Who is our best PBP announcer?

[Natty]

Why is MN on this list? She doesn't do PBP, even when she is the PBP person.

[IowaOriole]

KB is light years ahead of anyone else the Os  presently use. I enjoy him even a little more than Thorne, noting Gary had more rapport with Palmer (though Brown does very well with Ben)

Miller and Thompson were all-timers, not really fair to compare KB to either of them

I enjoy KB’s quirky humor which, I think, gives him greater appeal to young persons —a demographic pretty important to the future of MLB. JA might want to think on that awhile

 

 

[dystopia]

KB is the best out of these, but still prefer Thorne to him, I know others disagree and that’s fine. 

[seak05]

Brown is my favorite since Miller….sigh 

[HakunaSakata]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

I went Hollander.  I think what happened to KB these last few weeks was very wrong.  But I'm not missing him.

You're an army of one my friend (literally). 

[Moose Milligan]

7 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

You're an army of one my friend (literally). 

[btownoriole]

56 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The better question is this imo:

Is the lead voice of the 2024 Os currently employed by the Os/MASN?

Yes, I think it will be Arnold with another young (i.e. cheap) announcer coming into the fold.  Brown will go somewhere else unfortunately.  

[RVAOsFan]

Has anyone dropped a link to this thread in the Orioles PR inbox yet? CC: John Angelos 

[rm5678]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

For TV, my ranking would be Brown, Arnold, Hollander, Newman, Garceau.  For radio, I would promote Garceau to 4th and demote Newman to 5th.  The reason for the flip is that contemporaneous description of what’s occurring on the field is not nearly as important on TV as it is on radio, and Melanie is very poor at that.  My problem with Garceau is that he doesn’t convey that the game is interesting.  Melanie is a little better at that IMO.

Either way, Kevin Brown is easily at the top of the list.  Personally, I rank him a little above Gary Thorne.  He has all of Thorne’s good traits, but he doesn’t constantly misidentify pitches or mispronounce people’s names.   Those foibles didn’t bother me much with Gary, but they’re enough reason for me to prefer Kevin.  

On radio, I probably would still rank Joe Angel slightly above Kevin, but only by a hair. And Kevin doesn’t do much radio these days.  
 

I would put Hollander ahead of Arnold. Geoff has some annoying habits that irritate me, like when he often says "We'll be hearing from...." when he's actually referring to a pitcher who will be pitching. "Hearing from" sounds like the player will be doing an in-game interview, not pitching in the game.

[OldNewGuy]

The best pbp announcer was Ernie Harwell. No contest

[Yossarian]

2 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

Its not even a close race...KB is Secretariat...the others are horses in the 7th race in the middle of the pack on a Wednesday at some random race track..sorry, theyre all nice people ...Kevin is elite...and will get even better...he has network play by play skills and could do it well for many sports...

Let's call that track Wyoming Downs in Evanston, WY.

[CynBeth]

I love KB! 

[AdamK]

I went Brown.

Brown gets the edge over Thorne because he is here now and a total pro. I think Thorne is great and I thought he was a perfect match for those winning years he was here. Thorne's solid gold voice and cadence are part of the reason he's one of the best. Brown has very very good pipes but get's negative points for reminding me of Joe Buck (a compliment to any broadcaster, I guess, but not my cup of tea). Brown is distinct enough from Joe Buck, and I have listened enough to Brown, that I can discern his uniqueness.

 

After that, I'd go:

Arnold. I like him. Perhaps better on TV than on the radio.

Hollander slightly edges out Newman, but both are part of the family, so I am happy to hear their voices. I guess I do notice Newman's description of plays (on the radio) leave me with an unclear picture of what is happening from time to time.

Then Garceau. I loved his radio show with Jeremy Conn. I prefer the others when it comes to the broadcasts.

 

McDonald makes every combination twice as good to me. Palmer starts to mumble often times and I can't make out if he is being erudite or... I don't know... snobbish? Maybe not snobbish but I am struggling to find the word that depicts what people love about him that is the same quality that rubs me wrong about his style at times.

[Billy F-Face3]

I loved Gary Thorne and Jon Miller of the past, but in the present day, our best in 2023 is Kevin Brown.  

 

I'm also someone who grew up hearing Mel Proctor and Michael Reghi, so those 2 voices command a sense of fond nostalgia for me. 

[jcaponio]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Joe Angel or even the dulcet tones of Fred Manfra.