Best baseball announcers in history?

[mordeci]

No baseball announcer can compare to the Scooter. (That's Phill Rizzuto in case you don't know)

"HOLY COW!!!!!"

It has to happen at least once in every single thread. While everyone else is trying to have an intelligent discussion, some yankee fan just throws out their hometown favorite. Amazing how startling uniformed yankee fans are about anything that happens outside of new york. Rizzuto is absolutely awful. He's Harry Carrey with less charm.

I agree with those that like Scully.

[The Dude]

Bob Uecker.

He has so many stories, any game he calls is interesting.

[trosmok]

NPR in Tallahassee

You can also hear Walter Lanier "Red" Barber's musings in the audio collection of "Fridays with Red." The book by Bob Edwards is a great read also, I highly reccommend it for this time of year when we're waiting for spring training. Christina J. Johns wrote a really nice piece about my favorite broadcaster, baseball or otherwise that included "...the appeal of Red Barber had something to do with the fact that he seemed like the kind of person that people used to be - fine, decent, gentle, not above stopping to appreciate flowers, or laughing and making a joke at his own expense. There was something about his voice and his manner that gave you the feeling that here was a person that wasn't for sale to the highest bidder, a man who knew who he was and what he valued, who wouldn't cheat or lie or steal to get advantage, a man who lived with integrity. Red Barber was one of those people you miss without ever having known."

[Brian McKenna]

Bob Uecker.

He has so many stories, any game he calls is interesting.

i almost peed myself during his hall of fame speech

[RedSox2004]

Ned Martin


"Out in the open for the first time in Fenway Park history is the Red Sox broadcast team, looking in on action from centerfield bleachers. As Curt Gowdy gets up to absorb his full share of sun, mates Ned Martin, left, and Mel Parnell, center, describe goings-on over the Sox radio network."

"Game tied, 6-6. Darcy pitching. Fisk takes high and inside, ball one. Freddie Lynn on deck. There have been numerous heroics tonight, both sides. The 0-1 delivery to Fisk. He swings. Long drive, left field! If it stays fair, it's gone! Home run! The Red Sox win! And the Series is tied, three games apiece!" -- Ned Martin NBC Radio October 23, 1975 12:45 AM

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Let me look at the other side, bad guys. Has anyone listened the the Atlanta Braves announcer......is this guy alive...is there a pulse... hellloooo.

[85cards]

Clearly any longtime announcer you grew up with will be your favorite so no one can replace Jack Buck for me. Classy, colorful, dry humor...no end to the witicisms.

As far as non StL announcers go, I go along with Harwell and Scully (although Vin has lost a bit in his later years, IMO).

Dishonorable mention: Tim (the tool) McCarver I can't believe Bob Gibson could ever stand him

[64Cards]

Dishonorable mention: Tim (the tool) McCarver I can't believe Bob Gibson could ever stand him

Big difference between playing and announcing. As a player, Tim was one of my favorites. As an announcer, the best thing I can say about him is he was one of my favorite players.

[BoweryBoys]

Vin Scully

Again, this is one of those subjective things and people are best to judge those announcers that they actually have some large amount of experience actually listening to. Having grown up listening to Vin Scully paint incredible mind pictures via radio as Koufax and Drysdale etc were working their 1960's magic, I would say that Vin Scully is so hands down so far ahead of anyone else I have ever heard do a game onTV or radio that it is just no contest. So as for the many I have heard over the years, Scully is way out in front. True he has lost a little in recent years but when you listen to all the horrid play by play and color guys of today, especially on ESPN and FOX who are so awful and lousy, Scully shines even brighter. Jack Buck, Mel Allen and ERnie Harwell were all great as well.

[Scotty T.]

Being a Brewers fan for the last 34 years.... I will say Uecker...... believe me with some of those teams, he had no choice but to tell interesting stories!!!!

Even though his decline at the end was inarguable, I still loved Harry Caray.

Back in the mid 1980's when they were still doing broadcast from the bleachers, I still remember the following........

Harry was in the bleachers and Steve Stone was in the booth...........

Runner on third base from the opposing team (I do forget the team).........

Jody Davis catching Ron Cey at third base, with a runner on third..........

Harry: Line shot snagged by Cey!!!!!!!
Steve Stone: OR maybe just a pick off attempt thrown down by Jody Davis
Harry: STILL, a Heluva snag by Cey!!!!!!

Think Harry might have been about 12 deep into the Brewery fresh Budweisers at that point!!!

[reitzer2000]

Hands Down

Jack Buck was the best baseball announcer ever. He has so many memorable calls. "Go Crazy folks, Go Crazy" (Ozzie Smith's left handed homerun in the playoffs in 1985). "This is gonna be a homerun. I can't believe what I just saw" (Nobody can forget a limping around the bases Kirk Gibson).

[Brian McKenna]

anyone else not really give a crap about announcers or is it just me? i know they don't determine what i watch or listen to one way or the other?

[64Cards]

anyone else not really give a crap about announcers or is it just me? i know they don't determine what i watch or listen to one way or the other?

Well BK, I don't know how old you are, but to me and a helluva of lot of other baseball fans, the great annoucers are as important or more than any of the players, who come and go. Between april and october, a fan will spend a lot of time listening to them. It wasn't too long ago, in the pre-cable days, that in most cities the majority of the games were on radio only and the great broadcasters of that era, guys like Barber, Allen, Hodges, Caray, Prince, Buck, Scully, Harwell, just to scratch the surface, were beloved by the fans. When Jack Buck died here in 2002, it was the biggest funeral and outpouring of emotion I can ever remember here. And when the cards fired Harry Caray after the 1969 season, the fans were much more upset than after any stupid trade the team ever made.

[Tailwind Tommy]

Best Baseball Announcer

My vote is:

dudley_jimmy.jpg

Jimmy Dudley was the 1997 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award. Dudley, who fashioned his broadcast style after the legendary Red Barber, served as the voice of the Cleveland Indians from 1948 through 1967.
In his 20 seasons with the Indians, Dudley was known for his warm, rich description of both victory and defeat. In his first year behind the microphone, the Tribe set a major league attendance record, captured the American League pennant and won the World Series.
Dudley was born in Alexandria, Virginia and is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he majored in chemistry and played baseball, basketball and football. As a budding young broadcaster, he apprenticed for Cubs' pioneer announcer Hal Totten. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, Dudley migrated to Cleveland.
Following his tenure with the Indians, Dudley called games for the 1969 Seattle Pilots and ended his radio career in 1976 as the voice of the Pacific Coast League's Tucson Toros.

To hear sound clips featuring Jimmy Dudley, he can be found on the brandx.net or seattlepilots.com websites. Just click on "radio" and then click on "pilots". This page features sound clips of Jimmy Dudley and Bill Schonely, taken from the Pilots vs. A's game, played March 28, 1970, in Mesa, Arizona.
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[Rennie Stennett]

Uninformed

It has to happen at least once in every single thread. While everyone else is trying to have an intelligent discussion, some yankee fan just throws out their hometown favorite. Amazing how startling uniformed yankee fans are about anything that happens outside of new york.

I didn't know Yankee Fans were Uniformed

Jack Buck was a helluva Football Broadcaster (MNF) on the radio, along with Hank Stram.