As a baseball fan who spent a great deal of time listening to games on the radio, I’ve led a blessed life. I spent a good number of years listening to a great play by play combo, Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey. Even though Ernie might be (in a biased point of view) the best ever, I always enjoyed my three innings with Paul.
When I moved to San Francisco in 2000, Jon Miller was (and remains) the Giants play by play announcer, and I always felt he was very good. But honestly, what did I know? I knew Ernie and Paul Carey were awesome; I knew the douchebags that replaced Ernie for a short time were awful (as I stare at a Bo Schembechler bobble head doll on my desk, even Bo knew he probably made a mistake)… all I knew that Miller didn’t repulse me and wasn’t nearly as bad as Rizzs/ Rathbun. And honestly I really liked Miller, and was adament to Giants fans that they had a good one on their hands. More recently, Jon Miller has done plenty of national ESPN broadcasts, so the rest of the nation has been able to sample his goods.
Fast forward to this week, where Jon Miller was awarded the Ford C Frick award from the baseball hall of fame. Its an annual award; the winners aren’t technically ‘in the hall of fame’, but they do have their own wing. Past winners include guys like Harry Caray… Vin Scully… and one Ernie Harwell. Well deserved, and I’m glad I’ll be listening to Mr Miller for quite a while.
As a child, I always thought that Ernie was the greatest announcer ever; partly because I was very young, and partly because its all I knew. The fact that he was a Frick award winner (and therefore always referred to as ‘a member of the baseball hall of fame’, though the more I read up on it, thats probably paraphrasing the award just a little) helped justify my feelings. I always thought to myself… why did Baltimore ever let Ernie go? I couldn’t grasp that concept. Today, I remembered that Jon Miller had also been let go by Baltimore, in 1996. I’m not sure why Harwell was so available in 1959, and it sounds like Peter Angelos wasn’t a fan of Jon Miller, but its amazing that one team let such great talents walk.
So Congratulations to Jon Miller, who I think is world class. He’s also a giant student and fan of Harwell’s, so in a way, the tradition lives on.
Random Baltimore Announcer stats: I tried to break down how many Frick award winners worked for which clubs. The list seems incomplete, because so many of these guys bounced around and worked a year here or there (or for partial years, home games only, etc) that getting a full work schedule from pre-1960 is difficult. Many guys worked for both Chicago teams at the same time; same for New York (giants / dodgers / yankees /mets). However, outside of the major markets, Baltimore had a ton of Frick award winners work for them at one point: Ernie Harwell / Jon Miller / Bob Murphy / Chuck Thompson / Herb Carneal. Carneal worked with both Harwell and Murphy (who apparently succeeded Harwell for a few years). Thompson worked with Harwell in Baltimore in 1955, and returned to announce Oriole games from ~1962 – 1987. Out of this award-winning group, you have a group of men who became famous ‘voices’ for their respective ballclubs: The voice of the Tigers (Harwell), The voice of the Mets (Murphy), The voice of the Twins (Carneal), the voice of the Orioles (Thompson). Miller is the hardest one to pigeon hole, since so many famous announcers have called New York and San Francisco Giants games; Lon Simmons (another Frick award winner) was a long time announcer who also did 49er games when the 49ers were the big men on campus in the bay area. Miller is so good, however, that I feel if he stays dedicated to the Giants — and doesn’t wander out national waters — he can probably write his own legacy here.
Side Note: Take a look through other award winners, and I do start to wonder about this award. Sure, people love Harry Caray, but if you had to listen to game 7 of a world series, would you want Caray calling that game? I’d rather have Will Ferrell’s impression of Caray then Caray himself. So I found another list of broadcasters to see how Miller stacks up. The American Sportscasters Association has a top 50 list, and Miller is in good company here, coming in at #19. Then again, this list has Ernie Harwell at #16, and somehow lists Joe Buck…