Gary Cohen Photo credit: SNY
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Kevin Brown’s fairly innocuous comments about the Baltimore Orioles’ recent lack of success against the Tampa Bay Rays were not well received by team ownership. Awful Announcing reported Monday that Brown has been removed from game-calling duties after noting the Orioles’ recent history against the Tampa Bay Rays at the top of a July 23 broadcast. In the segment, Brown simply states facts and essentially tries to explain how this year’s Orioles team is performing better than previous ones.

We wrote about how MLB announcers and others in sports media came out in droves to show support for Brown, who has not appeared in an Orioles TV broadcast since. However, at the time we were unaware as to how many broadcasters from coast to coast would use some time during their own broadcast to not only show support for their colleague but take aim at the Baltimore Orioles for Brown being MIA from their broadcasts.

It was astonishing just how many broadcasters took time out of their own broadcasts to stand up for one of their own, who was unfairly treated.

Gary Cohen, the New York Mets play-by-play voice for SNY had some very pointed comments about the Baltimore Orioles organization:

“We were just in Baltimore watching a resurgent Orioles team that’s really gotten the attention of the fans there. They’re a young team. They’re fun to watch. They’re in first place in the American League East. They’re just having a great season. And in the midst of that today, the Baltimore Orioles organization draped itself in utter humiliation with their treatment of one of their young broadcasters, a guy named Kevin Brown, who is one of the great young talents in broadcasting in this game.

“During a recent game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Kevin, during his opening, talked about how the Orioles had trouble winning in the past at Tropicana Field, but that they were doing better this year. That was really all he said. And for that, the Baltimore Orioles management decided to suspend Kevin Brown.

“Let me just say one thing to Baltimore Orioles management. You draped yourself in humiliation when you fired Jon Miller. And you’re doing it again. And if you don’t want Kevin Brown, there are 29 other teams who do. It’s a horrendous decision by the Orioles. I don’t know what they were thinking, but they’ve gotten exactly the reaction that they deserve. And it’s just a shame because the Orioles have played so well, and now they’ve diverted attention from that, and now made themselves a laughing stock.”

NESN’s Dave O’Brien and Kevin Youkilis were the next to offer their thoughts on the whole ordeal:

“There’s a story that the Orioles have suspended their television play-by-play man, Kevin Brown, indefinitely for going on the air and talking about how tough a time the Orioles had had winning at Tropicana Field over the years. And somebody in the front office for the Orioles didn’t like that, so they suspended the announcer,” said O’Brien.

“It was ridiculous. He’s stating the facts. I mean, they haven’t won there,” Youkilis said. “They got a great team and hopefully they break it.”

“Somebody didn’t like the facts very much,” O’Brien continued. “That’s a fiasco that that’s allowed to happen. And I think every announcer in the league feels the same way. Every broadcaster in my position and yours, Youk, thought that was an absolute joke. I thought it was a joke, initially, when I read it.”

“I thought he said something really bad,” Youkilis added.

“No, he did not,” O’Brien replied. “Well, depending on who’s listening in the front office of the Baltimore Orioles. But that’s a joke and I hope he’s reinstated immediately when someone comes to their senses in the front office of the Orioles.

Los Angeles Angels play-by-play voice Wayne Randazzo offered his perspective on the situation as well:

“That brings up a good point. The team hasn’t scored tonight and they’ve lost six in a row. And sometimes, facts are facts and we have to sit here and talk about them, whether they’re pretty or not. And in Baltimore certainly, they have had some different reactions to that sort of thing. And we got a guy sitting a few booths down, the Hall of Famer, Jon Miller, who went through that there almost 30 years ago. Certainly, our best wishes go out to Kevin Brown of the Baltimore Orioles.”

Even John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman got in on the action on WFAN:

“I’ve been on the air 63 years, so I’ve seen a million nutty things happen in this nutty business,” said Sterling. “But this is right up there with the nuttiest. When you hear it, I think you’ll understand it. It has to do with an announcer named Kevin Brown of Baltimore…Anyway Kevin Brown in a game was extolling the virtues of the new Orioles, talking about what had happened in the past. And the owner of the Orioles, a guy named John Angelos, decided that was negative and he suspended him.”

“It’s amazing to me,” added Waldman. “How can you do your job if you can’t tell the truth? But he didn’t even say anything negative. He was extolling how good they are because look what they’ve done this year and in the past, they didn’t do it. So I don’t understand it. When I saw the clip, I was waiting for him to say something horrible, and it was not.”

“I’ve never heard of that in my life,” Sterling continued. “We, if that guy was our boss, we’d get fired every day. We comment that the Yankees have terrible batting averages and they have terrible on-base percentages. That’s the truth, how can you?… Anyway, every day that would be a problem for us.”

“I don’t understand because you can’t come from the ‘Yanlees are down 10-0, but isn’t it a beautiful day’ kind of announcing,” Waldman said. “That doesn’t go in places. That doesn’t go in New York. That doesn’t go anywhere. But in this case, he wasn’t even doing that. How was that negative?”

White Sox broadcaster Jason Benetti was a bit more colorful with his response:

“They were 6-7 against the Orioles this year, so they lost seven times, but they did beat Baltimore six times which, I hope I don’t get suspended by the Orioles for saying that…”

As for the broadcasters who were off on Monday, well we’ll have to see what they have to say about the Orioles and Brown on Tuesday.

You can read Awful Announcing’s initial report on Brown here.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann