Radio Announcers

[Dave Borton]

Listened to Pat Hughes with the Cubs last night and he was terrible. I know he is in the recipient of the Ford Frick for announcers of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

I listen to all games on the radio; no video. I have listened to all the broadcasters of 30 teams; quite a continuum. I focus on about 6-7 sets of announcers as favorites and tune into the booths of the Dodgers, Tigers, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Yanks, WSox, and Athletics. I listen for the game itself, not necessarily the team and Hughes would shake out in the bottom 5.

Why such a knock on Hughes PBP? Not one ounce of visuals. "That was a strike," as Ron Coomer quickly tries to pick up the slack. Nothing about location, speed, or type of pitch. Not the batters BA, let alone other batting stats. Nothing about batters coming up about whom the pitcher has to worry during this at bat. No narrative whatsoever.

I respect the legend and I could pick out Hughes voice from all 60 to whom I listen. But the past honor doesn't cut it for me. As a retiree well past Hughes in trips around the sun, I might suggest the Cubs honor that past and get onto tomorrow.

[MackMan]

I have also noticed this as well when I listen to other clubs' announcers thru the MLB app. I have noticed 2 things that I find are lacking amongst the announcers:

1. The lack of true color commentary. It's as if they forget that people are trying to visualize whats going on on the field. You can say strike all you want, but if you don't give a description such as, "Here come's the pitch and its a curveball right on the edge of the plate," I will just assume he threw a strike with a fastball. 

2. They are so monotone when it comes to being on the radio. They act as if they aren't allowed to express even a cent of emotion. Maybe its all the noise gates, VST's, and limiters causing this, but most of the time its a snooze fest listening to them. If I wanted to listen to lack of personality, i'd listen to NPR.

Said my 2 cents. Again, maybe biased as a Twins fan, I pick out the nuances that Dan Gladden has when calling a game.