Orioles Announcers calling the team Baltimore

[CallMeBrooksie]

For years I've been lobbying for Kevin Brown to do bird calls on-air whenever the O's secure the final out of a win. Is that really too much to ask? Why must we dumb it down to just a nick-name?

 

What even is baseball without the fluffy cute mascots? Unbearable

[Moshagge3]

It's funny because when Peter Angelos was really digging his heels in about not allowing a team in D.C., he tried to show that the Orioles represented the whole DMV region by really clamping down on all mentions of Baltimore. Of course, the gray road jerseys said "Orioles" (as they did every year between the time the Senators left and the Nationals arrived), but I remember how the P.A. announcer wouldn't even say "Baltimore Orioles" when announcing the lineups. It was just "the starting lineup for your Orioles." And I distinctly recall an article quoting Jim Hunter where he said he was not supposed to refer to the Orioles as Baltimore on the air ever. So if announcers are calling the team "Baltimore" in 2024 I think that's great and I'm going to enjoy it.

[RZNJ]

It doesn’t bother me but I do find it odd for a home announcer to ball them Baltimore instead of the Orioles.

[Surhoffan17]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Am I the only one that it bothers when Orioles announcers call the team Baltimore instead of the Orioles? 

Brett Hollander, who is a Baltimore guy and actually an announcer I enjoy listening to, is the main offender though I've heard others occasionally do it as well, though much less. It makes them sound like the other team's announcers or a generic National announcer. 

I just don't get it. "Our" announcers should be calling the team the Orioles. I mean, if someone asks you what's your favorite baseball team, do you say Baltimore? Have you ever asked your friends, "How about that Baltimore game last night?" Have you ever asked another Orioles fan what the score of the Baltimore game?

Nope. We call them the Orioles and I'm not sure why Hollander insists on calling them Baltimore vs the Orioles more times than not. He's from here and I know he's an Orioles fan. I've met Brett and he had me on his show back when he was doing Orioles talk on WBAL. I like the guy, and I know he's a knowledgeable Orioles fan so I just don't get it. On top of it, I know he knows he's announcing the game for Orioles fans and not a national audience.

And probably the most frustrating thing is I really enjoy his game calling, but every time I hear him say Baltimore, it makes me cringe. 

Am I alone here? 

You are not alone on this! I find it strange and have mostly heard it from Hollander. I thought maybe it was some weird directive. But then it wouldn't mostly be him if that were the case. It would be all announcers. 

I have heard DC fans call the Redskins (before the name change) "Washington" even though it was their team, but obviously that was politically driven. No controversy with the Orioles name to my knowledge!

[glenn__davis]

Doesn't bother me at all or does it seem unusual to me.  They're the Baltimore Orioles.  

[Surhoffan17]

16 minutes ago, Moshagge3 said:

It's funny because when Peter Angelos was really digging his heels in about not allowing a team in D.C., he tried to show that the Orioles represented the whole DMV region by really clamping down on all mentions of Baltimore. Of course, the gray road jerseys said "Orioles" (as they did every year between the time the Senators left and the Nationals arrived), but I remember how the P.A. announcer wouldn't even say "Baltimore Orioles" when announcing the lineups. It was just "the starting lineup for your Orioles." And I distinctly recall an article quoting Jim Hunter where he said he was not supposed to refer to the Orioles as Baltimore on the air ever. So if announcers are calling the team "Baltimore" in 2024 I think that's great and I'm going to enjoy it.

Good perspective. I had totally forgotten about that nonsense. I still want to hear them called Orioles from the hometown announcers. Also, remember once Palmer controversially called them the "Washington-Baltimore Orioles" years ago, which was terrible IMO. Does anyone say the Caps are the Washington/Baltimore Capitals? 

[spleen1015]

This is peanuts compared to the fact that our Ace hates the best catcher in MLB and won't pitch him!

[interloper]

25 minutes ago, Moshagge3 said:

It's funny because when Peter Angelos was really digging his heels in about not allowing a team in D.C., he tried to show that the Orioles represented the whole DMV region by really clamping down on all mentions of Baltimore. Of course, the gray road jerseys said "Orioles" (as they did every year between the time the Senators left and the Nationals arrived), but I remember how the P.A. announcer wouldn't even say "Baltimore Orioles" when announcing the lineups. It was just "the starting lineup for your Orioles." And I distinctly recall an article quoting Jim Hunter where he said he was not supposed to refer to the Orioles as Baltimore on the air ever. So if announcers are calling the team "Baltimore" in 2024 I think that's great and I'm going to enjoy it.

Absolutely. Brett knows all this because he's a hometown O's fan. It's probably why he opts to say Baltimore as much as he can. It should be celebrated.

It's wild that we fought all those years to put the "Baltimore" back in Baltimore Orioles, and now people are complaining about it? 

[Morgan423]

I think that on the great register of annoyances regarding MASN, this issue is somewhere around #7,000 on the list. 

[Oriole1940]

I feel offended when people use the word Os.  Big time offended.  O is something that you call it, when you are shut out in a baseball game.  Therefore a type of a loser put down.  I have heard in other parts of the country, jokes made about them, such as, the Os got O again last night.   And that comes from baseball announcers, etc., as well as ill informed  ave. people.    It only takes a very few letters to spell out the word Orioles.  Surely we  can do that much.

[HowAboutThat]

Announcers, good ones anyway, mix up their dialogue to maintain interest. They look for a multitude of ways to say the same thing. “Here’s the pitch,’ ‘the pitch,’ ‘he lets it fly,’ ‘’fling!’ And so on.

I haven’t noticed to a negative degree, but I would consider the terms Orioles and Baltimore to be essentially interchangeable except at certain times.

It would be wrong to say,’ The Royals 5, Baltimore 3,’but fine to say,’ KC 5, Baltimore 3,” for instance, but these are minor things.

If this is the complaint de jour, we are doing very well indeed.

[LookitsPuck]

I love that they call the team Baltimore. This is the Baltimore Orioles, not the Harford County Orioles, the Maryland Orioles, or any of that. They have Orioles across their chest. Nothing wrong with giving some shoutout to the city that the team has called home for well over half a century. 

[LookitsPuck]

18 minutes ago, interloper said:

Absolutely. Brett knows all this because he's a hometown O's fan. It's probably why he opts to say Baltimore as much as he can. It should be celebrated.

It's wild that we fought all those years to put the "Baltimore" back in Baltimore Orioles, and now people are complaining about it? 

You'd be surprised. There are bunch of county folks that have been clamoring for the Orioles to move out of the city, and they use so many situations to complain about Baltimore. It's beyond weird.

[scottbbfm]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Am I the only one that it bothers when Orioles announcers call the team Baltimore instead of the Orioles? 

Brett Hollander, who is a Baltimore guy and actually an announcer I enjoy listening to, is the main offender though I've heard others occasionally do it as well, though much less. It makes them sound like the other team's announcers or a generic National announcer. 

I just don't get it. "Our" announcers should be calling the team the Orioles. I mean, if someone asks you what's your favorite baseball team, do you say Baltimore? Have you ever asked your friends, "How about that Baltimore game last night?" Have you ever asked another Orioles fan what the score of the Baltimore game?

Nope. We call them the Orioles and I'm not sure why Hollander insists on calling them Baltimore vs the Orioles more times than not. He's from here and I know he's an Orioles fan. I've met Brett and he had me on his show back when he was doing Orioles talk on WBAL. I like the guy, and I know he's a knowledgeable Orioles fan so I just don't get it. On top of it, I know he knows he's announcing the game for Orioles fans and not a national audience.

And probably the most frustrating thing is I really enjoy his game calling, but every time I hear him say Baltimore, it makes me cringe. 

Am I alone here? 

The Baltimore Orioles must be really really good right now given your recent complaints:

1. Orioles are poor at drafting in the out rounds

2. Jersey patches. 
 

3.  Announcers calling the team Baltimore instead of the Orioles. 
 

life pretty good

[dystopia]

2 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

You'd be surprised. There are bunch of county folks that have been clamoring for the Orioles to move out of the city, and they use so many situations to complain about Baltimore. It's beyond weird.

Politics.