Jan 8 1977: Seattle Air Team: Niehaus and Wilson

[BMW]

Came across this article in The Sporting News, and I know some folks would like reading it. Enjoy!

[Amazin69]

Hmm, I didn't know that Bill Schonely had done the Pilots' games. (Bouton mentions Jimmy Dudley in Ball Four, but not Schonely.)

Of course, once the Pilots blew town, Schonely picked up the gig as the Portland Trail Blazers' pbp man (1970-1998). So, given that Bill Walton and the gang were going fairly deep into the playoff regularly, I'm guessing that the Ms were worried about schedule conflicts?

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Hmm, I didn't know that Bill Schonely had done the Pilots' games. (Bouton mentions Jimmy Dudley in Ball Four, but not Schonely.)

Of course, once the Pilots blew town, Schonely picked up the gig as the Portland Trail Blazers' pbp man (1970-1998). So, given that Bill Walton and the gang were going fairly deep into the playoff regularly, I'm guessing that the Ms were worried about schedule conflicts?

I read Ball Four so many times, I had to buy another copy. I lost my innocence in that book. I was a kid of 11 or so, and beaver shooting was a complete, and utter surprise to me at the time. I mean..I laughed, and thought it was hilarious, but it was a surprise.

[Syd Thrift]

Niehaus was an absolute legend, one of two guys I can’t help but associate with growing up in Seattle following pro sports (the other guy being Kevin Calabro; of course, there was also Rick Rizzs and Bob Blackburn and Pete Gross and of course Raibs, who had the pleasure of working with on the Seahawks Radio Network for 2 years, but it’s Niehaus and Calabro for me). Dave had that worrying habit of giving you hope that yeah, this team in <year> might not be good or even have a great chance of winning more than they lost, but they could totally win today. Also of course, he’d do stuff like narrate a lot of bad pitching outings with the demeanor of a disappointed father, and sometimes he’d just come out and say he thought a guy on the other team was kind of a bum. And of course when you had blowouts the game would turn into Niehaus and Rizzs and the various color guys they used passing around anecdotes about the game.

I’m sure that people who grew up listening to Vin Scully and Joe Buck and so on had similar things but that’s the point: Dave was our Vin Scully, for me at least the number one reason I became a baseball fan.

[Syd Thrift]

Also by the way that Ken Wilson is the same Ken Wilson who did play by play for the St Louis Blues for 20 years.