I watch a lot of baseball. Or, should I say, as much as I can within the limits of the Major League Baseball blackout policy. And of course the few teams that don’t have any games on DIRECTV, i.e. Phillies and Padres. So with all of the games I watch, I figured I’d throw together a list of my favorite and least favorite play-by-play and color commentators. Enjoy.

Ratings written for the 2007 baseball season.

Best announcing teams:

1. San Francisco Giants – Mike Krukow & Duane Kuiper

These two have really grown on me in the last two years. You need to watch them regularly to really appreciate them, but they have arguably the best chemistry of any booth in the bigs. The are probably the best combination of information and entertainment, and they know when to give you which one. The only ones I thought were better were the Diamondbacks team of Thom Brennaman and Mark Grace, which is now broken up.

Also, no one is as ruthless on fans. If you drop a foul ball, wear a stupid hat, or are with a date that’s out of your league, they’ll “eliminate” you via chalkboard. Overall, I think the most entertaining team in baseball this year.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers – Vin Scully

The very last of a rare breed. You learn more in one inning of watching the Dodgers than watching all of the rest of the games that day in their entirety. Scully is as prepared as they get, has a perfect voice, and has the perfect blend of letting the picture tell the story, and coloring the picture when necessary. If I had to listen to a game seven, I’d want Scully calling it by himself. Can you imagine how Joe Buck would’ve mangled the Buckner ground ball? Or the Kirk Gibson homer? Vin Scully is baseball broadcasting.

3. New York Mets – Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez & Ron Darling

I’m not huge on Cohen as a play-by-play guy, but I think Hernandez is as good as anyone. First of all, after listening to Hernandez and Darling for an inning, you’d think it’s 1986 all over again. I’m pretty sure they’ve mentioned 1986 in every inning of every game for the past two seasons. And listening to Hernandez correct himself cracks me up, “got him with a fastball” – sees replay – “NO, it was a SLIDER!!!” Gets me every time.

Aside from the humor they bring me, I think they have the best three man booth in the game when they’re all together, and are great when it’s just two of them. The dynamic of having a pitcher and hitter that were teammates makes for good discussions and great chemistry.

4. New York Yankees – Michael Kay, Bobby Murcer, Paul O’Neill, Ken Singleton, Joe Girardi & whoever else they put in there.

Not everybody likes this team, particularly Yankee fans. But then again, Yankee fans only want to hear other Yankee fans talk about how much New York rules, the Yankees rule, and Boston sucks. Listening to a Yankee fan about anything is a bad idea.

Personally, I like the fact that Michael Kay calls every game like it matters and is pretty unbiased. I’ve really enjoyed Paul O’Neill, as he brings similar qualities that Keith Hernandez does. Girardi has been great when they have him, as he also adds that former manager insight.

5. Boston Red Sox – Don Orsillo & Jerry Remy

While the thick ‘Bastin’ accent can get to you at times, these guys are good. They too have a great balance of information and entertainment, although they can get a little too far gone on the entertainment end. When they get laughing, settle in, because it may be two innings before they tell you what’s happening in the game again. You’d think by listening to them that they’re going to be homers, but if anything, I think they tend to be overly critical of the Sox.

1a. Chicago White Sox – Ken “Hawk” Harrelson & Darrin Jackson

Before you crucify me for putting this team in my best category, hear me out. There is no booth in baseball that caters to it’s team more than the White Sox. And there might be no more entertaining announcers in all of sports. The over the top homerism, the ridiculous catch phrases, and the talking to players as if they’re listening goes from really, really annoying to hysterically entertaining in about a season and a half, if you let it, and force it a little. I’m at the point now where I can watch a whole White Sox game and not be able to tell you who won, I’m only listening for the comedy.

There is nothing more entertaining than hearing, “here’s Big Jim stepping up to the plate. C’mon Jim, Cinch it up and hunker down… Way back, he looks up, you can put it on the board…YES!”

It’s such a bad, catchphrase-ridden, homer call that you can’t help but laugh when you hear it. There are so many reasons to hate the White Sox announcers, but when I watch their games to be entertained by the Hawk, I’m putting them in my favorites.

6. Philadelphia Phillies – Harry Kalas & Anyone Else

This is a late entry into the Best Announcer categoty. I grew up listening to Harry Kalas, and he is living proof of what Jack Daniels and Marlboro Reds can do for your voice. Simply put, Kalas has the greatest voice working in sports announcing today. Whoever is in the booth with him sounds like a whisper compared to Kalas’ trademark pipes.

Since DirecTV was robbing me of the ability to watch Phillies games on the west coast, I didn’t get to see or hear Kalas for years. In 2008, Phillies games finally made it into the Extra Innings package, making it worth the price of the package to hear Mr. Kalas’ voice calling baseball again.

(Ed. Note: RIP Mr. Kalas.)

Worst announcers:

I don’t know all of their names and  I don’t want to look them up. If they’re not good enough to know, I’m not going to search for them.

1a. Fox National – Joe Buck & Tim McCarver

How they are still Fox’s number one team for the postseason and Saturday’s is beyond me. Between Buck’s annoying attempt at being cool while calling a game and McCarver’s penchant for the obvious, it is painful to listen to these guys.

What gets me is that Buck does a fine job calling Cardinals games during the season, it’s when he gets on the big stage, I think he just tries too hard. And McCarver used to be as good as anyone in the game. I grew up listening to Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver on WWOR channel 9 calling Mets games and they were fantastic. Now Kiner is impossible to understand and McCarver drops gems like, “if they score twice this inning, they’ll have two more runs…”

What gets me about the way Buck calls games is his attempt to say things without describing the action. If you’re not going to say anything, in an attempt to let the picture tell the story, then don’t talk. When David Ortiz hits a walk-off homer after midnight in the playoffs, don’t drop, “we’ll see you later today…” as the actual home run call. Seriously, that’s all he said as the ball was flying. Call the home run, then use your witty line that you wrote down three innings ago.

Nothing could be worse than being force fed these two for the entire post-season last year, and just when you thought you’d be getting a break for two minutes between innings…”This is our country…”

1b. ESPN

There are some talents at ESPN, like Jon Miller. But then there are Chris Berman and Joe Morgan. Between Berman’s nicknames and bad catch phrases, and Morgan’s refusal to admit that statistics are a decent way to measure baseball players, they are amongst the worst out there. I actually will not watch a game that Joe Morgan is doing anymore, and I recommend this for more examples of why.

2. Seattle Mariners

If you live on the east coast and need to fall asleep at midnight, this is the team you’re looking for. I’ve never heard a play-by-play guy with less enthusiasm. It could be the bottom of the ninth, down a run with the bases loaded, and he’ll make is sound as if it’s first pitch.

3. Los Anaheim Angels – Steve Physioc & Rex Hudler

Painfully bad. Not as boring as the Seattle guys, but really bad and annoying.

4. Texas Rangers

Also very boring. There’s only so much you can say about a crew that’s just boring. These guys are that.

5. All the small and medium market teams, and really bad teams

This includes Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington, Kansas City & Florida. They all suck for different reasons, but I don’t watch them all enough to tell you exactly why. The Royals brought Kevin Seitzer in at the end of last season and I thought he did a great job, but alas, he’s not there this year.

5a. Chicago White Sox

See above. For the same reasons, the majority of people despise these guys. Example.

Others that need to be mentioned:

Chicago Cubs – Len Kasper and Bob Brenly

I’m indifferent towards Kasper, but I think Brenly is fantastic. Great insight as former player and World Series manager. I covered the Diamondbacks when Brenly was managing there, and he always got it. He understands the game from a player’s, coaches, fan’s and broadcaster’s perspective. Arizona fans don’t know how lucky they were that they had Thom Brennaman and Bob Brenly, then Brennaman and Mark Grace. Maybe it’s Brennaman, which leads me to…

Cincinatti Reds – Thom Brennaman

Apparently gets the best out of his color guy, or has been lucky with who he gets paired with. I think he’s very good at calling games, adding excitement where he needs to. I think he’s coming around in football too, getting some NFL games now, and bowl games. I thought his call of the Fiesta Bowl was great. But with baseball, he’s very solid. Last year’s team of Brennaman and Grace was as good as any I’ve ever listened to. Which brings me to…

Arizona Diamondbacks – Daron Sutton & Mark Grace

Grace is as entertaining as color guys get, from constantly referring to Armando Benitez as the most exciting player in the National League, because if he gets into the game, anything can happen, to his off topic humor that is well timed. The only criticism of Grace I have is that he’s still not far enough removed from the players he’s commenting on, having been their teammate just a few years ago. But he controls it pretty well.

I think Sutton has been a big step down from Brennaman. He seems to get a little overly excited at times in the game that don’t call for it. Far too many calls that sound like a walk-off homer in Game 7 of the World Series, when it’s just a solo shot in an 8-2 game in the fifth inning in July. But with Grace, the team is still above average to me.

Okay, I was planning on just making a list, but it kind of got out of hand. So it’s more of a book. But, hopefully it will help you decide what games to watch if you can’t make up your mind. And if you hate the White Sox announcers, try watching them as if it’s a comedy. They’re much better that way. But try not to ever watch the team you root for play the White Sox on their channel, you might cut off your ears.

Share this story...

Discussion

4 comments for “Rating the MLB TV Announcers”

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.