Jon “Boog” Sciambi, the Cubs play-by-play announcer for Marquee Sports Network and the voice of Sunday Night Baseball for MLB on ESPN Radio, believes his and his peers’ handling of broadcasts is ready for a change.
Sciambi, who is also a voice of MLB: The Show, appeared on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast this week, and the topic turned to how MLB play-by-play announcers are so steeped in tradition that they rarely veer from the script. The result, he said, is everyone sounds the same.
“It’s the ultimate broadcasting sport because there’s so much space and because they’ve been broadcasting it so much longer than all the other sports,” Sciambi said. “And so we all try to sound like a 67-year-old white guy.”
Sciambi gave an example of a stereotypical call that all announcers seem to automatically embrace.
“So, like, there’s a ground ball to short with a guy on first,” Sciambi said, “and there is still a part of me that wants to … if there’s a man on first, you know, ‘He could really use a ground ball and it’s like, on the ground to short (Dansby) Swanson to (Nico) Hoerner on to (Michael) Busch — and that’s just what the doctor ordered!’
“And there’s a part of me that has to resist saying that, but the part of me that’s saying that is because that’s the type of s*** that I heard, and it worked for the person. But that’s not how I speak. I really want to be as far away from that as possible. I want to give you as much of me as I can.”
Jon “Boog” Sciambi, announcer for the Chicago Cubs and “MLB: The Show,” speaks on broadcasters in baseball mimicking each other.
“We all try to sound like a 67-year-old white guy.”
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— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) May 15, 2024
It’s ironic that Sciambi gave a double-play call as an example of an age-old MLB tradition. One of the oldest and most famous slogans in MLB history, “Tinker to Evers to Chance,” describes a Cubs trio turning double plays almost 120 years ago.
Some fans might argue that if it worked for legends such as Vin Scully, Jack Buck and Harry Caray, don’t fix it if it ain’t broke. Then again, if everyone in baseball kept following old traditions without ever trying anything new, popular innovations such as the designated hitter, pitch clock and interleague play would have never happened.
And the Cubs would still be playing only day games at Wrigley Field. So perhaps Sciambi is on to something when he says MLB play-by-play announcers could use a fresh approach.
[Pablo Torre Finds Out; Photo Credit: Pablo Torre Finds Out]
