Orioles Announcers, Where Would You Rank Them?

[orioles942]

Manfra tries too hard. Especially in his descriptions. There are times when his descriptions of the action take so long by the time he's done, the next batter is striking out.

I competely agree, he tries to give too many details and then gets lost, tongue twisted and confused and loses the enthusiasm of the play. You would think at his age and the amount of games he has done, he would of learned. I listened to highlights he did on the radio many years ago and he was much livelier and clearer. I just wonder if he is kind of losing it about mentally as he ages. He is a real nice guy however.

[Orsulak4Prez]

Gary Thorne is fun to listen to, due to his stories and how excited he gets at key moments of the game. His drawbacks are he doesn't know what pitches are being thrown, often makes mistakes, and generally is not a great "baseball" announcer. But I like him and his excitement and storytelling outweigh the negatives with me.

Jim Palmer is one of the best color guys in the game. I need to say nothing more.

On the radio side, I absolutely LOVE Joe Angel, but cantstanz Fred Manfra.

I don't have any strong feelings either way for Manfra, but I don't understand why so many people dislike him. He's ok to me. Angel is a great announcer but sometimes annoys me with his awkward attempts at humor. He's just not funny. Fred doesn't help him since he doesn't seem to make any attempt to save Joe.

[Orsulak4Prez]

Manfra tries too hard. Especially in his descriptions. There are times when his descriptions of the action take so long by the time he's done, the next batter is striking out.

Ha. I should have read the whole way through the thread before posting.

[The Wedge]

I don't have any strong feelings either way for Manfra, but I don't understand why so many people dislike him. He's ok to me. Angel is a great announcer but sometimes annoys me with his awkward attempts at humor. He's just not funny. Fred doesn't help him since he doesn't seem to make any attempt to save Joe.

I only dislike him as a PbP guy on the radio (I actually would prefer it if he was Thorne's backup, not Hunter) for two big reasons: not being able to land the plane when he's calling the action, and having some of the poorest depth perception for a radio guy. That man has gotten me excited for so many lazy pop flies to the mid depths of the outfield.

[Bradysburns]

Both lists are from Bleacher report in 2011

Worst 15 Broadcasters:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/698214-mlb-power-rankings-joe-buck-and-baseballs-15-most-hated-broadcasters

Top 10 Broadcasters:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/656229-baseballs-10-best-broadcasters

Different author for each article, which explains how Jon Miller got on both lists. Jon is one of my all time favorites and I think we'll all agree he shouldn't be on the worst list. But Gary Thorne is. Do you agree? I like listening to Gary and I'd like to know what I'm not hearing that others do, which warrants his poor rating. I never heard Gary doing a hockey game though, so perhaps it's because it still seems weird to hear him do baseball? Out here in SF we had Lon Simmons and Bill King (two of my all time favorites) do multiple sports and I never thought it was weird listening to them.

Palmer is on the Best list. I've come around and now I like listening to Jim. He drove me crazy for years as I thought he talked way to much, but now when he speaks I actually listen. Not sure how that happened. But I was still surprised to see him on the best list. Thoughts?

I think Thorne is superb - I actually prefer him to Jon Miller, who I loved as well. This list is absurd, as are most arbitrary lists compiled by media monkeys.

Palmer is excellent, too, IMO. I think those two together are really terrific. I even think Bordy has come a long way. I'm not a huge Manfra fan, however.

[Bradysburns]

I only dislike him as a PbP guy on the radio (I actually would prefer it if he was Thorne's backup, not Hunter) for two big reasons: not being able to land the plane when he's calling the action, and having some of the poorest depth perception for a radio guy. That man has gotten me excited for so many lazy pop flies to the mid depths of the outfield.

My main beef with Manfra is that he often skims over the core details of an unfolding game (ball/strike count, inning, pitcher name/batter name, score) for mindless yammering.

[glenn__davis]

I only dislike him as a PbP guy on the radio (I actually would prefer it if he was Thorne's backup, not Hunter) for two big reasons: not being able to land the plane when he's calling the action, and having some of the poorest depth perception for a radio guy. That man has gotten me excited for so many lazy pop flies to the mid depths of the outfield.

Yeah, I don't have much of a beef with Manfra, but these are definitely valid criticisms.

Someone on here, I think it was PaulFolk, did a hilarious example of a typical Manfra call last year. It was so spot on. I actually do think he's gotten worse with this over the past few years. Sometimes he never actually does let you know what happened, you just have to figure it out.

[tilgaham]

Bordick has come a LONG way from last summer. He was actually pretty easy to listen to tonight (which was the first time I've heard him since last July).

[Palmoripken]

I probably agree with GMU alot on his analysis.... Some guys have the great voice(Thorne) some guys can still tell you things that you may not notice(Palmer) and some guys are pure entertainment value(Brother Low).

Thorne has the great pipes and meshes well with Palmer. I like him. I dont need him to give me any baseball knowledge or observations.

Palmer as others have said, is cocky as hell, but his knowledge and observations are really sharp. We are lucky to have him and Gary working together.

Joe Angel - back in my teens, when I was delivering pizza during the summers home from college, Joe Angel was like a god. Joe Angel is also really entertaining and funny. Self deprecating at times, and usually I will literally laught out loud a couple of times listening to him. He is phenominal. Jon Miller was also one of the best.

Manfra - he is fine. Good radio voice. Not Joe Angel, but good enough to listen to. We all know about his abilities with fly balls/HR's.

Bordick - Was absolutely horrible to start out with, but has really gotten better. Sometimes still searching for things to say and can be Captain Obvious at times, but he is still a work in progress and sometimes maybe we compare him to Palmer too much.

Hunter - Love the oriole enthusiasm, but he is better suited to the occasional watcher because he is so basic.

The Demper - As bad as he can be sometimes, he is still The Demper and if you were a kid and watched him slide around on the tarp during rain delays, you could never hate The Demper.

Flanny - really miss him. Could sound almost sullen at times, but he knew his stuff. Quick witted and also made me laugh alot. Will never forget the night the news broke about his death.

Trying to figure out who I missed. I do remember Chuck Thompson and he was great, but I was young. Didnt Mel Proctor do Orioles as well? I was a big fan of his - he did Bullets games as well.

Yeah Thorne may not be a baseball guy at heart. It's my understanding that he's an excellent hockey PBP guy but he's got that voice and as lame as "Goodbye Home Run" was at first, I've grown to like it because Gary gets excited. He can also be funny. Not as funny as Angel who I think is criminally underrated as a PBP guy. Anyhow, Proctor whom you mentioned, I believe his last year was 1996. Then we had Michael "See you later" Reghi for a few years. I was pretty indifferent to him. The best one I remember though was Jon Miller. Love, love Jon Miller. He's everything that you ask for in a good PBP guy- knows the game, has that voice, good with names (Jon speaks fluent Spanish IIRC and he makes a sincere effort from what I understand to get the correct pronounication on names), and he just makes things fun. He's a gifted mimic and I love how he does the ump voice of "Safe!" Plus my high school commencement speaker brought him up when he talked about how important ambition was. I've been out of high school for eight years now but his story about ohw Miller spent time practicing announcing games as a young man has stayed with me. As for Jim Hunter, I don't dislike him the way some fans do. He is I grant a little too homeristic at times and I think sometimes is guilty of pointing out the inane- like it's nice that Melvin Mora had a three game hitting streak but that's not really news. All in all, I think we're fortunate to have good broadcasters. I like I know many of you have watched the O's-Nats games where our guys team up with the Nats guys and the Nats guys are just awful. I can't stand Bob Carpenter. He makes Jim Hunter look like a cynic and I find him honestly unprofessional. Not that big on Santangelo either and wasn't big on Dibble either. Their broadcasters have a vibe of patronizing that I've never really have gotten from our guys. Who were the guys that Thompson did the games with in the 60's and 70's though? I think one guy's name was O'Donnell. Don't know much about him and I know Brooks did color commentary for a long time too but O'Donnell died before I was born and I think Brooks stopped doing games just as I started watching games.

[waroriole]

Bordick has come a LONG way from last summer. He was actually pretty easy to listen to tonight (which was the first time I've heard him since last July).

I agree. Bordick has got a lot better. Now, he's no Jim Palmer, but I'd rather listen to him than most other local color guys. He's smart and I really like how he picks up on the little things that Machado brings defensively.

[PaulFolk]

Yeah, I don't have much of a beef with Manfra, but these are definitely valid criticisms.

Someone on here, I think it was PaulFolk, did a hilarious example of a typical Manfra call last year. It was so spot on. I actually do think he's gotten worse with this over the past few years. Sometimes he never actually does let you know what happened, you just have to figure it out.

I forgot about that. You're right, I went and looked it up. Here's what I posted:

Manfra is horrendous at actually describing what's happening on the field. He tries to cram way too much information into every sentence, and as a result it takes him about 5 minutes to describe a 5-second play. He does this over and over again, and it's incredibly frustrating to a listener who's trying to figure out what's happening in the game.

The way an announcer should describe a play: "And here's the 3-2 pitch to Cano. Swing, and a grounder to short. Hardy fields and makes the throw to first for the final out." (crowd cheers)

How Manfra describes it: "And the 3-2 delivery upcoming from the tall right-hander from eastern Michigan, to the Yankees' left-handed swinging second baseman...and... (crowd cheers, because the play is already over) ...it's...a...ground ball to the shortstop J.J. Hardy, and...(pause)... on an easy hop, to his glove side left, J.J.... (pause)... makes the casual throw across the diamond."

You hear the crowd cheering a long time before Manfra finishes explaining what actually happened on the play. So you know that something has happened, but you have to wait for Manfra to finish his stream of consciousness ramblings before you can caught up.

[waroriole]

How Manfra describes it: "And the 3-2 delivery upcoming from the tall right-hander from eastern Michigan, to the Yankees' left-handed swinging second baseman...and... (crowd cheers, because the play is already over) ...it's...a...ground ball to the shortstop J.J. Hardy, and...(pause)... on an easy hop, to his glove side left, J.J.... (pause)... makes the casual throw across the diamond."

You hear the crowd cheering a long time before Manfra finishes explaining what actually happened on the play. So you know that something has happened, but you have to wait for Manfra to finish his stream of consciousness ramblings before you can caught up.

Ha, that's it to a T.

[justice98]

Bordick will put you to sleep though. He's so soft spoken.

[The Wedge]

Angel can do that, too, but he knows how. It's the difference between a DJ who has pinpoint control on his spiel during the beginning of a song (talking right up to the first lyric), and one who is horrible at it and speeds up super fast at the end. I hate that practice either way.

And I knew I felt a cold shiver up my spine, someone invoked Michael Reghi. That man managed to make me not really care for baseball for a time.

[mikethegimp]

Can't stand Bordick! If he says how well our pitchers are pitching 1 more time, after watching them constantly fall behind 3-0, I might vomit.

And Gary Throne is good except he says "on"earned runs. Don't know why, but it bugs the s#*t out of me.