If I'm Melanie Newman

[Roy Firestone]

I'll say this. I believe I am the only network broadcaster on this board, and I've taken my share of criticism in 45 years at it. I know what thats like, so here goes. I think Melanie Newman is ok as a broadcaster.She'll take more heat because she's a woman calling a predominantly male sport..but she has a good broadcast voice and defers to Palmer a lot. That said, I don't think she has a great feel for the rhythm of the game...its nuances and intricacies . But it's not really all her fault.If you're not broadcasting regularly in a sport like baseball, you cant capture its timing and play off of the subtleties. She's far from the worst I've ever heard.And by the way, I dont think I could do a great job as a PBP man either...I am a story teller and I am not the kind of broadcaster who gets all the spaces and pauses and patterns of the game...also, for what its worth, I was at Oracle last night and its very hard to pick up the ball in the outfield. I only wish Melanie well. Ive never met her, but she seems like a nice woman. Shes got a tough job being thrown into a game with no ongoing chemistry with Palmer. Its not brain surgery, but baseball play by play is much harder than it looks. And a a major league level theres not much room to learn on the job. I feel for her. I really do.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

18 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Hunter with Buck Martinez also was quite awful.  I never did understand how Martinez got a job doing Orioles broadcasts.  

I know it's not exactly the same, but I never understood how Lee Mazzilli got hired as the Orioles manager.

[OriolesMagic83]

3 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Agreed. I felt bad for Bordick because by all accounts he’s a good guy but listening to him was brutal. 

How could you get tired of hearing rib eyes?

[Billy F-Face3]

I think Melanie is more suited on MLB Network hosting one of those shows with a desk filled with MLB analysts than she is calling play by play. She does a good job as a host/anchor and she's a decent story teller and does good with research. But she is literally dreadful at calling games. That's triple stacked, because she fails to call the action correctly, too much dead air time, and I don't like her voice at all when she is talking. The same way I don't like the person doing the player At Bat introductions at Oriole Park's voice. They sound very similar to me. I'll leave it at that, because if I attempt to describe this aspect any farther, I'll end up seriously offending someone.

[Billy F-Face3]

33 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I know it's not exactly the same, but I never understood how Lee Mazzilli got hired as the Orioles manager.

Lee Mazzilli will forever be stuck as the manager of the Orioles in the EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2005 video game. 

[OriolesMagic83]

51 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I know it's not exactly the same, but I never understood how Lee Mazzilli got hired as the Orioles manager.

He must have been hired by a committee.  The same type of committee that thought the City Connect jerseys looked great.

[Brian88]

6 hours ago, HandsomeQuack said:

Jim Hunter and Mike Bordick as a combo... how we survived that I do not know. Say what you want about the broadcast teams currently, but Melanie is the only zilch on payroll. Brett, Geoff, and everyone else are all at least competent.

I wouldn’t call Garceau competent at this point in his career, not on the radio at least. 

[webbrick2010]

She checks a box and that is really all that matters

[baltfan]

Roy makes very good

7 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

I'll say this. I believe I am the only network broadcaster on this board, and I've taken my share of criticism in 45 years at it. I know what thats like, so here goes. I think Melanie Newman is ok as a broadcaster.She'll take more heat because she's a woman calling a predominantly male sport..but she has a good broadcast voice and defers to Palmer a lot. That said, I don't think she has a great feel for the rhythm of the game...its nuances and intricacies . But it's not really all her fault.If you're not broadcasting regularly in a sport like baseball, you cant capture its timing and play off of the subtleties. She's far from the worst I've ever heard.And by the way, I dont think I could do a great job as a PBP man either...I am a story teller and I am not the kind of broadcaster who gets all the spaces and pauses and patterns of the game...also, for what its worth, I was at Oracle last night and its very hard to pick up the ball in the outfield. I only wish Melanie well. Ive never met her, but she seems like a nice woman. Shes got a tough job being thrown into a game with no ongoing chemistry with Palmer. Its not brain surgery, but baseball play by play is much harder than it looks. And a a major league level theres not much room to learn on the job. I feel for her. I really do.

Roy makes very good points here.  She does have a good broadcast voice.  The idea that she should give up the job and slink away in shame as original poster seems to be saying is kinda laughable.  She can get better and surely isn't going to walk away from a job that those that hired her think she is competent to do.  That said, I find her more problematic on the radio as she is late in describing the action and poor at doing so as it happens.  On the TV broadcast, she just seems lost at times at what is actually happening in the game. She also doesn't offer much in terms of the type of pitch that was thrown which you can't see as part of the broadcast.  But both of those things could be that she is in her own head while broadcasting.  All of that said, she doesn't do PBP that much and too much is made of her inadequacies.  

[Going Underground]

45 minutes ago, baltfan said:

Roy makes very good

Roy makes very good points here.  She does have a good broadcast voice.  The idea that she should give up the job and slink away in shame as original poster seems to be saying is kinda laughable.  She can get better and surely isn't going to walk away from a job that those that hired her think she is competent to do.  That said, I find her more problematic on the radio as she is late in describing the action and poor at doing so as it happens.  On the TV broadcast, she just seems lost at times at what is actually happening in the game. She also doesn't offer much in terms of the type of pitch that was thrown which you can't see as part of the broadcast.  But both of those things could be that she is in her own head while broadcasting.  All of that said, she doesn't do PBP that much and too much is made of her inadequacies.  

But she has done minor keague baseball for years.  When you get promoted to the big leagues you need to be ready. They can't option her to the minors to work on her delivery. Maybe they can IL her. Interview lady .

 

[Tony-OH]

11 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Not me. I think in all my time listening to games, no one has been worse at their job than Newman.

I can’t think of anything positive that she brings to the booth.

She's got a solid love for pancakes and her flirtatious giggling to everything Palmer says could be endearing to some I guess. Also, if you enjoy thinking through the play you just saw without an announcer telling you anything, listening to the color guy have to wrap up an inning, or like to use your imagination on anything pertinent on the field that the camera isn't focusing on, then I think you will enjoy her broadcasts.

Saying all that, she's pretty good as the studio host and if there is a job where incessant questions need to be asked to inform the most uninformed viewer, I think she would be great at that as well.

 

 

[Hank Scorpio]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

She’s ok. I sort of disagree that she hasn’t gotten better at her job. Or maybe I just don’t mind her as much. 
 

She’s also not our full time play by play announcer so the outrage of how bad she is at PBP is a bit silly.  If we have to listen to her call a few games a year because Kevin Brown is off somewhere researching more pop culture references and Geoff Arnold is on the radio, it’s not the worst thing in the world. 
 

This is a fanbase who had to suffer through the Michael Reghi years. And Jim “modest two game hitting streak” Hunter.  You would think there’d be some awareness and recollection as to how bad it’s actually been at times. 
 

It could be worse. Melanie isn’t great but she’s not the full time PBP announcer and that’s a good thing.  

Rubbish

[Hank Scorpio]

8 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

I'll say this. I believe I am the only network broadcaster on this board, and I've taken my share of criticism in 45 years at it. I know what thats like, so here goes. I think Melanie Newman is ok as a broadcaster.She'll take more heat because she's a woman calling a predominantly male sport..but she has a good broadcast voice and defers to Palmer a lot. That said, I don't think she has a great feel for the rhythm of the game...its nuances and intricacies . But it's not really all her fault.If you're not broadcasting regularly in a sport like baseball, you cant capture its timing and play off of the subtleties. She's far from the worst I've ever heard.And by the way, I dont think I could do a great job as a PBP man either...I am a story teller and I am not the kind of broadcaster who gets all the spaces and pauses and patterns of the game...also, for what its worth, I was at Oracle last night and its very hard to pick up the ball in the outfield. I only wish Melanie well. Ive never met her, but she seems like a nice woman. Shes got a tough job being thrown into a game with no ongoing chemistry with Palmer. Its not brain surgery, but baseball play by play is much harder than it looks. And a a major league level theres not much room to learn on the job. I feel for her. I really do.

The fact that she is a woman doesn’t make her bad.

It also doesn’t make her automatically  good. 

 

[sevastras]

6 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

She's got a solid love for pancakes and her flirtatious giggling to everything Palmer says could be endearing to some I guess. Also, if you enjoy thinking through the play you just saw without an announcer telling you anything, listening to the color guy have to wrap up an inning, or like to use your imagination on anything pertinent on the field that the camera isn't focusing on, then I think you will enjoy her broadcasts.

Saying all that, she's pretty good as the studio host and if there is a job where incessant questions need to be asked to inform the most uninformed viewer, I think she would be great at that as well.

 

 

So from what you are saying, you love her pbp?  

I think she does good enough on tv broadcasts. I don’t need her to tell me what’s going on when I can see it.  Her voice is pleasant enough and she seems smart and sounds like she loves the game.  I do appreciate Palmer or McDonald more because they can really go in depth about things from a players side of it. Kind of like I couldn’t stand Tony Romo as a player but as an announcer he tells you things that know one else knows. 

[Tony-OH]

8 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

I'll say this. I believe I am the only network broadcaster on this board, and I've taken my share of criticism in 45 years at it. I know what thats like, so here goes. I think Melanie Newman is ok as a broadcaster.She'll take more heat because she's a woman calling a predominantly male sport..but she has a good broadcast voice and defers to Palmer a lot. That said, I don't think she has a great feel for the rhythm of the game...its nuances and intricacies . But it's not really all her fault.If you're not broadcasting regularly in a sport like baseball, you cant capture its timing and play off of the subtleties. She's far from the worst I've ever heard.And by the way, I dont think I could do a great job as a PBP man either...I am a story teller and I am not the kind of broadcaster who gets all the spaces and pauses and patterns of the game...also, for what its worth, I was at Oracle last night and its very hard to pick up the ball in the outfield. I only wish Melanie well. Ive never met her, but she seems like a nice woman. Shes got a tough job being thrown into a game with no ongoing chemistry with Palmer. Its not brain surgery, but baseball play by play is much harder than it looks. And a a major league level theres not much room to learn on the job. I feel for her. I really do.

Thanks for your thoughts Roy. My biggest issue is I listen to a lot of minor league broadcasts and there are so many better play by play guys out there that would provide a much better experience during games.

I've never met her either and I'm sure she's a nice lady, so none of this is personal. I also don't care that she is a woman doing PBP. Now saying that, announcers are certainly a personal taste. But when you have a groundswell a negativity against your PBP broadcasting ability that should tell the network something.

Now she does have a nice pleasant voice to listen to and I've heard her on pregame shows as a guest, and she's knowledgeable enough about statcast data and other metrics that she's absolutely fine in that kind of role. I think she's honestly the best studio host they have though I think Scott Garceau does a great job there as well.

But this is a situation where MASN seems to be trying to shove a square into a round hole with her as play by play. 

As for her chemistry or lack thereof with Palmer, it actually has gotten to the point where it so obviously forced from Palmer's side that it seems to even cross into the creepy side with some of the exchanges. Her constant "fangirl" giggling to everything he says gets an eyeroll for me as well.

Now it's not fair to put her up against someone like Gary Thorne, but Thorne was great at setting his color guy (usually Palmer) up, telling a quick story, but also knowing how to generate the right excitement for the play within the game at hand. In other words, you don't scream like the team just won the World Series on a walkoff home run on a home run in a game down 10-2. Newman definitely struggles with her level of excitement for each play under the circumstances of the game score or situation. I'll be honest here and say Kevin Brown is still a work in progress in this regard as well as he gets way too pumped up over trivial moments sometimes.

Now, I disagree with the OP that thinks that Newman should get out of the industry because she has attributes that if put in the right role, she can be good. She clearly has a love for the sport, does her homework, has a good voice, and if used correctly can be solid part of an overall broadcast.

Now the last thing I will say is I believe the director or someone has told the PBP people to ask more questions of McDonald and Palmer. KB is just as bad as Melanie in this regard and it seems to be something they've been told to do. 

KB has actually gotten much worse to listen to because of these ridiculously unnecessary questions like, "So Ben, what do you see as the problem with (insert pitcher's name here)?" after the pitcher loses his command for a bit. It sounds like it could be a good question once in awhile, but when it's asked every single time a pitcher starts to do bad, it get old. Heck, you could play a drinking game if you had to take a drink every time the Orioles PBP asked a question of the color guy.