Worst Announcers!!

Joe Morgan knows baseball and has some good insights.  The thing that drives me nuts is he'll make a point, then repeat that same point over and over until you're ready to choke him.  Joe, we heard you the first time!  (Joe was an awesome player by the way, and very much deserved his election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  He was the best player in the NL during the mid-70's with back-to-back MVP awards.)

Ray Fosse is one of my favorite announcers.  He really knows the game, but doesn't act like he's trying to prove how smart he is: very understated.  His pre-game interviews are particularly good.

Bill King is my least favorite announcer.  I've never liked his raspy voice, but the thing I dislike the most is his incessant whining.  Somebody please get him some Midol! It's also apparent that he feels that a baseball broadcast is the opportunity to dazzle fans with his vocabulary of obscure words that would best be used to describe a performance of Swan Lake.  (It's a pity that ballet doesn't require a play-by-play announcer, eh Bill?)  I haven't listened to an A's game on the radio for several years.  Bill King is the reason.

aka: The Gusher

But with all that, I still have to agree that Harrelson is the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel. Hudler and Physioc are also a good call - ghastly and head-slapping.

And please, can we reserve a special wing-of-shame for the Carey family? Harry got away with being terrible because he was an icon - an old, drunk, icon. But Skip and Chip (there's your hint about the level of taste and intelligence we're dealing with: Skip and Chip) are just as incompetent, and nowhere near as funny or entertaining. Thank God for Steve Stone in Chicago - he may be a tightass, but at least SOMEONE in that booth knows what they're talking about.

Aaaaaaaand one more thing: One of the worst announcers I've ever heard? Joe Torre when he was calling games for the Angels. He's a changed man now that he's managing the Stankees, but at the time he was between gigs and must have been a bitter, bitter man, because he was the ANGRIEST announcer I've ever heard. Pissy and snarky and snippy... and you'd never guess he knew the game like he does, because his advice to kids about how to play "Angels baseball" was always off the mark and hilarious. (Though maybe that was his point - at the time if you played "Angels baseball" you were guaranteed about a .400 winning percentage...)

Ah. It's good to vent.