Crowdsourcing MLB Broadcasters: Day 9 of 10

by
April 28, 2016

Other radio-broadcast ballots: Arizona / Atlanta / Baltimore / Boston / Chicago AL / Chicago NL / Cincinnati / Cleveland / Colorado / Detroit / Houston / Kansas City / Los Angeles AL / Los Angeles NL / Miami / Milwaukee / Minnesota / New York AL.

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 another collection of 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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New York Mets

Some relevant information regarding the Mets’ broadcast:

  • Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Howie Rose.
  • Color analysis is typically provided by Josh Lewin.
  • Like six other guys maybe appear for select games.

Click here to grade the Mets’ radio broadcast team.

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Oakland Athletics

Some relevant information regarding Oakland’s broadcast:

  • Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Ken Korach.
  • Color analysis is typically provided by Vince Cotroneo.
  • Roxy Bernstein and maybe others appear for select games.

Click here to grade Oakland’s radio broadcast team.

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Philadelphia Phillies

Some relevant information regarding Philadelphia’s broadcast:

  • Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Scott Franzke.
  • Color analysis is typically provided by Larry Andersen.
  • Marlon Anderson and/or Jim Jackson appear for select games.

Click here to grade Philadelphia’s radio broadcast team.

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Pittsburgh Pirates

Some relevant information regarding Pittsburgh’s broadcast:

  • Play-by-play coverage is provided by Joe Block or Greg Brown.
  • Color analysis is provided by Bob Walk.
  • Plus also Steve Blass or John Wehner, probably.

Click here to grade Pittsburgh’s radio broadcast team.

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St. Louis Cardinals

Some relevant information regarding St. Louis’s broadcast:

  • Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Mike Shannon.
  • Color analysis is typically provided by John Rooney.
  • Mike Claiborne and Rick Horton very possibly appear for select games.

Click here to grade St. Louis’s radio broadcast team.

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San Diego Padres

Some relevant information regarding San Diego’s broadcast:

  • Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Ted Leitner.
  • Color analysis is typically provided by Jesse Agler.
  • Others including Don Orsillo appear for select games.

Click here to grade San Diego’s radio broadcast team.





 

Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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