New Chicago White Sox TV announcer John Schriffen is just getting settled in to his new job, but Chicago radio host Dan Bernstein doesn’t love what he’s heard so far.
Bernstein, host of the mid-day Bernstein Holmes Show on 670 The Score, had some advice for Schriffen on Thursday’s show — it’s a long season, pace yourself.
Schriffen, 39, is replacing Jason Benetti, now with the Detroit Tigers, in the NBC Sports Chicago booth. Schriffen, the second Black television play-by-play announcer in MLB, has worked with ESPN and CBS Sports.
Bernstein’s show played a clip of Schriffen making a call on an Eloy Jiménez home run. The clip had gone viral on social media.
To say Schriffen has a unique and enthusiastic home run call might be an understatement.
HI MOOMMMMM 👋
Eloy hits a two-run home run to get the White Sox back in the game pic.twitter.com/CfWembv9iX
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) March 6, 2024
“It’s a long season, it’s a long major league career, just give yourself a little bit of runway, give yourself a place to go from here,” Bernstein said, H/T Barrett Sports Media. “It’s just a spring training game, that’s all it is, there’s gonna be a lot of home runs.”
Bernstein prefaced his criticism of Schriffen with a disclaimer.
“Full disclosure, Jason Benetti is a dear friend of mine,” Bernstein said. “And full disclosure, I am just sick about how things ended for him in Chicago.”
Bernstein noted he wishes Schriffen well and wants him to succeed.
“I have nothing against him, I am not rooting against him,” Bernstein said. “I am a little bit concerned about what it’s going to be like to have that level … of intensity for a Spring Training game. … I am getting some flashbacks to Chip Caray … for not really recognizing that a Tuesday night in April is exciting and fun, but it’s not necessarily a night in October and shouldn’t be treated as such.
“The good news is I don’t know how compelled I am going to be to watch any White Sox baseball, truth be told … I don’t want to make fun of him, I heard that call, I sent it in my group text with the ‘yikes face’ emoji, and thinking ‘oh boy man, it could be a long, rough year.'”
Bernstein conceded that Schriffen may be working out his calls, and that he’s got a veteran crew around to help him adjust to the role. However, he said, Chicago can be an unforgiving place for sportscasters.
“This is not a small market, this is not a medium-sized market,” Bernstein said. “As somebody who was a baseball broadcaster in small markets, that’s where you go to find your voice, that’s where you go to learn how you sound, listen to your tapes, to experiment in front of a less critical audience.”
White Sox fans on X/Twitter seemed to like Schriffen’s home run call.
https://twitter.com/Keithjohnson33/status/1765490248195183024
Keep this homerun call. Don’t change a thing. https://t.co/nKdmiPdRRt
— Menus (@LiamMenus) March 6, 2024
