Over the last two weeks, we polled the Awful Announcing readers on their opinions of each local broadcast team around the majors. The polls were broken down division by division to gain the perspective of both fans and rivals for each broadcast team.
The votes are in, and we weighted your grades on a four point scale for each broadcast crew and sorted them to determine who your favorite and least favorite broadcast teams were. Each “A” vote received 4 points, 3 points for a “B” vote, down to 0 points for an “F” vote. The total points scored were divided by the total number of votes to calculate what amounts to a GPA for each broadcast booth.
If you’re interested, you can see the full vote tally here.
After everything was tabulated, the end results may end up surprising you, but we feel that they’re a pretty accurate ranking of the 30 broadcast crews in the league. Without any further ado, here we go.
30) Chicago White Sox – 1.37
-Hawk Harrelson (play by play)
-Steve Stone (analyst, play by play – select)
-Aaron Rowand (analyst -select)
-Mike Huff (analyst – select)
-Tom Paciorek (analyst – select)
Most popular grade: F (46% of voters)
Analysis: No crew received more total F’s or a higher percentage of F’s than the White Sox crew. Essentially, people either despised Hawk (for obvious reasons) or tolerated him for the sheer humor of it all, while there was a soft spot for analyst Steve Stone.
Reader Comments:
“In Dante’s inferno of baseball, [Harrelson] will be forced to watch endless loops of Sox striking out with the signature HE GONE being yelled in his ear for all of eternity.” -CinVinman
“They support the team they work for, call a good & fair game, get on the team when it’s performing badly and call out the shockingly bad state of MLB umpires.” -josephfinn
https://twitter.com/VCand1029/status/456279710381531136
“I usually can tolerate his schtick, and be honest, who doesn’t love sad Hawk? Hearing Steve Stone still makes me sentimental to his days alongside Harry Carey” -jvanee24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBwNiZmnSDM
29) Colorado Rockies – 1.63
-Drew Goodman (play by play)
-Jack Corrigan (play by play)
-Jerry Schemmel (play by play)
-George Frazier (analyst)
-Jeff Huson (analyst – select)
Most popular grade: C (43% of voters)
Analysis: No crew received fewer A’s (21) or a lower percentage of A’s (just 3%) than Colorado. People really didn’t seem to like the Rockies crew at all with few positive comments for any of the broadcasters aside from Jeff Huson.
Reader Comments:
“Love Jeff Huson. Very smart, articulate and probably underrated and unknown nationally – as almost anyone Rockies-related is.” -CD_21
“Goodman calls a good game, but Frazier is outdated with his analysis most of the times, and he tends to act like a homer if you don’t keep him on a leash” -DanielOrmsby
28) St. Louis Cardinals – 1.67
-Dan McLaughlin (play by play)
-Rick Horton (play by play/analyst)
-Al Hrabosky (analyst)
-Tim McCarver (analyst – select)
Most popular grade: F (31% of voters)
Analysis: There was a shocking lack of homerism by Cardinals fans in this poll – only 12% of readers gave St. Louis’ team an A. Dan McLaughlin didn’t exactly get rave reviews, but based on the negative comments about the analysts he works with, I wonder how much of that negativity is caused by him. And then there’s the McCarver factor.
Reader Comments:
“Dan Mclaughlin is terrible. He is extremely boring and offers no sense of humor or quick wit which is essential when doing baseball.” -paulgordo1330
“Dan is good for the Cards. He obviously pulls for the Cards but is very objective. Al Hrabosky is horrible. I can’t stand him. He brings less to a telecast then Dickie V.” -scottyankey
@maris9 @awfulannouncing McCarver hasn't even done a Cardinals game yet and he is listed. We already start with a C.
— Chris (@bluesfan1972) April 22, 2014
“Dan McLaughlin isn’t anything amazing, but he remains underrated because of who he is saddled with.” -The Stork
27) Washington Nationals – 1.79
-Bob Carpenter (play by play)
-F.P. Santangelo (analyst)
-Johnny Holliday (play by play – select)
-Ray Knight (play by play – select)
Most popular grade: F (31% of voters)
Analysis: Washington was one of three teams (along with the Yankees and Braves) to receive at least 200 votes of each grade, though they received the second most F grades of any crew in the league. No one likes Bob Carpenter. A few people like F.P. Santangelo.
Reader Comments:
“Bob Carpenter may be the worst baseball announcer I have ever heard. […] FP Santangelo is a good analyst, talks a little too much, but I truly believe he is covering for Carpenter.” -mikefromde
“I think F.P. Santangelo might be the worst color guy in all of baseball. Just cliche after cliche.” -danzyl66
"Got him! And Uggla knew it," MASN's Carpenter as Uggla argued with the ump. I don't think I've ever seen someone mess up a strike out call.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) April 4, 2014
https://twitter.com/doubleuefwhy/status/456068944466808832
26) Philadelphia Phillies – 1.90
-Tom McCarthy (play by play)
-Matt Stairs (analyst)
-Jamie Moyer (analyst)
-Mike Schmidt (analyst – Sundays)
Most popular grade: C (26% of voters)
Analysis: The jury may still be out on Philadelphia’s new broadcast team, and they may have finished lower if the Tom McCarthy/Chris Wheeler/Garry Matthews trio was still calling games this year. We don’t have much of a sample for Stairs, Moyer, and Schmidt (in this incarnation, at least), but I think they’ll end up getting into a nice groove as the season goes on.
Reader Comments:
“Tom McCarthy is awful in the fake announcer sort of way. He screws up frequently and his big cackle and constant laughter is beyond irritable and very, very distracting.” -MattSmith2
“Phillies radio announcers are great. TV is putrid. God bless Harry Kalas” -@Elinapmac
@awfulannouncing Phillies TV is hard to listen to/watch. Phillies radio (awesome) makes me plan road trips around Phillies game times.
— Steve Moore (@Smoore1117) April 18, 2014
https://twitter.com/ChalieLawIII/status/456980623941713920
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