The Baltimore Orioles have experienced a resurgence under new ownership, revitalizing a franchise once plagued by off-field turmoil. While the team’s on-field performance in 2023 was commendable, behind-the-scenes issues marred the season, primarily due to undue interference from previous ownership.
Part of that was due to meddling inside the broadcast booth, sidelining a beloved play-by-play voice because of innocuous comments made on-air. Last August, a firestorm erupted when Orioles broadcaster Kevin Brown was suspended—which Awful Announcing first reported—for simply stating a factual observation about the team’s history against the Tampa Bay Rays in previous meetings.
Announcers across Major League Baseball took to their own airwaves to express support for Brown and condemnation of O’s ownership. Eventually, Brown returned after a spell on the sidelines. Neither the Orioles nor Brown directly commented on the situation, rather expressing a desire to move forward.
The Orioles moved forward by extending Brown, a move they announced earlier this week.
We wish the voices in our head sounded like Kevin Brown. pic.twitter.com/gy4xEolQzq
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 15, 2024
Brown is universally beloved across Major League Baseball, and that sentiment continues to ring true, even after his suspension. Awful Announcing’s 2024 local announcer rankings saw Baltimore’s booth—and Brown—come in at No. 4, and part of the reason why is his ability to inject some lighthearted fun into the broadcast, like when he explained Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” and sang to his partner, Ben McDonald.
In a Q&A with The Baltimore Sun, Brown expressed gratitude for the opportunity to continue calling Orioles games for the foreseeable future.
“I grew up wanting to be the voice of a Major League Baseball team, and I’ve sort of slowly worked my way up to this, this coming year,” Brown told The Sun. “In 2019, I did 50 games on radio the first year, then maybe 40% of the games during the Covid year, and then half the games in ’21. It’s funny, I have been with ESPN for nine years now, and I’m happy I get to keep doing that, but when I got the [Orioles] job at first, it was exciting, just thrilling to be part of a major league team. It was 50 games, and it was sort of a one-year, ‘Let’s see how it goes’ kind of trial, and it just keeps getting better.
“It’s a humbling feeling that anybody wants you enough to be around for multiple years in any walk of life, but especially one that’s this public-facing because no person in the history of this job is at 100% approval rating, right?
“Some people didn’t like Vin Scully. They were wrong, but some people didn’t like Vin Scully. Some people love Joe Buck, including me. Some people hate Joe Buck. Some people don’t like any broadcaster. So, it’s a very subjective medium, and the fact that enough people like what I’m doing and have confidence in what I’m doing is very meaningful.”
