Annoying baseball announcers

There's something about Reynolds voice and how much he talks that annoys me as much as McCarver's ignorance. I find myself wanting to cover my ears and scream "Shut up! at Reynolds.

The only person even close to challenging McCarver for most annoying analyst ever is Joe Garagiola, and that's going back a long way.  Maybe it's something about catching for the Cards in route to the broadcast booth.

McCarver was truly the worst... I'm enjoying anyone else for now simply as a breath of fresh air.

I really like Harold Reynolds.

Verducci, McCarver not so much.

Buck is OK.

I mute, or ignore, every announcer I hear, with the exception of Vin Scully. 

Most of the time, I do this because they're absolutely unbearable to listen to. 

All of the time, I do this because they aren't Vin.

All of these guys are the same level of annoying in that they are annoying but don't make me want to kill someone.

The 3 worst announcers in the game are definitely, without a doubt, John Flaherty, Thom Brenneman and Rick Sutcliffe. There's no one even close to these 3. Just the fact that they have an announcing gig downgrades the entire profession.

The worst...I'd rather get a stick in the eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdtn0Z4o8cM

I could pretty much listen to anyone but I always had a hard time listening to Ron Darling... always sounded like he was somewhere between depressed, irritated, whiny and very unenthusiastic.

Suzyn Waldman is Boston's revenge for Babe Ruth. Yankee fans might not have allowed the deal if they knew she was the player to be named later. She's from a suburb of Boston.

LOL..I think you're right!

RJM - McCarver is in a class all by himself.  He is the most annoying man in baseball, period.   I don't have a problem with Reynolds content or message, but sometimes his delivery is too much.   Verducci is a talented writer but not a talented broadcaster

Worst:

1. Tim McCarver

2. Susan Waldman

I'm giving John Sterling a pass here, as I listened to a Yankee broadcast on AM radio without Waldman.   It was very pleasant.   My conclusion after all these years is that Sterling has been guilty by association.

Best:

1. Vin Scully

2. Joe Castiglione

Castiglione is just one of those "comfort" guys for me.  He knows his stuff and he doesn't get carried away.  He's objective and doesn't give the homer bias.  I've listen to Scully a couple dozen times and just love the way he keeps things to a minimum.

I don't understand the hate for Suzyn Waldman, she seems mostly harmless to me. Can you guys please enlighten me on why everyone hates her so much?

OldSkool2,

First of all, there is no hatred.   We are talking about baseball announcers, and some people are going to have preferences.  I prefer a smooth, informative, minimalist radio broadcast delivery.   I don't get that with Susan Waldman because:

1) Her voice....she doesn't have a smooth radio voice.   Every time she speaks it sounds like she is waking someone up.

2) She is the worst homer, ever!  Nobody is even close.  I don't think she is capable of being objective.  There are many other female play by play and color analysts in other sports who have deeper relationships with the athletes.  They are very good at what they do including Mary Carillo and Mary Joe Fernandez in tennis.  Some even captain the athletes for their countries in international play.  Somehow they are able to stay objective and keep their perspectives in their broadcasts.  Waldman not so much.

3) No value, comedic relief or insight.  I want my radio broadcasters to either tell me something I don't know, be funny, or be quiet.  She does none of these.

JMO

I thought Sterling was decent in earlier years broadcasting the Yankee games but seems like as time went by, his schtick got so scripted, it took away from what he should be doing and that is call a game, Putting that old hag in the booth with him dragged him down to her level and his biggest job these days is to talk over Suzyn as much as possible and seems to want to attract more attention on himself than the games he calls.

She's such a clown she's made fun of by sports talk people all over the country. Clips of her doing games are often played for comedic effect, especially the Roger Clemens clip. The NY media is brutal with her since they have to hear her all the time.

Maybe I should have had a third "both are annoying" choice. The best color man I've ever heard is Joe Torre when he did Angels games in the 80s. The worst one now is Jerry Remy (Red Sox). He doesn't provide insight on what occurred. He repeats what the fan just saw. And he has a grating voice. I was hoping the furor over his son and the perceived role the parents played would get him off the air. The man disgusts me as a human being (based on the information that has become public).

While I do find Reynolds annoying I may have gone soft on McCarver since he left the booth. I like The Tim McCarver Show. Every week he interviews someone usually  from the sports era where I was a kid and a majority are baseball players. He's very engaging with his guests. The stories are great. Recently he's had on Al Kaline, Bob Gibson, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Johnny Bench and Paul O'Neil.

To really analyze broadcasters, there are a few important dividing lines to consider:

1. Local vs National - There's a big difference in how announcers and producers approach each.  The OP was asking about the change in the national team on FOX (McCarver vs Reynolds). Announcers are like umpires and offensive linemen... you don't always notice the good ones, it's the poor ones who stand out.

2. Radio vs TV - A lot of teams have gone to simulcast broadcasts were the announcer team is calling the game on both radio and tv at the same time... Which is a shame, because calling a game on radio is a real art... And calling on TV is a different animal. Vin Scully, who I know a lot of people swear by, is a great radio play-by-play announcer. Even though he's made some of the most historic calls in televised baseball, I still prefer him on radio and not as much on TV.

3. Play-by-play (announcer) vs Color commentary (analyst) - Totally different roles and skill sets. Rare to find a broadcast where both roles are strong. I find that a really good announcer can do a lot to help a subpar analyst, but nothing can do much to help a bad announcer. Dan Shulman does a really nice job with play-by-play on ESPN's national games. Joe Buck has gotten tired, IMO. Too many years with McCarver and probably too many years on the air period. He should stick to football. Charlie Steiner was good with play-by-play on national games.

In summation... MAN Tim McCarver was horrible and was on the air for way, way too many years.  Thankfully, now only St. Louis has to deal with him.

McCarver's problem is he talks too much. There are times when I listened to him he brought up some very good points of the game being a catcher and all. I think he just hung on too long and got to old and annoying to listen to. I really don't consider baseball broadcasters national ones because most or all of them have or had done local games in their careers.

RJM - Agreed. It time for RemDawg to hang up the mic for NESN.   For my tastes, the jury is still out on Steve Lyons.  I'm not overwhelmed or underwhelmed yet.

On the other hand, I really like Don Orsillo for NESN and MLB playoffs.  He is the kind of announcer that tells you what you need to know and moves on....in other words knows when to be quiet or let his color analyst take over (Lyons, Eckersley, Remy, etc...)  Orsillo is a pro.

Yes most go through a local market to get a national role, but many can't make that leap to national scope effectively.

Sure McCarver made the occasional good point... and a broken clock is right twice a day. One of his biggest flaws IMO was a continual habit of making painfully obvious observations... and delivering them as if it was the most fascinating information ever uncovered. He would then punctuate the next several innings by hammering the same point again and again (and again); whether the later stages of the game supported his original "storyline"... or whether it tended to refute it... or whether it had become completely irrelevant by then. He was a non stop broken record of tedium.

I like Harold Reynolds and all the guys on the MLB network.Tim McCarver should ride off into the sunset.

I really enjoy Dan Plesac. He's my favorite analyst on MLB network.That dude can still bring it and his enthusiasm for the game of baseball is infectious !

My favorite announcers are Bob Costas,Jon Miller,Duane Kuiper, and Mike Krukow. I really liked Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler when they were with Angels.Dick Enberg,Mark Grant,& Mark Sweeney do a good job for the Padres too.

Two words sure to send the baseball world into a suicidal state are HAWK HARRELSON !!!!!! And im a White Sox fan. If Steve Stone were allowed to comment on a baseball game like he can, we might actually learn something and the broadcast might actually be enjoyable. But no, every broadcast is predictable with Harrelson.It includes about 3 stories of Yaz back in the 60's,his constant complaining about the umpires,and phrases like Duck Snort,Hang Wuff em, Stretch!!!!!!! and YOU CAN PUT IN ON THE BOARDDDDDDDD YES !!!! God I miss John Rooney !!!!!!

McCarver isn't bad working local broadcast for the Cardinals now... Who is really bad... Eric Karros. Losing his mind last night on the play at the plate saying that Dee Gordon should have been safe because no one is ever allowed to block the plate... except Lynn was in possession of the ball.

Rooney started complaining about Puig the other night when he lollipoped one back into the infield... I wanted to choke him.

I've never been one of the guys who can have a broadcaster ruin a game or have to put it on mute to be able to watch.  No announcer is that bad in my opinion.  Some worse than others, but it never seems to be a distraction.

I have to come to the defense of McCarver a bit.  He was never one of my favorites doing games with Joe Buck.  I even thought it was a mistake to bring him here to St Louis to work.  But since he has been here this summer, he has been a lot better than I anticipated.  He still will go on and on about a single play or detail, but overall he has done a fine job this summer.

I usually listen to the AWAY Yankees broadcasts on MLB.com while at work... 

The best broadcasters I like are 2 of the Brewers announcers: Bob Uecker & Brian Anderson... Uecker for sentimental reasons, and I find him extremely funny, and Anderson comes from a baseball-background and is extremely smooth - TBS thinks so too.

The others I like are Jay Howarth for Toronto - He is excellent. His partner for many years was Alan Ashby and they were a great team. Ashby has since gone back to Houston, the team he played most of his career with.

The Giants broadcasting team is just awesome... Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper & Mike Krukow... are great!

Ken Korach & Ray Fosse are mucho excellante as well for the A's... enjoy listening to them!

I guess Suzy Waldman is the butt of a lot of jokes, but she's been at it for so long that she's grown on me... like a fungus, I suppose... 

The announcers I find to be irritating are: Marty & Thom Brennaman... Just too whiny for me... Mike Shannon is awful... 

RJM - Did you catch this Remy schtick the other night?  Anthing for ratings!  Remy pulls out a tooth as Red Sox pitching gives up another homerun

http://www.boston.com/sports/b...est_B:sub_headline_2

I watched the Cubs feed of the first two games. My son showed me a way to access locally black out games on MLB. So when I don't want to hear Remy I watch the opposing team feed. If the Sox are going to be bad suffering through Remy is just too much. I'd rather spend an hour in a hot box with a life insurance salesman. Could you imagine Waldman and Remy in the same booth?

Last night I looked up on my tablet they were behind 3-1. I eventually turned on the tv to see the bases are loaded. I thought, "Good! One hit and they're back in this one." Then I noticed the score was 6-1.

When the Sox beat the Yankees two of three and were only six out I figured maybe at this point they would get it together. But to get manhandled by the Cubs at home is absurd. The Sox are going nowhere.

I had a conversation with a friend this spring. I pointed out Nava has hit .300 once and .240 twice. What if last year was a fluke career year. I asked when has Bradley proved he could hit MLB pitching. I suggested what if Victorino has more injury problems this year (never saw a lost season for him)? What if Buchholz doesn't come back successfully? It all happened to the Nth degree.

Who expected Pierzynski to not have his normal year? Drew is a waste of space and money. I figured Middlebrooks would hit at least .250 with 25 homers. He can't stay healthy. The only thing the Sox have done successfully is mess with Boegarts head and retard his development by moving him off short.

This year is what I expected to happen last year after the debacle of 2012. I figured the Sox were in for a three years of losing rebuild. Last year bought them some time with the fans patience. It was fun. But it was a mirage in terms of the health of the parent club. This year none of the patches have held.

I know Cleveland fans won't have any sympathy. But with the Bruins getting eliminated early when they had a shot at The Cup, the Celtics stinking and what the Sox have turned into it's a very boring pro sports late spring and summer. Since the Bruins were eliminated in late May it's been, "Who do the Patriots play opening game in September?"

RJM - It is looking bleek, and I have no problem with the organization making moves to see who can do the job next year.  Clearly hitters 6-9 ain't getting the job done...lowest in the AL in terms of avg, obp, rbi and just about every category you can think of....based on an MLB graphic they showed last night.   I trust Cherington will make the right business moves if given the latitude to do so.

But look on the good side:

1) Brock Holt has been exciting and a good find

2) Bullpen is still very good

3) Remy is going to need some dental work, so we can bring in another NESN color guy for a week or two

4) Sox are not in last place...yet

5) Lester is going to test free agency and FO won't want to pay him.....that is sarcasm

6) Bobby V isn't in our dugout or clubhouse.   Nothing was worse than that.

....I'm just trying to keep it in a positive perspective.  Other than that, it has been a banner year!

I'm betting Holt is a utility player on a hot streak rather than a permanent .300 hitting starter. He's this year's Nava. For their benefit they've both proven they belong in the majors. 

Based on the way the Sox low balled Lester, the way they are playing and how next year may appear I wonder if he hangs around. The hometown discount may be out the window. He (wife and kids) lives in the Atlanta area year round. I'm betting the Braves get the hometown discount if they're interested.

It's time to get rid of Drew and get Boegarts back at short for his MLB initiation. There must be some team in a pennant race interested in Drew for a bag of balls and a bucket of sunflower seeds. Talk about bad decisions! If Pierzynski is the PITA some have reported him to be, trade him to a contender and call up Vasquez. I'd rather see Ross behind the plate hitting .200 than Pierzynski hitting .250. Play Bradley every day in center and make a decision on whether or not he can hit MLB pitching. 

Unfortunately, the best trade bait the Sox have is Uehara. He's a free agent after the season. He's at the top of his game. But's he's 39 on a team that may not contend next year. He won't be worth to the Sox what he'll want in a new contract. Another pitcher on the last year of his contract is Miller. Relief pitchers tend to not be worth big, long term contracts.