Your Broadcasters

[poorme]

The idea of this thread is to tell us all a little about your tv broadcasters - I hear a lot of voices as I flip through the the dish, but half the time I don't have a clue who these guys are and what their backgrounds are.

The White Sox are broadcast by Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and Darren "DJ" Jackson. Hawk was a slugger back in the 60s with the Red Sox. He retired early to try to make the PGA tour. He's always been known for unique style - zoot suits back in the day, and cowboy hats later on. In fact, for about 10 years I thought he was bald since he always had a hat on. He started doing games in the early 80s replacing the famous Harry Caray/Jimmy Piersall combo that Reinsdorf promtly fired when he bought the team. (this move was probably Jerry's biggest mistake ever - and that's quite a statement!)

Hawk teamed up with double D, Don Drysdale in those early years. Hawk has always been close to Jerry and in 1985 or 1986 he took over the GM duties. He lasted in that role less than a year, resigning in frustration as the team went south. He claims that his biggest mistake was firing Tony LaRussa as manager. He did hire Jim Fregosi, later regarded as an excellent manager. So for a few years the Sox were broadcast by Gary Thorne and John Rooney. Let's just say Gary Thorne is a great hockey broadcaster. In around 88 or 89 Hawk returned to the booth with Tom "Wimpy" Paciorek by his side. Hawk and Wimpy were together for about a decade before Paciorek was mysteriously fired and replaced with Jackson. Jackson was an OK outfielder with the Cubs, Padres, and Sox among others. He battled back from testicular cancer early in his career. DJ had no experience in the booth when he was hired - apparently Reinsdorf took a shining to him despite his lack of credentials. At first DJ was roundly criticized for being unexciting, but has come around to be at least adequate. He even will openly disagree with Hawk (something Wimpy never did) earning him the name Feisty.

Harrelson is definitely the star of the Hawk and DJ show - his rampant homerism drives most out of towners crazy and nearly led to fist fights with Phil Garner and Kent Hrbek. No doubt the duo is kept on a short leash by the owner. Team criticism is strictly verboten, but if you listen carefully you can tell when Hawk is disgusted by the current bunch of losers. Often he'll just remain silent after a boneheaded play. The increasingly incompetent Sox have sucked the life out of Harrelson recently - even his trademark "You can put it on the board!" has become a halfhearted ritual at times.

Another interesting note: Harrelson prides himself in his ability to give people nicknames. He coined "The Big Hurt."

[Skip]

poorme - Are you trying to stimulate a conversation about broadcasters in general? The various backgrounds of the various broadcasters? Local broadcasters? Local v. National? There've been some broadcaster threads before, usually in a negative vein, but not always.

I'm not sure where you are going with this.

[poorme]

skip

thanks for posting. i thought for sure this was headed for the graveyard.

the point was for each person to tell us a little about your hometown broadcasters so that when the rest of us tune in to your team's game on satellite tv or travel to your town we know a little about them. I just like to know a little about these guys. maybe it's a weird fascination I have with broadcasters. Ideally, i'd like to flip on a game and know who these guys are - are they exballplayers, brand new youngsters, long time institutions, etc. for the longest time i didn't have a clue that bert blyleven was the guy I was hearing on the twins games. maybe now i'll be a little more interested in what he has to say about pitchers.

[Skip]

Ok. That helps, unfortunately I can't - not being from a major league anything town. Had a very colorful (in a love him or hate him sort of way) college basketball guy named Jock Sutherland - but he retired last year.

[CpUltravox]

If possible, I'd like to hear the radio station, call letters, and frequency that you pick up broadcasts on too, as I like to pick up out-of town games, like the Pirates on 1020 or the Reds on 700.

Anyway.. here's Cleveland

I assume you want to focus on people we'd most likely hear (TV is nationally broadcast, but mostly radio). We have 5 - 2 are radio guys, 2 are TV, and one does 81/81.

We're on Fox Sports Ohio for 150 games, and our flagship is WTAM-1100 AM, one of the most powerful stations in America. (I've driven to Florida without changing radio stations.)

Tom Hamilton is the lead radio play-by-play guy, and has been doing it for 12 or so years. He got his start here with Herb Score the old Tribe pitcher, and broadcasting legend. Before that, he was the lead guy for the AAA Columbus Clippers. Hamilton is best known for his "Swing and a drive... Waaaaaaaaaaay back... GONE!" home run call. He's pretty good, with a tendency to overhype a current phenom or situation, but tremendous at repeating the score, keeping you up on the counts, and will break into amusing sidetracks when we're losing 21-2 to the Angels.

Matt Underwood is the secondary radio guy, he came from local television (WEWS-5(ABC)) last year, and is still getting comfortable in the booth. He also did the Tribe Pre-game shows on the radio and TV prior to getting this gig. His home run calls are what he's trying to get comfortable with - but "Adios Muchacho" and every time he gets excited, or something amazing happens he yells "How Bout them Apples" - so it might take some time to get used to. He's pretty good at the basic stuff, like Hamilton is.

Mike Hegan is the Color guy for TV and Radio, and splits time doing both. He's most famous for being the son of Jim Hegan, the old Tribe Catcher, and he played for 10 or so years himself. He's been doing it for about 20 years, with all but this one as the color guy on the old broadcast network WUAB-43. When it went exclusively to FOX this year, he got this new gig. He also has been doing radio during on his off-TV days since Score left.

All in all, they're pretty good - enjoyable to listen to, and Hamilton is now easily identified as "The Voice of the Tribe," much like Score and Jack Graney before him.

Rick Manning, the old centerfielder and John Saunders do the games on FSN - and are solid if unspectacular.

[SmedIndy]

The Indianapolis Indians have the WORST I've ever heard - Howard Kellman has been doing the games forever. He's in tight with the owners - and the games are dreadfully dull. There's no interaction between the broadcasters on Howard's explicit direction. It's a nightmare to listen to.

[soxfan121]

Anytime you see the Red Sox on TV, Jerry Remy will be behind the mic. He does color on both stations that carry Sox games, on NESN with Don Orsillo, and on FOX25 with Sean McDonough.

Remy is a former ML infielder for the Angels and Red Sox, and grew up in MA a Red Sox fan. He rarely exhibits "homerism" and always makes the game enjoyable and accessible for the casual fan. His particular strength is infielders and footwork, but he has made great strides in evaulating pitchers and mechanics. For instance, he was the first person to begin talking about Pedro changing his approach on the mound, his arm angle, and the new ways he goes about setting up hitters. Remy is a solid 8 1/2 on a 10-point scale.

Don Orsillo is a rather new guy who worked his way up through the minors. His first game as Red Sox play-by-play was Nomo's no-hitter. Since then, he has improved but still has a "young voice" and defers to Remy's analysis. He is good on the p-by-p; I hope he continues to improve.

Sean McDonough is the son of the legendary Will McDonough, venerable sports writer in Boston. McDonough is an "old-school" play-by-play man, giving you the "radio essentials" along with sharp commentary. He is entertaining and competant - a little too much editorial content at times, but overall, still better at calling a game than Orsillo.

The radio guys is Boston hate each other and it is obvious when they are on the air. I barely tolerate them, only listening when there is no alternative.

[Gosfgiants]

Mike Krukow is the color guy on all Giants broadcasts. His strength, being a pitcher, is pitching. He does have a tendency to use the same canned responses for certain situtations in game. Topics that you will hear the same thing for are hitting, putting the runner in motion, and fielding. He can be a bit a homer, but not as bad as some I've heard. His funniest bit is to call oppostion players who make a mistake Meat. Best line (I've heard people at games use it) is "Grab some pine, Meat" after an opposing player strikes out. I used to hate Krukow when I first moved here, but he's grown on me over the last few years. It helps to have Jon Miller or Duane Kupier be able to temper him.

Duane Kuppier does play by play on both TV and radio. Kuiper is a solid play by play guy. He has a great way saying alot by not saying much a la Vin Scully.

You will also hear Joe Angel on TV occasionally, usually when Jon Miller is doing an ESPN game. He is a good play by play guy, but I enjoy him more on the radio.

I think that everyone is familar with Jon Miller and Tim McCarver that I don't have to say anything about them. Fortunately McCarver only does games once a week. I can tolerate him for about two innings.

[Skip]

Vin, not Vince. That's scary.

[Gosfgiants]

D'oh. That's what happens when I post before having my coffee. The offending section has been fixed.

[poorme]

The White Sox duo referred to above can be found on FoxSports Chicago and WGN TV (probably 25 games/year on WGN).

On the radio, the broadcast on "ESPN1000" WMVP AM 1000. It's not a clear channel station, so you won't hear it but maybe in Indy or Milwaukee. On the radio side the sox have had John Rooney for about 15 years. He's one of those professional microphone for hire guys. He sounds like he should be doing radio commercials - he's got that kind of voice. I've always hated it. Probably a personal bias. He tosses the biggest softballs you've ever seen during the postgame manager's show. He's never EVER critical of the team. His forced enthusiasm seems totally fake to me. He's probably better known as CBS's announcer on its college basketball on the national radio feed.

Doing the "color" is Ed Farmer - a sox relief ace from the 70s. He had been a scout with the sox and came down with kidney disease or something. Reinsdorf is ever faithful to those in his inner-circle (ever hear of jerry krause, bulls gm for life?) and somehow Farmer wound up with the radio job. Farmer knows a lot about baseball, but sounds kind of dull. He's a homer like all the other sox announcers. He'll cover the play-by-play for a few innings and is very forced.

I've always hated the sox announcers and as a kid I would tune into 760 detroit - ernie harwell, or 620 milwaukee (bob uecker and pat hughes at the time. hughes now does cubs with ron santo). or 1100 cleveland.

[SmedIndy]

I love Rooney and Farmer. I can't stand Pat Hughes, and I'll refrain from comment on Santo because of his health.

[poorme]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
I love Rooney and Farmer. I can't stand Pat Hughes, and I'll refrain from comment on Santo because of his health.

maybe you can give us a little background on hughes and santo........and joe and chip and dave while you're at it. you don't have to be critical.

[SmedIndy]

I can't really call them "mine" because I'm not local and I can barely get WGN on the radio. I don't know a lot about Pat Hughes, except that he's bland and non-critical. I liked it when Dewayne Staats did some radio.

And I can't partially discuss Joe, Chip, or Dave Otto, except that I think Chip has improved and thank God Stone's coming back. I'd prefer Thom Brenneman....

[poorme]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
I can't really call them "mine" because I'm not local and I can barely get WGN on the radio.

do you pick up some kind of local white sox feed?

funny how the cubs have run through guys: dewayne, thom, josh lewin, now chip.

[KCBOOMER]

The Royals use Denny Matthews and Ryan Lefebvre. You can catch them on KMBZ 980 Am. Matthews has been with the Royals from Day 1 in 1969. He was the Junior partner to Buddy Blattner who the Royals canned after four years. Royals used Blattner to help give them an on air identity.

After Blattner, Matthews became the senior guy and was joined by Fred White for over twenty years. Then White was mysteriously fired and replaced by the youthful Lefebvre who is in fact the son of former MLBer Jim Lefebvre. Neither Matthews or Lefebvre ever play ML ball which really isn't a big deal.

The broadcasts really aren't very good. Matthews has been doint it for 30+ years and is clearly bored. Lefebvre is just plain dull.

[SmedIndy]

Originally posted by poorme


do you pick up some kind of local white sox feed?

funny how the cubs have run through guys: dewayne, thom, josh lewin, now chip.

ESPN 1000 has a stronger night signal.

[sweaver]

The Pirates have 4 guys, 2 play-by-play and 2 color, who rotate between TV and radio. The best by far is Lanny Frattare, who succeeded Bob Prince in the booth and has been doing this for about 20 years. Before that, I used to listen to him do the Charleston Charlies games, when they were Pittsburgh's AAA affiliate. Lanny is smooth and professional, has a great "radio voice," and roots for the home team but is respectful of the visitors. Lanny's trademark is saying, "And there was nooooooooo doubt about it," after a Pirates win. The more hard-fought the win, the longer he stays on the "o."

The other pbp guy is Greg Brown, a younger guy brought in a few years ago to get more fan interest, but a poor broadcaster. His knowledge of the game is lacking, he gets overexcited about little things, and is generally annoying. I tend to turn the sound down if he's on TV.

The color guys are two ex-pitchers, Steve Blass and Bob Walk. Blass is competent and professional, and shows a general knowledge about the game as well as a dry sense of humor. Frattare and Blass are my favorite combo.

Walk is all right, but his voice isn't as good, and his humor not up to Blass' standards. He'll do in a pinch.

KDKA AM 1020 is the flagship station, I often listen on Morgantown's WAJR, 1440 AM.

[poorme]

Originally posted by sweaver
The Pirates have 4 guys, 2 play-by-play and 2 color, who rotate between TV and radio

What IS the point of doing the rotation thing? Bizarre.

[Allard]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER


The broadcasts really aren't very good. Matthews has been doint it for 30+ years and is clearly bored. Lefebvre is just plain dull.

Boom, the broadcasts aren't thrilling, but I just love listening to Matthews. Maybe its because I grew up in the 80s listening to Matthews and White, and all those good memories have thier voices attached to them. They call the game like it is, and give a great mental picture of what is happening on the field. Very refreshing in this age of juvenile, hormone powered sports talk.

Our KC TV guys are Bob Davis and Paul Splittorf. They do all of the Fox Sports Midwest and local broadcasts. Davis is KU's college basketball announcer, and does a good job for them, but isn't a baseball guy. Gets excited and gets some stuff wrong. Splittorf has become a great play by play guy. You can tell he loves the team, and you can feel him getting angry every time the Royals do something stupid to blow a game. Understandable, since he was the Royals' first draft pick in the '68 expansion draft, and was their money pitcher during their glory years.

Overall, both crews do a good job. I hope when Denny Matthews retires they don't try to replace him with some moron that just tries to shock listeners. KC's radio network has gone downhill over the last decade, when the Rockies showed up and the Rangers became watchable. The network used to go all the way to Arizona and Montana.

[poorme]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER

The broadcasts really aren't very good. Matthews has been doint it for 30+ years and is clearly bored. Lefebvre is just plain dull.

I can definitely see how broadcasting a bleepity bleep team for a few years could take the wind out of you. Another reason why Harry Caray was the best*. He made every game seem like game seven - and that was after doing cubs/sox games for about 25 years!

*ok, maybe not the best but great.

I occasionally listen to the O's games not because I like them, but I love their radio guy. He does a fine job. I'll have to find out who it is.

Jim "I'm not Catfish" Hunter is the guy.

[spitball]

On the tube we have Steve Physioc and "The Wonder Dog", Rex Hudler. Physioc is ok but I get the impression he throws like a girl. He just seems a tad whimpy. Hud is awesome. He's very enthusiastic and has good insights into situations .
Now radio is a snore. We have Rory Markus and Terry Smith. Smith did Columbus Clippers games last year and this is his first major league gig. He has NO personality. Rory has gotten better as the season has progressed and his knowledge of the game is good. He's been a reporter of general news and sports here in town for many years .
Last years radio team of Mario Impemba and Darren Sutton were a riot. It's too bad we lost them.

[poorme]

Originally posted by spitball
and Darren Sutton were a riot. It's too bad we lost them.

sutton does tv for some team now. can't remember who. milwaukee?

you would think that of the thousands of aspiring broadcasters, you could at least find a few who see it as an art and not a science.

[tortured angel]

The Angels used to have a different color guy, but one of the east coast teams hired him to manage. For the life of me i can't remember which one. I wonder what happened to them?

[padresfan19]

The Padres radio team is Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner on KOGO 600 AM. I don't think I need to tell anyone here who Coleman is - former Yankees second baseman, fighter pilot in WWII and Korea. He's been doing Padres radio for about 25 years, with a hiatus in 1980 when he came out of the booth to manage the team. He is loved in this town, but his style is much better suited to TV than radio. He gets flustered when the action gets a little crazy, and you're left wondering what the hell just happened. You will also never hear a worse name-butcher. He mispronounces names that he already knows how to pronounce (Spanish names are the worst) - it drives me crazy.

Leitner has been Coleman's partner for about 20 years. He is a sportscaster for the local CBS affiliate, and he also does Chargers radio play-by-play. He's from Yonkers, NY, went to college in Oklahoma, and I don't know how he ended up in SD. He is somewhat controversial because he is very opinionated and unapologetic about it, but he is very articulate and knowledgable.

Overall I really like the Padres radio broadcasts, especially when compared to some of the other broadcast teams I've heard on MLB GameDay Audio. I'm curious, what do Cubs fans think of Ron Santo's work on the radio? I think he is one of the worst I've ever heard, but I wonder what others think of him.

[spitball]

Originally posted by tortured angel
The Angels used to have a different color guy, but one of the east coast teams hired him to manage. For the life of me i can't remember which one. I wonder what happened to them?
I loved when what's his face did color for the Angels. He really gave GREAT insights.
Sparky Anderson did color on some games 2 years ago. He really told it like it was....." He's just flat out, a ball player."
Scintillating:rolleyes:

[poorme]

Originally posted by padresfan19
I'm curious, what do Cubs fans think of Ron Santo's work on the radio? I think he is one of the worst I've ever heard, but I wonder what others think of him.

I'm not a Cub fan, but I've heard him enough. He takes a while to grow on you. You're not going to get any analysis, he and Pat banter back and forth about inane things. WGN caters to the over 60 crowd, so they fit that style. Kind of like grandma's meatloaf. Not very good, but kind of comforting in a way.

[pwdennis]

For television purposes virtually everyone is adequate because you can, after all, watch the action for yourself. Radio is another story because the announcer must be your eyes and ears. The colorful stories and commentary are all well and good, but for a radio announcer to be adequate he must keep you informed of the count, where the pitch was and what it was (fast ball, sinker...), where the ball was hit, who fielded it and what happened from there.

It's been years since I hear either of them do him do radio, but Vin Scully and Denny Matthews were terrific. I also like the Braves crew, especially Skip Caray - they do well whether on TV or radio (I actually think the Braves announcers are better at radio than TV)

I live in the Orlando area and our local cable does not regularly carry Marlins or Rays games (which is ridiculous) so I am not that familiar with their announcers

[tortured angel]

Where I am now, the games I see are broadcast by Armed Forces Network. We mostly get whichever local crew is doing a game on Fox, but last year's WS was done by Gary Thorne and Rick Sutcliffe. I don't mind Thorne, although I think he does hockey much better, but Sutcliffe has to be the worst color man I've ever heard. He rambles on over the most minute points and I don't think I ever agreed with him on ant strategical point. It's like he's explaining the game to 3rd graders. How he keeps a job I can't understand.

[sweaver]

I agree on Sutcliffe, whether on a game or on Baseball Tonight. Annoying to the nth degree.

[SmedIndy]

Sweaver, Skip -

No love for Marty and Joe? Grande and Welsh are zzzz-inducing, and Joe always plays "time the dead air", but Marty's competent.

[Craig S.]

The only thing I like about Joe and Marty is "This one belongs to the Reds." Marty is actually a decent play-by-play guy, but Joe sounds like he's not paying attention much of the time.

[sweaver]

Living where I do now, I don't get the Reds TV network, just the Pirates. I can only listen to Marty and Joe on WLW occasionally. My listening is full of nostalgia, not analysis.

[Max Power]

The Yankees' YES network uses 5 people and rotates/mixes them up - usually going with two per game.

Always wondered if they did that to drive down the salaries - being that no one has a FT job with mixing and matching?

Jim Kaat, Ken Singleton, Bobby Murcer, Michael Kay, and Suzyn Waldman do the games on TV. Fred Hickman (who used to do the CNN Sports show at 11) does the pre-and-post game. They bring in Paul O'Neill - and sometimes David Cone - once in a while to keep Hickman company.

John "Thhhheeeee Yankees Win!" Sterling and Charlie "ex-ESPNer" Steiner do the radio. It's like listening to two of the same guys.

I enjoy Kaat and Singleton. The have baseball in their blood. Murcer is a real nice guy - but, doesn't do his homework - -or, doesn't do enough. He says things that are wrong too often. Kay is a former writer who went from there to radio to the TV side. He thinks highly of himself. Waldman, well, she knows her stuff - - but, her voice can be annoying in the booth - - she's much better just doing pre-and-post game interviews.

[CpUltravox]

For the last 2 years, since MLB Audio Pass came into existance, I've enjoyed the English Ramblings of Elliott Price and Terry Haig out of CKGM (now the Team-990) in Montreal.

I know Haig is relatively new, as he covered Montreal Sports for some news media outlets, and baseball back in 99. I don't know a whole lot about Price.

They seem to like each other, willing to call a spade a spade, and play off each other fairly well, although when not playing off each other- they can get dull.

[poorme]

Yesterday, Magglio Ordonez was plunked by some toronto rookie, smith. The next ab, he just about screwed himself in the ground trying to go yard. He hit a laser right at the RF. Anyway, Hawk was saying that Mags is not the kind of hitter you want to get fired up. Let sleeping dogs lie. He relayed the story of when he was playing - during the team meetings - pitchers were told to never, ever, get Ralph Kiner PO'd. He would just turn his game up a notch or three.

These are the kind of stories I enjoy from a broadcaster. I tend to prefer announcers who have played the game. But there are plenty of dogs out there who must have spent their whole careers sleeping in the bullpen or something, because they really bring nothing. A guy like Joe Carter - how could you play for 15 years and not have something interesting to say?

On the other side of the coin, you have the artists behind the mike..the jon millers, vin scully's, etc. Those guys are born artists. Few and far between.

[qtlaw]

GOSFGIANTS gave you a pretty good wrap up of the Giants team. I just wanted to add that Mike Krukow (a 20-game winner for the Giants in 1986) does not hesitate to bring you anecdotes from his playing days. That is what I want from a color guy and he definitely brings it on KNBR 680 "The Sports Leader." (Shameless plug.) One of his best was when Grace came up with both of his back pockets hanging out, Krukow said that was a "double elephant ears" and that there was no way that Grace was going to do well. Sure enough Grace lined out and Krukow said Grace had no one to blame but himself for the double flaps doing.

In response to Spitball's description of Steve Physioc, he used to do the Giants up in SF and he definitely gives the impression that he couldn't throw out a decent first pitch.

[Gosfgiants]

Originally posted by qtlaw
GOSFGIANTS gave you a pretty good wrap up of the Giants team. I just wanted to add that Mike Krukow (a 20-game winner for the Giants in 1986) does not hesitate to bring you anecdotes from his playing days. That is what I want from a color guy and he definitely brings it on KNBR 680 "The Sports Leader." (Shameless plug.) One of his best was when Grace came up with both of his back pockets hanging out, Krukow said that was a "double elephant ears" and that there was no way that Grace was going to do well. Sure enough Grace lined out and Krukow said Grace had no one to blame but himself for the double flaps doing.


Krukow will also use the term "ugly finder" for any hard hit foul into the dugout. According to him anyone who is hit by the ugly finder gets fined. Cracks me up everytime.

[sweaver]

A list compiled by Doug Pappas of the longest serving play-by-play men:

Table 1. 40 Or More Years As Principal Major League Baseball Broadcaster
Tenure Broadcaster Teams Seasons
54 years Ernie Harwell** Dodgers, Giants, Orioles, Tigers 1948-91, 1993-2002
54 years Vin Scully** Dodgers 1950-2003
53 years Harry Caray** Cardinals, Browns, Athletics, White Sox, Cubs 1945-97
50 years Bob Murphy** Red Sox, Orioles, Mets 1954-2003
47 years Jack Buck** Cardinals 1954-59, 1961-2001
47 years Herb Carneal** Orioles, Twins 1957-2003
45 years Milo Hamilton** Browns, Cardinals, Cubs, White Sox, Braves, Pirates, Astros 1954, 1956-57, 1962-2003
45 years Jaime Jarrin** Dodgers 1959-2003
43 years Ralph Kiner* White Sox, Mets 1961-2003
42 years Lon Simmons Giants, Athletics 1958-73, 1976-78, 1981-2002
42 years Chuck Thompson** Athletics, Phillies, Orioles, Senators 1947-48, 1955-58, 1960, 1962-87, 1991-94, 1997, 1999-2002
41 years Jack Brickhouse** Cubs, White Sox, Giants 1940-46, 1948-81
40 years Phil Rizzuto* Yankees 1957-96

Available at Doug's weblog, http://roadsidephotos.com/baseball/voices.htm

[Joseph]

The Royals use Denny Matthews and Ryan Lefebvre. You can catch them on KMBZ 980 Am. Matthews has been with the Royals from Day 1 in 1969. He was the Junior partner to Buddy Blattner who the Royals canned after four years. Royals used Blattner to help give them an on air identity.

After Blattner, Matthews became the senior guy and was joined by Fred White for over twenty years. Then White was mysteriously fired and replaced by the youthful Lefebvre who is in fact the son of former MLBer Jim Lefebvre. Neither Matthews or Lefebvre ever play ML ball which really isn't a big deal.

The broadcasts really aren't very good. Matthews has been doint it for 30+ years and is clearly bored. Lefebvre is just plain dull.

Denny and Ryan seem to have a borderline obsession with Jumbo-tron gimmicks like the kiss-cam, which is both very funny and very annoying.

Denny occasionally has a good story to tell, otherwise the color commentary is poor (lots of dead air). Their play-by-play is adequate though.

I've become used to them though and would probably miss them if they were replaced.

[GGC]

The radio guys is Boston hate each other and it is obvious when they are on the air. I barely tolerate them, only listening when there is no alternative.

I never heard that about Trupiano and Castiglione before. The only complaint I have is that they sometimes are inaccurate when they describe the action on the field.

[OaktownTribeFan]

The A's broadcast team includes Ray Fosse, the former catcher, Ken Korack, and Greg Papa. Fosse is competent and has some good anecdotes. He was one of the first announcers to stress the importance of OBP.

But the best way to get the full A's experience is to tune in to their radio outlet. Bill King is the best announcer they've got, and one of the best in baseball. He has been a TV/radio announcer for the A's, Raiders and Warriors since the 60s. King has an encyclopedic knowledge of most major sports, a lightning-quick delivery, and a good sense of humor too. Many A's fans like to turn down the volume on their TVs and listen to King describe the game.

[clemente21]

I caught about half the pregame and the first four innings of an A's game when I was driving from Oakland-San Jose a couple of weeks ago and I found their broadcast team highly enjoyable.

Ron Santo did partially catch himself the other day. He started to say "This is a really important game for the Cubs to win" and laughingly corrected it to "what am I saying, at this point EVERY game is an important game to win." I hope that with the number-retiring ceremony on the 28th than Ron decides that it's time to cut back, maybe only do home games and a limited number of weekend home games like Milwaukee and St. Louis. With Steve Stone possibly leaving the TV booth for good if his group manages to buy the Expos, the Cubs need to think about overhauling their broadcasts. But I hope they keep Pat Hughes.