Connolly: P.A. Announcer Ryan Wagner fired on Opening Day

[SteveA]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

You must have a higher tolerance for terrible than I do.

The way she tries to draw out their first names is like nails on a chalkboard.  She seems like she is trying too hard to me.

Honestly I don't ask for much:

   -- be accurate and correct (she was)

   -- pronounce the players names right (she did)

   -- don't be bland/boring/sleep inducing like Melanie Newman is (she wasn't IMO, just enough intensity in her voice)

Otherwise, unless you actrually develop a personality or shtick like Rex Barney or the old guy with the deep voice who used to do it for the Yankees, which is rare, the PA announcer is "just there".   She did nothing that I found annoying.   THat passes my test.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

23 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Honestly I don't ask for much:

   -- be accurate and correct (she was)

   -- pronounce the players names right (she did)

   -- don't be bland/boring/sleep inducing like Melanie Newman is (she wasn't IMO, just enough intensity in her voice)

Otherwise, unless you actrually develop a personality or shtick like Rex Barney or the old guy with the deep voice who used to do it for the Yankees, which is rare, the PA announcer is "just there".   She did nothing that I found annoying.   THat passes my test.

How dare you keep an open mind and not dislike everything that happens...

[OFFNY]

26 minutes ago, SteveA said:

 

Frankly, I don't ask for much:

   ------ Be accurate and correct (she was.)

   ------ Pronounce the players names correctly (she did.)

   ------ Don't be bland/boring/sleep inducing like Melanie Newman is (she wasn't IMO, she had just enough intensity in her voice.)

Otherwise, unless you actually develop a personality or shtick (like Rex Barney, or like Bob Sheppard used to do it for the Yankees, which is rare), the PA announcer is "just there." She did nothing that I found to be annoying. That passes my test.

 

o

 

You don't ask for much, you only want trust, and you know it don't come easy.

 

o

[Moose Milligan]

Per Connolly in The Athletic this morning:

 

Quote

However, Wagner on Saturday confirmed an earlier story in The Athletic that previous tweets of his were among the reasons for the dismissal. He would not discuss specifics, but he stressed the tweets in question were not political in nature — his political views seem to align, for the most part, with the Orioles’ liberal-leaning ownership — and that he has not removed any tweets from his timeline in 2021.

According to an industry source, the Orioles previously had warned Wagner about using social media to comment on other organizations, including earlier this year when he tweeted multiple times about the Baltimore Ravens’ failed postseason run on Jan. 16. Those tweets embodied the spirit of a frustrated fan, with one example referring to the Ravens’ 17-3 playoff loss to Buffalo as a “sickening game” and another in which he called the Ravens’ offensive line “atrocious.”

 

 

Quote

Additionally, there was a concern about Wagner’s attitude after rebukes from management, which also contributed to the dismissal, another source said.

Wagner declined to confirm any of those details Saturday.

In scrolling through Wagner’s Twitter account, he did not tweet much in February or March, but the volume picked up again when the Orioles’ season started this month. Before Friday, his last tweets were from April 7, when the Orioles beat the New York Yankees in 11 innings to avoid a sweep at Yankee Stadium.

According to a source, two of those April 7 tweets were what hastened Wagner’s dismissal, given the previous warnings issued to him about not commenting on or criticizing other organizations. In one April 7 tweet, Wagner facetiously sent congratulations to Yankees veteran outfielder Brett Gardner for becoming the first Yankee to score against the Orioles in “75 consecutive seasons,” adding, “Seriously. How long has that guy been tormenting the Orioles?”

Later, Wagner tweeted “Seriously?” after the Orioles failed to get Gardner on a grounder to first in which reliever César Valdez was late in covering the base.

 

[Sports Guy]

Lol...that’s just dumb but It sounds like the team thinks he is a bit of a prick, which he certainly can come off that way.

Although, I find it funny that on a team run by lawyers (no offense Frobby) that this would concern them.

I think the idea that the new PA announcer is a woman played a huge part in this.  They want to be woke!

[Frobby]

Honestly I think it’s atrocious that they fired Wagner for stuff like that.   Sure I might expect someone who is publicly identified with the Orioles to avoid political controversies, avoid foul language, and not be overtly critical of management.    But the posts in question are so mild.    

I’d get more worked up about it if I really cared much about who is the PA announcer, or thought Wagner was amazing at that job.   Honestly, I couldn’t have told you his name before he got fired, though I did recall that he was with Fan Cave before he got hired.   So I will just chalk this up as a stupid management decision that stifled a guy from expressing himself as a fan to even a mild degree.    
 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Well it's looking more and more that Wagner was fired for ticky-tack reasons and even weirder he was let go the day of the home opener.

For fans that have concerns about the Angelos family, even with the sons pledging to take the organization in a new direction, this doesn't help. 

[Aglets]

Wasn't Jon Miller fired for not "bleeding orange and black."   ??

This seems to be of a similar vein.  Wagner criticizing the O's in a way that any normal frustrated fan would.

That's why we are so loyal to long time MASN staff like Jim Hunter......Tom Davis...............Rick Dempsey.....

I mean wait.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

16 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Wasn't Jon Miller fired for not "bleeding orange and black."   ??

This seems to be of a similar vein.  Wagner criticizing the O's in a way that any normal frustrated fan would.

That's why we are so loyal to long time MASN staff like Jim Hunter......Tom Davis...............Rick Dempsey.....

I mean wait.

That was probably a move made to being in cheaper and younger broadcasting talent. 

[Moshagge3]

Wagner didn't have a shtick like Rex Barney or anything, but I thought it was cool that our P.A. announcer watched Orioles road games and got into them.

I have to say though, as a representative of the organization, I can see how the Orioles would be skittish about Wagner flaming the Ravens on social media, even though he is a Ravens fan. But if the tweets from the Yankee series were the last straw, that's pretty lame. Not only do I want the P.A. person to tweet things like "Yankee Stadium is a joke" but I want them to announce every time this series when an Orioles hits a semi-deep fly ball to right how many rows back it would have been at YS.

[Tony-OH]

Things Tony cares about with the Orioles:

1. Just about everything else including whether or not they practice the cleat changing mat on the pitcher's mound (that dude was efficient as a NASCAR pit crewmember)
2. What happened to the PA announcer

[Moose Milligan]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

 

I think the idea that the new PA announcer is a woman played a huge part in this.  They want to be woke!

I know you like to make snide remarks at people who don't share your world viewpoints, but if that was really the case then the timing here doesn't make sense.  If they wanted to fire him simply because they wanted to promote a woman to the role and be "woke," firing him immediately before the home opener doesn't make too much sense.  They had all offseason to do it and properly set up whoever would be replacing him. 

There are rules/laws in place that you have to have documented proof that you tried to correct an employees behavior before firing them.  So if the conspiracy theory you want to float is that the Orioles played up their sensitivity to his tweets and gave him warnings to stop tweeting in that manner, sure.  But he still apparently kept doing it after he was warned not to, so it's not like he made an effort to change what ended him getting canned.

And, SG, FWIW, I got into a pissing match on here with @PaulFolk after they hired Melanie Newman after I stated my preferences on women in the broadcasting booth.  I'm not trying to be "woke" here, but I doubt the Orioles are, too. 

[Sports Guy]

21 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I know you like to make snide remarks at people who don't share your world viewpoints, but if that was really the case then the timing here doesn't make sense.  If they wanted to fire him simply because they wanted to promote a woman to the role and be "woke," firing him immediately before the home opener doesn't make too much sense.  They had all offseason to do it and properly set up whoever would be replacing him. 

There are rules/laws in place that you have to have documented proof that you tried to correct an employees behavior before firing them.  So if the conspiracy theory you want to float is that the Orioles played up their sensitivity to his tweets and gave him warnings to stop tweeting in that manner, sure.  But he still apparently kept doing it after he was warned not to, so it's not like he made an effort to change what ended him getting canned.

And, SG, FWIW, I got into a pissing match on here with @PaulFolk after they hired Melanie Newman after I stated my preferences on women in the broadcasting booth.  I'm not trying to be "woke" here, but I doubt the Orioles are, too. 

I don’t think her being a woman is why he was fired.

I think her being a woman is a big reason why they made the final decision.
 

 

[Frobby]

33 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

There are rules/laws in place that you have to have documented proof that you tried to correct an employees behavior before firing them. 

Well, not really, when it comes to firing employees at will who are not a member of any disadvantaged group.    You can pretty much fire those people for any reason or no reason, without any warning or notice at all.   But I do think most substantial businesses do try to provide some degree of due process before taking a step like that, and it looks like the Orioles did so.

[Beef Supreme]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I think the idea that the new PA announcer is a woman played a huge part in this.  They want to be woke!

"This" being Wagner's firing.

24 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t think her being a woman is why he was fired.

This is the definition of talking out of both sides of one's mouth.