Your MLB team's announcers

[godwulf]

On the TV side, the Diamondbacks have Daron Sutton (Don's kid) as the play-by-play guy, and Mark Grace as the color man.

Sutton has a pretty good voice, though not as good as his predecessor, Thom Brenneman, who I've heard is working with his dad Marty in Cincinnatti now. My biggest gripe with Brenneman was his tendency to forget about the game going on - especially if the DBacks were getting pounded - and go on for five minutes at a time talking about what some other team in the league was doing, etc, and completely ignore the action on the field; he was easily distracted, in other words. Sutton is less so, which is a plus, but his color man sometimes forces me to hit the Mute button.

I'm sure Mark Grace would be a really fun guy to have a few beers and hang out with, but listening to him broadcast a Baseball game is just painful. We've had some fun and funny color guys in past years - Jim Traber and Steve Lyons were my favorites - and "Gracey" tries to be funny, but he just isn't. He's repetitious, boring, and his sense of "humor" would embarass the average bright six-year-old.

On the radio side, we've got career announcer Greg Schulte, and (usually) Tom Candiotti. Schulte is a true professional, and one of the best I've ever heard. Candiotti is a tad pompous at times, but tolerable.

Hey, Cubs fans! Can we please have Bob Brenly back? We'll give your old fan favorite, Mark Grace, and an announcer to be named later!

[LastingsMilledge85]

I think this video helps explain baseball's two best TV commentators http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1bmnl4YNAQ

[Skizzick]

In Philly, we still hold Harry Kalas in the highest regards, though he's been dead for over two years. I think the television guys (Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler) suck. Plain and simple. Chris is demeaning and Tom half the time is like a five year old watching the game real excited, while he spends the other half like a 90-year old lost and confused. Sarge is just fun to listen to, though he doesn't really add anything when he's in the booth, and usually just contributes by talking about when he played the game.

On the radio, Larry Anderson and Scott Franzke are great. Larry is brash, sharp, and funny, though he sounds a bit like Rooster Cogburn (Cohen Brothers edition). And he isn't afraid to say a call stinks, an umpire is stupid, or a player deserves to get knocked out. Franzke is a very good play-by-play guy and paints a great picture of the game. He is the perfect straight man foil to Anderson's personality. But I think their interactions with each other are what make them such a great pair. They talk like they are drinking buddies, and that isn't a bad thing. I often listen to the radio sync and just play it over the TV.

[brewcrew]

We have MLB Extra Innings, so I've been fortunate enough to watch/listen to almost all the announcers in baseball this year (by the way, if you are out of market, this package is WELL worth it!). Here are my thoughts:

1. I like Bill Schroeder and Brian Anderson but I do miss Daron a little. Of course it doesn't matter since they will never come close to Ueck. I'd go out to my car so I could listen to him on my satellite radio but that seems a little unhealthy.
2. The Cardinals' TV guys are terrible.
3. I love Vin Scully. I watch the Dodgers just to listen to him.
4. I also like Dick Enberg in San Diego. Easy on the ears.
5. The MASN guys (for both the Nats and O's) are fairly decent.

Most everyone else gets a "meh"/indifferent opinion from me, but all of them have had their enjoyable moments. It's fascinating to see how each franchise uses their tv advertising, in game trivia, etc. Plus it's allowed me to build a much better fantasy team. I'm winning in both my leagues and I'm just a girl. :p

[LastingsMilledge85]

1. I like Bill Schroeder and Brian Anderson but I do miss Daron a little. Of course it doesn't matter since they will never come close to Ueck. I'd go out to my car so I could listen to him on my satellite radio but that seems a little unhealthy.

I like Brian Anderson a lot. He's really the only other broadcaster I enjoy aside from the Mets. So happy, when he gets the playoff games on national TV.

[Lokee]

I too have MLB extra innings package and have had a chance to sample TV broadcasters from most if not all clubs.

Obviously being a Red Sox fan i am partial to Don Orsillo & Jerry Remy. They call a good game and have lots of banter between the two of them.

[godwulf]

...while he spends the other half like a 90-year old lost and confused.

Some guys who really are nearly that old should have the good sense to take themselves out of the game. Case in point - Joe Garagiola. The Diamondbacks have occasionally used him for "color" on both the t.v. and radio in recent years (particularly when Joe Jr. was the GM), and it's just painful to listen to. The same curmudgeonly cliches and nonsense hour after hour. Ten, twelve years ago, he was still informative and fun to listen to; not any more.

[AROD313]

Seattle Mariners = Dave Sims = turn tv sound off and turn the radio on. He is the worst ever! The worst part is MLB blacks out the other teams broadcast so its either the radio on close captioning

[Rob L]

Angels - now we have Victor Rojas and Mark Gubizca. Absolutely horrible.

We has Steve Physioc and Rex "the Wonder Dog" Hudler for years. They were the voice of the Angels thru the 2000s. Can't understand why Arte Moreno didn't like them.

[kudu]

I really like the Padres guys, Mark Grant and Dick Enberg. Funny and lots of stories. I liked Matt Vasgersian when he was with the Padres.

[godwulf]

I really enjoyed Steve Lyons for the couple of years that he was the color man on the t.v. side here...but I guess he was just too much of a loose cannon for the powers that be, and no doubt some of the viewers.

Typical was when one of the elderly "Golden Glovers", the sideline ball retrievers, fell down trying to field a foul ball, and Lyons said, "Boy, his body took a bad hop on that play. I don't think that's dirt on the back of his pants."

Almost as bad as Grace was Rod Allen. He would routinely say profound things, like, "What the Diamondbacks need to do right now to win is to score more runs than the other team." Oh, really, is that how that works? :rolleyes:

Brenly was unflappable. Brenneman would get really excited and sometimes his mouth would get away from him, like the time he tried to say that someone had "missed a pitch", and instead said that he "pissed a mitch", and Brenly immediately responded, "I agree with whatever you just said."

[alltimegiants]

WORLD CHAMPION GIANTS ANNOUNCERS !!!!

Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Jon Miller and Dave Fleming are the best in the world. They are great at what they do. I'm blessed to him them daily. :D

[Skizzick]

These pretty much sum up the Phillies TV guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ-zRNQGiaY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYrMXq2tsAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrqepZOvyrM

[sox83cubs84]

Two teams, two reviews:

Cubs: Great TV pairing, with the previously praised Bob Brenly and a play-by-play guy, Len Kasper, who has gotten better over the years. The two have remarkable chemistry, Brenly's analysis is superb and his sense of humor is excellent, while Kasper gets excitable without developing Thomitis and jumbling his sentences.

White Sox: As good as Brenly is as an analyst, even he must cede the pinnacle position to Steve Stone. Stoney has incredible baseball knowledge and a way of avoiding the on-air vocal theatrics that partner Hawk Harrelson specializes in. Harrelson's biggest problem is possibly the most excessive homerism in the majors...displayed in numerous ways ranging from becoming silent and obviously bummed out when the White Sox are losing to endless whining about the umpires when the Sox geft shafted on a call to minutae such as referring to the Sox and their opponents as the "good guys" and "bad guys".
On the good side, Harrelson knows the game, as well, waxes nostalgic about his playing days (only flaw is that too many of his recollections are about Carl Yastrzemski) and his Hawkisms, which drive some people nuts but which I, personally, find amusing and easy to translate into on-field auction (these include "Stretch!", "ducksnort" and some traditional broadcaster slang, such as "can o' corn".)

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with both teams' TV guys.

Dave Miedema