Kevin Brown has been MIA from all Baltimore Orioles broadcasts after making some fairly innocuous comments about the team’s lack of success against the Tampa Bay Rays. 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 MASN 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.
Since the news of Brown’s absence and the reason behind it surfaced, the Baltimore Orioles organization has received a healthy amount of criticism from those in sports media and the broadcasting industry. Major League Baseball announcers like Gary Cohen, John Sterling and others have called out the Orioles while showing support for Brown.
Amidst the backlash, multiple outlets are reporting that the plan is for Brown to return to the broadcast booth later this week. Both The Athletic and The Baltimore Banner independently confirmed through multiple sources that Brown is set to return to the air Friday, Aug. 11, when Baltimore faces the Seattle Mariners. Awful Announcing is working to independently confirm Brown’s return date.
While the Orioles dispute that a suspension took place, it’s worth noting, as Britt Ghiroli penned in her piece for The Athletic, “This is the same organization that has rules against mentioning certain former players on air.”
As to who would have the power and authority to make such illogical moves on a whim, Ghiroli also reported that it rests solely with Orioles ownership.
“That someone is John Angelos, sources briefed on the matter say, the only person with enough power that no one dare question the validity of anything he says and does, no matter how foolish it is.”
The Orioles dispute an official suspension took place, but in spite of the semantics at hand, Brown has been off television since July 26th with the franchise in the middle of a pennant race. Hopefully when he does come back to the airwaves, he’ll be able to recite routine facts without risk of being banished from the broadcast booth once again.
[The Athletic, Baltimore Banner]
