Buck Martinez Is Leaving MASN

[cmcgarvey]

Best of luck to Buck. He was OK, but nothing great IMO. Bring back John Lowenstein. Or how about Roy Firestone!

I would be happy with this move.

[scOtt]

Every damn time... and I won't miss it one bit.

I don't know him, I'm guessing he's a fine person. But, unless his replacement is really, really bad, I will not miss him on the O's games. He seemed much better when I heard him on XM when his job was to have conversations about about baseball, rather than commenting on game-action. I liked him in the XM role.But during ballgames, the man simply could not shut up, he'd talk all the time when he had nothing to say, and would often fill the silence by saying stuff that was either pointless cliches or downright wrong. On occasion he would add useful and informative comments, but those were far outweighed by empty blather. A man with his voice should save it for saying stuff that's worth saying. He made me really glad that I have DirecTV, where I can get the other team's feed, because simply I couldn't take Buck more than 2 games in a row. By the 3rd inning of the third one, I'd be changing the channel just to get some relief. (Amazing hair though... and I bet he works on it too.)

Regardless of who replaces Buck, I wish Palmer would do more games.

Palmer does what Palmer feels like doing. We should thank Og he does as much as he does.

[TinCup]

Never cared for Buck at all. later Buck, be good,

[Goop]

His voice is annoying as hell, but I liked Buck. He knows the game well; good luck in Toronto.

[Don_Aase_Fan]

I never really cared for Buck at all, but I wish him the best in Toronto.

I'm all about Billy Ripken being part of the broadcast, as he would be a perfect choice, but I think he'd probably prefer his MLBN gig and having plenty of "family" time. He was recently on 105.7 for a few days with Scott Garceau and he said as much. Although, Scott asked him about possibly becoming a MLB manager down the road and Billy said that would be something he'd definitely consider.

[helloharv]

Like to see Flanny or Brother Lo

[Avsfan]

Proctor and Lowenstein would re-make my childhood/teenage years...lets get it done.

The main reason I watch 2130 or 2131 is for those two....

[Orsulak]

Bring back Brooks!

[ScottieBaseball]

Martinez wasn't my favorite color guy, but I don't think some of the bashing is entirely deserved. His experience definitely gave him credibility behind the mic.

I have to tell ya's...I really love some of the ideas being thrown out here. I'm sure they're all pipe dreams, but how sweet would it be if MASN listened up and hopped in the wayback machine to bring back Mel Proctor and/or John Lowenstein. I'm also a HUGE fan of putting Billy Ripken to work in that capacity. I really enjoyed when he filled in on the Ed Norris Show a few weeks ago. He's intelligent, well-spoken, funny, and he's got a unique, gravelly voice that I think would lend well to a broadcast.

[RShack]

How come Brother Lo went away?

[howie14]

How come Brother Lo went away?

I'm not positive, but I think that when he asked to cut back some because he lived in Vegas HTS just cut him out completely. They and the Orioles probably wanted a more "serious" (read: boring) broadcast.

You know Adam Loewen may be looking for work really soon...

[Going Underground]

How about Billy Ripken? I heard him doing some games last year and he wasn't bad.

[TonySoprano]

The Orioles (i.e. Peter Angelos) didn't care for Lowenstein's antics. Lo was never given a reason.

That "Peter" refers to team owner Peter Angelos, whom, many around town believe, was instrumental in Lowenstein's removal from the Home Team Sports broadcast booth after the 1995 season, believing him to be too critical of the club and its moves, thus ending his 11 1/2 -year tenure as analyst.

HTS officials have denied that Angelos was involved, saying they simply decided to go in a different direction with Mike Flanagan, who came to the booth after spending the 1995 season as pitching coach.

"I was never told the story. Quite frankly, after a while I gave up. It was like pulling teeth," said Lowenstein, who said he attempted to contact Angelos on a number of occasions, but never received a return call.

source - Balt Sun, Nov, 13, 1997

[Witchy_Chick]

So long, and good luck Buck!! I did have some issues with his voice and the “he sure is”s. ::cringe:: Aside from that, I thought he was a pretty good color guy and a good “fill-in” for when Cakes wasn’t available.

I have to emphatically second the “no Dempsey” in the booth. Flanny would be pretty awesome as a color guy again. I think his pitching knowledge is on-par with Palmer’s, but the sense of humor is a bit different. Flanny "filling in" for Palmer's absences would not be a huge drop in quality color commentary IMO.

Witchy

[Dipper9]

So long, and good luck Buck!! I did have some issues with his voice and the “he sure is”s. ::cringe:: Aside from that, I thought he was a pretty good color guy and a good “fill-in” for when Cakes wasn’t available.

I have to emphatically second the “no Dempsey” in the booth. Flanny would be pretty awesome as a color guy again. I think his pitching knowledge is on-par with Palmer’s, but the sense of humor is a bit different. Flanny "filling in" for Palmer's absences would not be a huge drop in quality color commentary IMO.

Witchy

I wonder if MacPhail would balk at this in fear that Flanny might give too much insight on the inner dealings of the warehouse?