Favorite Broadcaster Moments

[Highlander]

I thought it would be interesting to remember a few of the best/funniest moments in the broadcast booth. There are so many classic announcers out there, I am sure we have all seen and/or heard quite a few. Here a some to get started:

Harry Carray had a short time where he kept try to say or spell players' names backwards. The best one I remember was when he tried Dann Bilardello.

Classic Ralph Kiner- "It's Father's Day here at the ballpark. So, to all you father's out there, Happy Birthday!"

Here are a few broadcast moments from my all-time favorite, Phil Rizzuto:

"Bobby Thigpen out there.
Number 37.
That's the guy in the Peanuts cartoon.
Pigpen.
That's a joke.
That guy in Peanuts with Charlie Brown.
He's always dirty.
Oh yeah.
Every day.
Orphan Annie.
You know,
She hasn't aged in 32 years."

"One ball, one strike
Two out, two on
The Yankees trail 4 to 1
In the bottom of the 7th.
Michelle wants to say
'Happy birthday to T-Bone.'
That's his name: T-Bone.
The runners leading away....."

"He has powerful legs and cute buns,
That Henderson.
That was a great shot,
Going to second base there.
There's nothing wrong with that White.
That's a popular expression.
High, and its one and one.
His legs were churning."

"They're having more snow
Out in Colorado.
Which is not in Montana.
But it is not far from Montana."

[LivnLegend]

The amazing Vin Scully calling the last out of Sandy Koufax's 4th career no-hitter. I had an LP of this when I was a kid and it just sends chills thorugh you...

He is one out away from the promised land, and Harvey Kuenn is comin' up.

So Harvey Kuenn is batting for Bob Hendley. The time on the scoreboard is 9:44. The date, September the 9th, 1965, and Koufax working on veteran Harvey Kuenn. Sandy into his windup and the pitch, a fastball for a strike! He has struck out, by the way, five consecutive batters, and that's gone unnoticed. Sandy ready and the strike 1 pitch: very high, and he lost his hat. He really forced that one. That's only the second time tonight where I have had the feeling that Sandy threw instead of pitched, trying to get that little extra, and that time he tried so hard his hat fell off -- he took an extremely long stride to the plate -- and Torborg had to go up to get it.

One and 1 to Harvey Kuenn. Now he's ready: fastball, high, ball 2. You can't blame a man for pushing just a little bit now. Sandy backs off, mops his forehead, runs his left index finger along his forehead, dries it off on his left pants leg. All the while Kuenn just waiting. Now Sandy looks in. Into his windup and the 2-1 pitch to Kuenn: swung on and missed, strike 2!

It is 9:46 p.m.

Two and 2 to Harvey Kuenn, one strike away. Sandy into his windup, here's the pitch:

Swung on and missed, a perfect game!

(38 seconds of cheering.)

On the scoreboard in right field it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of the Angels, Los Angeles, California. And a crowd of 29,139 just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games. He has done it four straight years, and now he caps it: On his fourth no-hitter he made it a perfect game. And Sandy Koufax, whose name will always remind you of strikeouts, did it with a flurry. He struck out the last six consecutive batters. So when he wrote his name in capital letters in the record books, that "K" stands out even more than the O-U-F-A-X.

[LivnLegend]

Before another Dodger fan runs in here and adds Vin Scully's call of Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series home run in game 1, here it is:

"And look who’s coming up? (Roar of crowd)
All year long they looked to him to light the fire and all year long he answered the demands until he was physically unable to start tonight with two bad legs.”

[...several pitches later]

“So the Dodgers, trying to catch lightening right now. 4-3 A’s. Two outs. Ninth inning.
Not a bad opening act.
High fly ball into right field. SHE IS GONE!!"


"In the year of the improbable, the IMPOSSIBLE has happened!"

[Highlander]

One of the biggest crimes in baseball is that Vin Scully no longer does national broadcasts.

[Carplos]

Originally posted by Highlander
One of the biggest crimes in baseball is that Vin Scully no longer does national broadcasts.

Have you heard him the last few years? He's become bloody awful..

[Rasmuth]

He's old.

[Specs]

Joe & Jerry

Joe: Baerga steps up to the plate. He's one double away from 200 for his career.
Jerry: That's a lot of doubles.
Joe: I can't remember a recent switch hitter who hit doubles like that.
Jerry: He would have been great in Fenway back in the 80's.
Joe: You know, Jody Reed was a good doubles hitter, too.
Jerry: He switch hit, didn't he?

1. Baerga had hit his 250th double earlier that week.

2. Lance Berkman hit 55 doubles last year.

3. He started playing in 1990.

4. Jody Reed was a right hand hitter.

[LivnLegend]

Originally posted by Carplos


Have you heard him the last few years? He's become bloody awful..

Remember earlier today when you oh so eloquently told me I was "full of crap"??
Let me return the favor...you could not be any more wrong.
Vin Scully calls games better than anyone else I have heard and certainly is arguably better than anyone else calling games today. You are a complete fool if you think Vin Scully is "awful" and you would be a member of the world's smallest minority.

[twins15]

My favorite line is by Jack Buck when McGwire hit his 62'd hr.

[fantom1979]

Originally posted by LivnLegend
Before another Dodger fan runs in here and adds Vin Scully's call of Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series home run in game 1, here it is:

Gibson of '84 was awesome too, but of course i am a Tigers fan

[ehrie]

"Touch em all Joe Carter, You'll never hit a bigger home run!"

For the life of me I can't find audio of this online, cept through mlb.com's pay service bleh!

[crackpott]

"Thomas is racing for it, but McCovey is there and can't get his glove to it. That play shows the inexperience, not on Thomas' part, but on the part of Willie McC ... well, not on McCovey's part either."

"Grubb goes back, back... He's under the warning track and makes the play."

"They throw Winfield out at second, but he's safe."

"Jesus Alou is in the on-deck circus."

"From the way Denny's shaking his head, he's either got an injured shoulder or a gnat in his eye."

"Ozzie makes a leaping, diving stop, shovels to Fernando and everybody drops everything."

"There is someone warming up in the Giants' bullpen, but he's obscured by his number."

"Johnny Grubb slides into second with a standup double."

"Davis fouls out to third in fair territory."

"There's a shot up the alley. Oh, it's just foul."

"The new Haitian baseball can't weigh more than four ounces or less than five."

"Houston has its largest crowd of the night here this evening."

"That's Hendrick's 19th home run. One more and he reaches double figures."

"Well, it looks like the all-star balloting is about over, especially in the National and American Leagues."

"Mike Caldwell, the Padres' right-handed southpaw, will pitch tonight."

"Hector Torrez, how can you communicate with Enzo Hernandez when he speaks Spanish and you speak Mexican ?"

"Rich Folkers is throwing up in the bullpen."

"Gaylord Perry and Willie McCovey should know each other like a book. They've been ex-teammates for years now."

"Sometimes, big trees grow out of acorns. I think I heard that from a squirrel."

"Hats off to drug abusers everywhere."

"That noise in my earphones knocked my nose off and I had to pick it up and find it."

"There's a long fly left centerfield, he got all of that one, it's to the wall, at the wall, and that ball is caught, no I mean he dropped it, wait a minute he caught it! That was the best play Greg Vaughn made of his life!"

"Winfield goes back to the wall. He hits his head on the wall -- and it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base! This is a terrible thing for the Padres."

Upon hearing Glenn Beckert's planned retirement: "Well, I hope before Glenn goes, he'll come up here so we can give him a big hug and a kiss, because that's the kind of guy he is."

and my favourite...
"The first pitch to Tucker Ashford is grounded into left field. No, wait a minute. It's ball one. Low and outside."

All of these are courtesy of Jerry Coleman

[Carplos]

Originally posted by LivnLegend


Remember earlier today when you oh so eloquently told me I was "full of crap"??
Let me return the favor...you could not be any more wrong.
Vin Scully calls games better than anyone else I have heard and certainly is arguably better than anyone else calling games today. You are a complete fool if you think Vin Scully is "awful" and you would be a member of the world's smallest minority.

Ever heard of having an opinion?

EDIT: Ever heard that the majority is often wrong?

[blubbla]

Originally posted by twins15
My favorite line is by Jack Buck when McGwire hit his 62'd hr.

If the call you're meaning is the "Pardon me while I stand up, and applaud!", that was for McGwire's 61st. Mike Shannon made the call on Big Mac's 62nd.

Just trying to keep things accurate

[twins15]

That was what I meant. Thank You for correcting me.

[twins15]

Here it is:

On Mark McGwire's 61st home run in 1998, tying Roger Maris for the single-season record, Sept. 7, 1998:

"Look at there, look at there! McGwire Flight No. 61 to Planet Maris! Pardon me for a moment while I stand and applaud!"

[ATLANTABRAVES2002FAN]

After the Braves had come back from 6-0 aganist the Reds in '91....and Justice hit the Homer to make 7-6
Skip:Sorry Dad, I have to borrow it from you, but Holy Cow!!

[LivnLegend]

Originally posted by Carplos


Ever heard of having an opinion?

EDIT: Ever heard that the majority is often wrong?

I think the last time the majority was wrong was when the general population still believed the Earth was flat.

You are free to have an opinion. Just be prepared to hear your opinion is completely wrong! At one time people had an opinion that the DH was a good thing. At one time people had an opinion that Veteran Stadium was a good idea. At one time someone in the Dodgers organization thought Delino DeShields was equal value for Pedro Martinez. The casual observer can often point out how flawed opinions are bad ones. You may have an opinion that Vin Scully is "awful" but I bet you can't find ten people in the LA area who listen to Vin that will agree with you.

[Carplos]

Originally posted by LivnLegend
You are free to have an opinion. Just be prepared to hear your opinion is completely wrong! At one time people had an opinion that the DH was a good thing. At one time people had an opinion that Veteran Stadium was a good idea. At one time someone in the Dodgers organization thought Delino DeShields was equal value for Pedro Martinez. The casual observer can often point out how flawed opinions are bad ones. You may have an opinion that Vin Scully is "awful" but I bet you can't find ten people in the LA area who listen to Vin that will agree with you.

So? What's your point? My opinion isn't wrong, it's my opinion, it's nor right nor wrong. I don't care if people agree with me. You said it yourself, the "LA Area", if there's a bigger area full of morons, I'd like to see it. So get your head out of your ass and get in the real world. It's an opinion, not a fact.

[twins15]

Originally posted by Carplos


You said it yourself, the "LA Area", if there's a bigger area full of morons, I'd like to see it.

Montreal baseball fans that never go to the game?