Click here to cast ballot for television broadcast teams.

Recently, the present author began the process of process of reproducing the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The purpose of those rankings? To place a “grade” on each of the league’s television and radio broadcast teams — a grade intended to represent not necessarily the objective quality or skill of the relevant announcers, but rather the appeal those announcers might have to the readers of this site. By way of MLB.TV feeds, the typical major-league telecast offers four distinct audio feeds — which is to say, the radio and television commentary both for the home and road clubs. The idea of these broadcast rankings was to give readers an opportunity to make an informed decision about how to consume a telecast.

Below are the first six ballots for radio broadcast teams.

For each broadcasting team, the reader is asked to supply a grade on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 representing the highest mark) according to the following criteria: Charisma, Analysis, and then Overall.

Charisma is, essentially, the personal charm of the announcers in question. Are they actively entertaining? Do they possess real camaraderie? Would you — as is frequently the case with Vin Scully — would you willingly exchange one of your living grandfathers in order to spend time with one of these announcers? The Analysis provided by a broadcast team could skew more towards the sabermetric or more towards the scouting side of things. In either case, is it grounded in reason? The Overall rating is the overall quality of the broadcast team — nor need this be a mere average of the previous two ratings. Bob Uecker, for example, provides very little in the way of analysis, and yet certainly rates well overall, merely by force of personality. Finally, there’s a box of text in which readers can elaborate upon their grades, if so compelled.

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Arizona Diamondbacks

Some relevant information regarding Arizona’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Greg Schulte.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Tom Candiotti.
• Mike Ferrin and Mike Fetters also appear sometimes, per the Internet.

Click here to grade Arizona’s radio broadcast team.

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Atlanta Professional Baseball Club Team

Some relevant information regarding Atlanta’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Jim Powell.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Don Sutton.
• Ben Ingram appears for select games.

Click here to grade Atlanta’s radio broadcast team.

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Baltimore Orioles

Some relevant information regarding Baltimore’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Joe Angel.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Jim Hunter.
• Fred Manfra almost certainly appears for select games.

Click here to grade Baltimore’s radio broadcast team.

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Chicago Cubs

Some relevant information regarding the Cubs’ broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Pat Hughes.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Ron Coomer.
• Mark Grote and Jeff Joniak maybe appear for select games.

Click here to grade Cubs’ radio broadcast team.

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Chicago White Sox

Some relevant information regarding the White Sox’ broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Ed Farmer.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Darrin Jackson.
• Aaron Rowand very possibly appears for select games.

Click here to grade White Sox’ radio broadcast team.

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Cincinnati Reds

Some relevant information regarding Cincinnati’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Marty Brennaman.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Jeff Brantley.
• Thom Brennaman and Jim Kelch both maybe appear for select games.

Click here to grade Cincinnati’s radio broadcast team.