We're starting to lose some of the great long-time baseball play-by-play announcers. There aren't too many guys looking to stay in that business with one team for any length of time. They're all looking to move upwards and onwards these days and, soon, they either make it big like Joe Buck, or they disappear altogether but there was a time when guys could make it on the strength of their ability and not so much on how they looked on camera. In the last few years, we've lost father and son Harry and Skip Caray, Jack Buck (Joe's dad), Harry Kalas, and now, Ernie Harwell is battling incurable cancer. None of those guys were/are particularly photogenic but they knew their stuff. These guys, who have called 150-160+ games per year for 30-40-50 years, are under-appreciated for what they do. Somehow, they manage to fill 3-4 hours of air time with fresh insight, humor, and fantastic stories almost every night. Those broadcasting jobs are easily the best ones around but only the best announcers can do it. AllTheBest, Ernie.
On the other end of the class spectrum, we have The Buffalo News giving Terrell Owens the full-bore coddle treatment. They have a section on the front page of their Buffalo Bills section called "T.O. Today". The first headline there is
DiCesare: Bills can't let T.O. lose patience, or they'll lose him
In other news from western New York, aspirin sales are way up. No explanation offered.
Quote of the Day
There's been too much attention paid to me, and people get tired of reading about an old guy. My mom used to say, 'Don't wear out your welcome.' And I don't want to wear out my welcome
Ernie Harwell
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "The Bills showed a lot of heart in bouncing back from last week's loss to the Patriots improving to 1-1 on the season."
Baseball radio - nothing else like it and the guys who put it on. Occasionally, you can still get an audible glimpse of it, but not like it used to be.
An indelible memory from my childhood was walking over to my friend's house on a sunny Sunday afternoon, her dad would be sitting on a folding lawn chair on the sidewalk in front of their house, transistor radio up to his ear, staticky pause, then the unmistakable voice of Harry Caray tossing out some little tidbit of essential wisdom. I was never sure if he was out there on the sidewalk because his wife wouldn't allow it in the house, or if the KMOX signal wouldn't reach all the way in the house. Probably a little of each.
I think Harry did see to it he got his appreciation in later years, unlike many of the others.
Sorry to hear about Ernie Harwell's illness.
There is nothing quite like listening to a game on the radio, Marie. I should do it more. It was a staple of my youth and I still have fond memories of listening to Saints games, Tulane Green Wave games, and LSU Tiger games.
We lost Herb Carneal here a couple of years ago. He had been a Twins broadcaster since 1962 and it would be impossible to count how many times I had listened to him announce a Twins game. It's been a tough decade for that in a lot of markets.
We've lost a few color analysts and sportscasters here but not any memorable play-by-play announcers. I have a special attachment to them. Not sure why.
A sound I always loved on the radio: the between-pitches murmur that you'd hear during broadcasts of White Sox night games from Comiskey Park. Hearing that, the vendors calling out, beer cups being popped, the voice of Andy the Clown--he was a guy who every few minutes would emit a piercing shout you could hear all over the ballpark--I felt like I was right there in the stands. Bob Elson, one of the old, old timers, did a play-by-play that was so laid-back I'll bet a lot of Chicagoland went to sleep to it.
Harry Caray's first stop in Chicago was with the Sox. Nobody nodded off when he called one of their games.
One of my favorite Harry Caray stories is the one that brought him to Chicago. The Cardinals called him in after years of service. "I thought I was going to get a gold watch. Instead, I got a pink slip."