Crowdsourcing MLB Broadcasters: Cast Your Ballots
This edition of Offseason Notes is actually a compilation of work from other editions of Offseason Notes.
Since late November, FanGraphs has been asking readers to rate the television broadcast teams for all 30 major-league clubs — with the intention, ultimately, of determining which broadcasts might best reflect the sorts of inquiry and analysis performed here at the site. (Click here for more on this project.)
Now the ballots for all 30 teams (including two for the Dodgers, to honor the contributions of Vin Scully) have been created, and can be accessed by clicking on the relevant links below.
Ballots will be accepted until Friday, February 24th, at 5pm ET, and results will be released next week. If the project is ultimately successful, a similar effort for radio broadcast teams is a possibility.
If you have any questions or note any errors, don’t hesitate to utilize the comment section below.
Arizona / Atlanta / Baltimore / Boston / Chicago (AL) / Chicago (NL) / Cincinnati / Cleveland / Colorado / Detroit / Houston / Kansas City / Los Angeles (AL) / Los Angeles (NL, Home Games) / Los Angeles (NL, Away Games) / Miami / Milwaukee / Minnesota / New York (AL) / New York (NL) / Oakland / Philadelphia / Pittsburgh / St. Louis / San Diego / San Francisco / Seattle / Tampa Bay / Texas / Toronto / Washington.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
+1 Hawk Harrelson/Steve Stone for the Chicago White Sox!
I would anticiapte the Hawk Harrelson rating to be around 1.
Rex Hudler will join him once KC gets a taste of him this year (sorry Ryan LeFeber). Hello mute button.
Not many broadcasters around have a website dedicated to seeing them fired like the Hawk.
Yet somehow firekenwilliams.com is still available…
Love the idea Carson! It would be great to do a radio broadcaster ranking as well. I listen to a lot of games on mlb radio while I do other work, so I’m more familiar with the audio side than this newfangled picture television fad.
It’s also generally the case that, with MLB.TV, you can get the radio feed for either team OVER the streaming video — which essentially gives viewers four audio options. I probably actually choose one or the other team’s radio feed more than a TV one.
I’d love to see a radio poll too, whenever there’s time for it. I got a lot of radio listening in during 2011, and my favorite radio crews were the Rays’ and Nationals’ – good narrators but very funny as well. The moment when the Nationals’ radio announcer forgot his color commentator’s name was my favorite broadcast moment of the season.
I’m obviously biased but I doubt you’ll come across a more entertaining/objective trio than Gary, Keith, and Ron for the Mets. They make an unwatchable team (at times) watchable.
Biased here too, but these guys are freaking entertaining. And they have a high level of focus on the game at the same time.
I’m a Red Sox fan, but Gary-Ron-Keith might be favorite team of the three local broadcasts we get here in Connecticut (Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets). They know when to have fun, and they know when to be serious. They really strike a perfect balance, I think.
I do like Don and Jerry for the Red Sox quite a bit. I used to kind of dislike Jerry, but he’s finally grown on me.
With the Yankees, it really depends, since they have a revolving-door broadcast team. Ken Singleton is very easy on the ears, and David Cone is about as saber-friendly an announcer as you’re likely to find, especially for a former player (he’s even cited Fangraphs many times on air). So I enjoy it when those guys are on. Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill, on the other hand, can be painful to listen to at times (even though O’Neill comes across as a very likable guy). So, it really depends on which combination of guys happens to be calling a particular game.
Actually, I do have one objection to the Mets’ broadcasts, and that’s that they sometimes let Ralph Kiner into the booth for an inning or two. Maybe I don’t have enough of a sense of humor about it, but good grief, it’s like listening to Grampa Simpson.
You mean they don’t have Ralph Kiner in the booth enough! Even if he does repeat the same Branch Rickey stories over and over again, love the way he jabs Keith during day games.
Kiner is amazing. His mind is still there, he just doesn’t sound too good anymore. It’s perfect for an inning or two imo.
As a fan of another NL East team stuck watching lots of games on MLB.TV, I think the Mets announcers are quite good. I’d rank them best in the division by far (though that may be a tallest-midget-in-the-circus type of compliment).
I am a Phils fan, and yes, the Mets announcers are quite good, in aggregate better than the Phillies’.
Hawk Harrelson is awful. I’m not even a White Sox fan and I hope every year that he gets fired. If the White Sox fans actually like him, then God have pity on their souls. Between calling the White Sox “good guys” and the other team “bad guys”, his “he gone” call, bitching ENTIRE SERIES about umpires….. its all just awful. I know that local broadcasters may tend to lean towards the team they cover a little during the game, but that guy is just a complete jackass.
As someone who lives outside the Chicago market, I actually LIKE having Harrelson as an option. I understand very much how it would be possible not to care for his mannerisms. That said, I prefer him, I think, to announcers who are polished but style-less. The degree to which Harrelson is so recklessly HIMSELF is amusing — for moments at a time, at least, if not for 162 games.
Like watching Battlefield Earth, the first 5-10 minutes are funny, but then you realize there’s still another hour and a half left and your buzz starts wearing off.
I like the fact that Harrelson has some personality. He may be a homer, but he does it in his own way. He’s much better than the bland guys you can hear doing the Pirates’ or the Nats’ games, e.g.
I would like the fact that Harrelson has some personality if he didn’t have HIS personality.
My favorite Hawk Harrelson moment was when he went silent after an enormous Jim Thome walkoff home run for the Twins.
Do we really even need to do this? There is no one better than Vin Scully, and that is universally known.
Unfortunately, the price for enjoying Scully is watching the Dodgers. That’s difficult to do every day.
Its pretty easy to watch Matt Kemp. Clayton Kershaw too.
That may have been the case a few decades ago, but I find listening to Scully now a painful ordeal and reminder of faded glory, like watching Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space. Just ask the outfielder repeatedly called “Colin Cogwell” by Scully, how good a broadcaster Vin is these days.
You do realize the guy has an accent, right?
The loss of both Harry Kalas and Ernie Harwell skew this poll. Respect to Niehaus, imo he was overrated.
Are the FOX, TBS, and ESPN crews going to get in on this?
I actually like Gary Thorne, but no one can truely replace Jon Miller calling my childhood O’s.
Hard to beat Krukow and Kuiper in SF.
Yeah, I’m a Giants fan, but I also listen to a lot of other broadcast teams, and Krukow and Kuiper are just really, really good. They have such wonderful chemistry together, and are really funny. Krukow also has great insights into pitching philosophy and mechanics that really adds value when watching a team with pitching as great as the Giants.
And while I’m here I’ll add that Mark Grace/Daron Sutton of the Diamondbacks are just THE WORST.
I’d like to cast my vote for Len and Bob on Chicago’s North Side. Kasper is one of the best pbp men in the game and Brenly holds his own with the color.
Can we put some of the national broadcast teams up for vote as well? I’m a big fan of the ESPN team featuring Dave O’Brien and I extremely dislike FOX’s Buck/McCarver team (although Francona showed signs of brilliance during the postseason). I just think it would be logical to see how each and every MLB broadcast team stacks up, not just the local market teams.