The Marlins have Rich Waltz, whom I have always liked. Pleasant, which (for some reason) goes a long way with a baseball game.

He’s probably right up there with Scully for me. I’m not a fan of histrionics – I like Sims well enough, and I appreciate emotion when it’s earned, but too many announcers these days treat a double into the gap like it was live coverage of V-E day or something, when in reality it was just a pedestrian RBI double in a relatively meaningless game. Miller shows more emotion than Scully, but they both have fantastic voices and fantastic perspectives on the game – and Miller, like Scully, knows when to get out of the way and let the action do the talking.

Miller also tells great stories.

and he was just killing the umpire for bad ball/strike calls. He wouldn’t let it go, berating the guy for at least three innings. He even called for the umpire to be fired at one point. I’d never heard anything like it, and had always assumed there was some rule (written or unwritten) preventing announcers from criticizing umpiring.

That guy in the Nationals’ cast is no longer with the broadcast team. It’s Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble now, who have the occasional tendency to veer into useful but more often than not channel a sober Bob Uecker in Major League. With the way this season has gone, that’s fitting.

he’s pretty good too.

In fact I can hardly find fault with the entire list. I agree about Kay – and I think Miller is awesome, but am I correct in believing that he is radio-only?

I would have included the ESPN broadcasts, which save for Miller are almost exclusively terrible. And FOX … sweet jesus.

Needless to say Jon Miller was the only thing keeping me sane

Note that they don’t mention that they were regional Emmy Awards, for the broadcast.

but I will state for the record that I always use the opposing team feed, unless it’s the White Sox, in which case the game is watched muted.

Listen to Al Hrobosky.

it’s easier to listen to than, say, “A Tex Message” or “An A-bomb from A-Rod” in New York, which I just find irritating. On the other hand, “He gone” is just terrible.

SportsCenter always seems to air the TV-audio clip of Rich Waltz down in Florida. I do enjoy his enthusiasm.

But I absolutely, cannot, stand, Jon Miller. That guy’s voice, to me at least, is so terrible. I cannot stand it! Luckily for Giants fans, he usually doesn’t do their games. Duane Kuiper is amazing. His brother Glen on the other hand? He has to be the most biased piece of shit to ever call a game. I hate him. Ray Fosse isn’t bad as their color guy though.

Have to listen to Physioc and Hudler……

I think Tier 5 (Complete and total retards)
That is insulting retards.

Michael Kay is really good. His call of that Aubrey Huff homer off Joba (the one where Huff did the Joba fist pump) was great, he didn’t call Huff out for it like most homer announcer would, I don’t remember his exact words but he just admitted that Job objects himself to that kind of stuff by wearing his emotions on his sleeve. I really enjoy listening to Michael Kay call games.

I also grew up listening to him announce NHL games after school.

And I feel the exact same about Vin Scully. I recognize he is good at what he does, but he puts me to sleep.

Rich Waltz has been mentioned a couple of times already. I thoroughly enjoyed him when he was with the Mariners and I was happy for him when he landed the play-by-play down in Florida.

Great list and I don’t see any glaring mistakes (other than omissions because you haven’t listened to every team enough to make a judgment; neither have I).

here and here

I don’t mean to defend the guy, but he does his job

The Rangers broadcast is geared to older audiences and ‘family’ types… the only losers dumb enough to follow this team anymore

So they trick it up with stupid interviews with boy scout troops, and little league baseball teams, and fireworks, and guys with paint on their faces…

I mean I think the guy’s got a bag just as much as you do, but if Fox is dumb enough to keep him around as the ‘feel-good’ behind-the-scenes reporter, you have to credit Knox for stealing their money

but he used to also announce the NHL and Triple Play games and it drives me batty.

Most of their games are broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet, a few are on TSN and maybe seven are on CBC.

The Sportsnet play-by-play announcer is Jamie Campbell, he will be along with either Rance Muliniks, Pat Tabler or Darren Fletcher. It’s a fun broadcast that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s not the greatest by any means, but I like listening to Jamie, him and Darren Fletcher work great in the booth together and Fletch uses some great baseball lingo and gives some good insight into the game.

When the games are broadcast on TSN Rod Black is the announcer with Pat Tabler, and when they are on CBC (which is maybe 10 games a year, on weekends only) Jim Hughson is the play by play with Jesse Barfield and Rance Muliniks in the booth. These guys were great.

I adore his beautiful voice, but he won my everlasting love in the summer of 2004. He was on ESPN broadcasting a Sunday afternoon game where the Oakland A’s were visiting the Yankees. The other guy mentioned something about trying to get funds from the City to help fund the new stadium, and Gary totally laid into him,

I am just adamantly opposed to one single dollar of tax revenue or one single dollar of bond money being used by a municipality to build a damn ballpark for millionaires. I hate it. …

You know that the insect overlords at ESPN wouldn’t have approved, but Gary didn’t care. He went on and on about it for quite a while. It was totally awesome.

The A’s fans over at AN don’t like Gary Thorne because he’s constantly screwing up the names of our players, as if he’s never heard of them and doesn’t give a damn enough to learn their names (including now-Mariner Jack Hannahan, whom he insists on calling “Hanrahan”). I’m pretty sure it’s true: he probably doesn’t give a damn. But enh, I don’t care.

By the way, everyone on AN would totally agree about the bottom of your list. Everyone hates Hawk and Physioc-Hudler.

I feel no need to defend them. Honestly, I think you were a little generous to rank them as just blah as opposed to stupid.

I’ve been up here in WA for five years now and I only subscribe MLB audio, not video, so I haven’t seen much of the A’s TV guys recently. Fosse has been around since long before I moved so I know him well. He’s a dopey homer who is nothing special as a broadcaster, but he does have an exceptionally good rapport with the guys in the clubhouse so he earns his keep that way. I haven’t seen much of Kuiper the lesser, but from what I have seen he strikes me as an idiot.

On the radio we have both ends of the spectrum. Ken Korach is totally awesome: very smooth, very skilled, very professional (and great voice, too). Vince Cotroneo is a worthless yutz. His lame attempts to be funny consistently fail, and he is deficient in basic play-calling skills.

Korach’s smooth persona was a perfect match for long-time partner, the late Bill King, who could get pretty crazy sometimes. King was an institution for decades and was much beloved by fans for his excellent work. As a result I think a lot of folks overlooked the fact that he declined considerably in the last few years … exactly like a certain Mariners announcer. But Bill King retired from this world before he fell into complete incompetence, while Dave Niehaus continues his descent. Sorry, but it’s true.

I’ve only heard a couple of his calls but he doesn’t seem to even get excited when something good happens with his own team. Like when Ichiro robbed Vitor Artinez of a game-tying homer on the 19th. Absolutely horrible call. Even before Ichiro caught it.

For the most part I find them to be pretty pedestrian, at least initially. Some do stand out for better or worse.

Nationals: It may be because of the current state of their team but I actually enjoy this crew. They’re fairly reasonable to listen to and can be blunt at times, particularly against their own team. (Today’s Update: Okay, they may be a tad more annoying than I remembered. “YES! SWEET!”)

Angels: Is Rex Hudler doing radio these days? It seems like he’s not announcing the games I’ve been watching, unless I’m missing something. Not that I’ve been specifically keeping up the the names of each crew but whomever does the announcing in place of Hudler isn’t anywhere near as annoying (Rex in Spring Training: “I don’t know what you Mariners fans call Wakamatsu but we called him Wak!”). I could be wrong, and hey, the crew is still not good either way. Physioc has this awkward monotone personality that makes it difficult to put up with.

Athletics: I watched that game where the A’s came back from a 12-3 deficit to win the game, including a Grand Slam to take the lead. Between the time when they were down a bunch of runs and the time they took the lead, the announcing crew sounded EXACTLY the same. They sounded quite a bit indifferent like “Oh yea, that happened. Cool.” Imagine what their non-exciting games sound like (hint: exactly the same). Not a good crew at all.

Indians: My biggest problem with the Indians TV Broadcast is not the announcing crew but their production. Why in blue blazes can I not hear the fans? Every opposing team’s TV broadcast can pick up crowd noises better than they can. I don’t get it.

Rangers: Josh Lewin seems like he’d be better served doing play-by-play for a wrestling promotion than for a baseball game. I like excitement but he can go overboard at times…..and he sounds like a nerd. You can also hear Tom Grieve in the background somewhere.

Dodgers: I like Vin Scully and I wish I grew up listening to him. Just a different old-school flavor that just works.

White Sox: This is the only crew I stay away from at all costs. These guys aren’t homers, they’re fanboys. I’ve tried and tried to tolerate this group but it just doesn’t work. Watched a game where the White Sox allowed a key bases-clearing double to the Royals. As the ball lined into left field all I hear is “That’s trouble…………..”. Great call! I still can’t get out of my mind the call a few years ago when Batista struck out one of their batters to end the inning (with the bases-loaded): “……………………………………………………………………………and it’s 3-0 Mariners as we head into the next inning.”

Red Sox/Yankees: These crews are surprisingly tolerable. Michael Kay for the Yankees does a good job. For such hateable teams, the crews aren’t too bad.

Mariners: I guess with Dave Sims it’s a love/hate thing and I love Dave Sims. He’s excited when our team does something good and just as excited, if not hilarious, if the other team does something good (“that’s hit into the game in right-center field, that’s going to the wall and eeeeeeeverybody’s running (baserunners)….oh brother”).

And good God can we never have Rick Rizzs and Bill Krueger on the same TV announcing team ever again.

He doesn’t know shit. He acts like the dumb jock stereotype. And he has these little asine sayings for certian moments. Like I remember one game where there was a pitching change that was taking forever and Grace started talking about how he remembered playing ball in the side streets with friends and they had to take a break whenever a car came by and they would yell “Car!” when they saw one. So then EVERY FUCKING TIME there was break in the action he would just yell “Car!” over and over and fucking over. He’s a fucking toolshed.

Oh and I think he’s drunk 80% of the time he’s in the booth.

Daron Sutton on the other hand is excellent. He has that same sincereness that Sims has and he’s very smart. He’s the one that brings up the win expectancy from time and time. He also references lots of advanced stats on a semi consistent basis. You can also tell that he wants to stab Grace in the throat most of the time and it’s hilarious.

could announce paint drying and I would watch. Their voices are so fucking good.

The day the NHL returns to ESPN and Gary Thorne/Bill Clement will be a very happy day.

Never really listened to a White Sox broadcast until that day. After the final out was recorded, he just shouted “YES! YES! YES!” over and over again. It was fucking obnoxious, and took you out of the moment, a broadcaster’s worst sin. Look, asshole, if you’re experiencing a historic moment, and you don’t know what to say, DON’T FUCKING SAY ANYTHING. Let the moment speak for itself.

I don’t mind him.

I sort of miss Fairly though.

There are many others I dislike but I save all my real hate for him. I don’t understand how he ever got his gig or how he continues to keep it.

Is there anyone who likes him?

Every player from Santo Domingo is THE DOMINICAN DANDY and he reminds us that John Lackey’s from Abilene Texas twice per inning of every one of his starts. I have grown to like Rex, but cringe when he and Steve discuss plays on the field in terms for little leaguers to learn from.

I think the Cleveland guys should be tier 4. Matt Underwood makes so many mistakes during a broadcast, you wonder how he ever got the job.

I don’t really care though, baseball is made for the radio. That’s why most of the talent is found there.

Hey idiots, read the intro.