, uncles and grandfathers did ,but when ever I hear 'Go Crazy Folks Go Crazy' I definately get chills.  Now I just need the Sirius / XM merger to go thru to listen to Cards games on the ride home.

I'm not sure if this is one of Jack Buck's best calls -- but I'm quite sure of this:

It still gives me gooseflesh ... as does the rest of this video. And not just gooseflesh; some tears, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ7SVORswUs&feature=related

What a player! What a joy!

P.S. My apologies to anyone who catches an earworm from that video. I've had one for most of an hour already -- with no end in sight!

[Rick Shefchik]

This is probably the best place for a shameless plug, since it's way OT, but related to the topic at hand.

My second Sam Skarda novel, "Green Monster," should begin showing up in stores the first week of August, with an official Sept. 1 pub date. I thought I'd mention it for Red Sox fans and baseball fans in general here, but particularly because there are many references to the Cardinals, Dodgers and Vin Scully in the book. And a little Ned Martin, too...

[Rick Shefchik]

By the way, anybody here remember Earl Gillespie, who did the Braves radio broadcasts in the '50s when they were the best team in baseball? That was my first exposure to baseball play-by-play, and I thought he was terrific. A mostly-forgotten name now.

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned Bob Prince, who seemed to be beloved by everyone I ever met from Pittsburgh.

And I can't believe the Red Sox fans here are too young to remember and idolize Ned Martin.

As for Harry Carey, he hung on way too long. By all accounts he was a terrific announcer in his younger days, and he became a hilarious character in his final decade or so, but a terrible announcer. I'll never forget him  butchering a call on a Cubs game near the end -- Ryne Sandberg lined out to third and the defense started running off the field. Harry obviously missed the play, so after a moment of confusion, he yelled, "Swing and miss, strike three!"

[Tom Huckaby]

This is probably the best place for a shameless plug, since it's way OT, but related to the topic at hand.

My second Sam Skarda novel, "Green Monster," should begin showing up in stores the first week of August, with an official Sept. 1 pub date. I thought I'd mention it for Red Sox fans and baseball fans in general here, but particularly because there are many references to the Cardinals, Dodgers and Vin Scully in the book. And a little Ned Martin, too...

Yahoooooo!

I can't wait until then though.  I need Skarda updates much sooner.

 

[Doug Wright]

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned Bob Prince, who seemed to be beloved by everyone I ever met from Pittsburgh.

Rick,

I mentioned Bob Prince above. Guess you're a better writer than reader...

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Name this announcer:

"There's a drive!!  Deep left field!!  This ball might be outa here!!  It could be!!  It is!!  A home run!!"

The exclamation marks I put there understate this announcer's delivery.  He's on Doug's list, and is my personal favorite.  I expect a number of you know who he is. 

I think that has to be Harry "I never turned down a Budweiser" Caray.  One of my favorites, but I only heard him on TV broadcasts.

it certainly is Harry!

great post Wayne!

and if you really want to get under Milo Hamilton's skin, go up to him and tell him what a great guy you think Harry was....Milo thought he was going to be the lead announcer for the Cubs, but they hired Haray and to this day i think Milo has bad things to say about him...similar to how Joe Frazier used to/still does?  dislikes Ali for the what he used to say about him in the 1970s

Just imagine the possibilities.  I wouldn't have grown up loving Harry and the good looking girls that he always pointed out in the crowd at Wrigley...and someone other than Milo would be drinking vodka every night in the corner booth at Trulucks.

[Rick Shefchik]

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned Bob Prince, who seemed to be beloved by everyone I ever met from Pittsburgh.

Rick,

I mentioned Bob Prince above. Guess you're a better writer than reader...

Doug,

Lazy, too. I did a page search for "Prince" but only on the second page of the thread. I didn't remember seeing the name on the first page, so...Doh.

[David Kelly]

Who knew his greatest broadcasting moment would be several seconds of perfectly placed silence?

I would have believed it and for his next move he should extend that silence to multiple years.