You might not think the mellifluous tones of Ernie Harwell would fit a hard-bitten (and hard hit) northern city, but they did. For several generations of Detroiters Ernie represented the team and the game.

I've heard the great Scully and others and they're all outstanding, but I've never heard anyone to match Ernie.

That was a nice read.

I think the Giants broadcasters, TV and radio, are an absolute perfect match for the city of San Francisco. They're fun, funny, progressive yet very in touch with history, and they don't take things too seriously. If you listened to them and they never said the name of the team out loud, you'd know it has to be San Francisco.

They're as beloved by the fanbase as any player on the field, and when Giants games are nationally broadcast by outsiders, they scarcely feel like Giants games at all.

In Baltimore, when both the Orioles and the Colts were great, the lead radio announcer was Chuck Thompson, who was also a great announcer. The decline and departure of the Colts and the decline of the Orioles took place roughly as Chuck Thompson left.

The Orioles had a rebound to quality in the mid-1990's when Jon Miller was the lead Orioles announcer. He was pushed out by Angelos after the 1997 season. The Orioles have not had a winning season since then (hopefully to change this year).

Very nice article. My team is the Rangers and the amount of turnover they have had in the TV and radio booth the past few years has been a story within itself here in DFW. The one consistent, Eric Nadel, was just placed into the teams Hall of Fame. But other than him, I could care less for the other pieces they have right now. In the past three seasons, the greatest three seasons in Rangers history, they have had four TV play by play announcers. The first, Josh Lewin, was dismissed because, supposedly, he wouldn't committ to solely doing Rangers games (he was also the radio voice of the San Diego Chargers) and because his style didn't set well with new owner Nolan Ryan or longtime Rangers employee and current Color Analyst Tom Greive. The decision to part ways with Lewin came The day before Game 5 of the 2010 ALDS game with Tampa. Next in line was long time DFW voice John Rhadigan, who had never done sports play by play of any kind. He was dismissed midway through the 2011 season due to what we'll just say is ineffectiveness. He was replaced with Radio play by play man Dave Barnett, who was with the team through the middle of this year but has been on leave ever since dealing with the effects of migranes. If you want to see what led to this, go to YouTube and search Dave Barnett. Currently calling Rangers games is Steve Busby. He moved over from the radio just as Barnett had a year earlier. Hopefully, he is just holding the position for the remainder of the year until Barnett is deemed ok or a replacement can be found. Busby brings something to the game as his understanding of what a pitcher is thinking is excellent. But his nasalily delivery is like nails to a chalkboard to me.

I really liked this article, Adam, and I definitely think there's something to it.

However, I did want to say two things about John Sterling.

I think the Yankees long ago realized that it didn't matter who was on the radio - Yankees fans with no access to a game via TV (now the Internet) are going to listen to Yankees games on the radio, plain and simple. I really don't like Sterling, but I still tune in when I'm driving in the car and the game is on.

Sterling once was an awesome broadcaster: an eloquent speaker, measured, intelligent, with the occasional cliche or bad pun for humor. But over time, he's turned into a cliche-spewing character who so earnestly believes that "You just can't predict baseball, Suzyn". The character is what people expect, and he's so used to playing the part, he just sticks to it. He's also smart enough to know that a decent number of Yankees fans like that character. If you listen to Yankees games on the radio regularly, however, every once in a while the old Sterling (the real Sterling?) comes out and says hi.

When Steinbrenner died in 2010, WCBS in NYC brought Sterling on to talk about the Boss. It was the greatest 5 minutes I'd heard Sterling speak since sometime in the early 90s. He was intelligent, measured, and incredibly eloquent - his voice was almost musical. As soon as I got to a computer, I downloaded the podcast of it and have kept it to this day, as a reminder of what I could be listening to on a nightly basis, instead of being stuck with, "Robbie Cano, don't'cha'know?"

Sterling is a complex person with many characteristics, who shows them all off if you listen closely enough, and sometimes hides who he really is from the rest of us. That sounds like a perfect description of New York to me.

I really enjoyed this article. The Pirates' announcers (Tim Neveritt, John Wehner, Bob Walk, et al) do seem to fit the team and the city well. They're not perfect, but they're "ours" and so we love them. They don't have big aspirations and they aren't big names outside the city. They're folksy and engaging to the majority of Pirate fans. They're optimistic despite years of losing.

As a NYer, I listen to both Mets and Yanks radio broadcasts. Yankees (Sterling and Waldman) are total homers who stick to narratives, and (especially Sterling) loves goofy catchphrases- as you noted above).

The Mets (Lewin and Cohen) are willing to criticize the team and introduce new information, albeit with a few too many puns (Lewin).

In general, Yanks fans like their broadcasts to be pro-Yankee and triumphalistic, Mets fans want to full story, and even a negative story, so they can kvetch over it. Their broadcasts teams do a good job reflecting this.

This is Sutton's second time around with the Braves. The persona is pretty different.

In his first stint --- much of it on TV --- he was, I thought, pretty good. Insightful, analytic and objective. Really good with pitching. But that kind of thing doesn't go over real well in these parts. This was back when Georgia actually cared about the Braves. So he generated lots of talk-radio complaints --- "too L.A.", "cold", "talks too much" --- and was quietly not renewed.

This time around --- radio only --- he's dumbing it down. Folks-ing it up. But he's not dumb. Or folksy. Or funny. He is what he is: in the wrong market.

Adam, Eddie Gaedel was a midget, not a dwarf. Midgets are small people built proportionally, while dwarfs have normal-sized hands and heads but tiny bodies.

Also, the Atlanta radio crew bellyaches unusually often about the umpires. I leave the analysis to others; I don't know how that serves as an analog for Braves fans or the Atlanta metro.

I like relatively low-key announcers who show a deep knowledge of their team and can spice up their patter with interesting thoughts from other parts of life. Listening to Denny Matthews as a teenager is a big part of how I became a Royals fan, or even a baseball fan. He describes everything clearly, and also comes across as a smart, amiable fellow.

I dislike announcers who try to manipulate your emotions by shouting at you, instead of letting the emotion flow naturally from what happens in the game. I also really hate it when they're dishonest about calls. If the umpire missed a call in your team's favor, you should be able to acknowledge that.

As a long-time Phillies fan, I've wondered for years what Chris Wheeler has on team owner Bill Giles that keeps Chris in the booth. Can't stand that man.

Otherwise, the Phillies broadcasters are a pretty mediocre lot. I tolerate Gary Matthews because I liked him as a player, but he's awful. The rest, all vanilla and interchangeable to me.

I miss Harry Kalas, but having read his bio, I'd say he was a great guy as long as you weren't married/related to him, or have your fence or mail box destroyed by him during one of his many DUIs.

Funny stuff in that bio about Richie Ashburn (who stayed married, but lived essentially single from his wife and family for 20-some years) and Harry/Richie's feud with Wheeler (which apparently started because of pot stirring by Harry's 2nd wife, the same woman who had earlier hid her existence from Harry's wife by calling Wheeler to relay messages to Kalas).

Quite the broadcasting booth those '70-'90s Phils had...good group of guys.

The Twins team of Blyleven and Bremer is perfect for this state and team. The Twins have always been known to not be very up on statistical analysis and things of that nature, and Blyleven has no clue whatsoever on these things. Minnesotants TEND (not all, i know many twins fans on here that aren't) to be huge homers for their sports, making Bremer the perfect play by play guy, going nuts for any sort of success no matter how unimportant.
Growing up listening to the radio is was always Herb Carneal and Jon Gordon, now that both of them are gone I can barely take myself to listen to the Twins on the radio. I can't say for sure if the new guys are bad or good I just don't like it being different

In this context Mike Shannon seems a man whose time has expired for the Cardinals. He was perfect for St. Louis and the brewery-owned Cardinals; besides playing for the Cardinals, he grew up in St. Louis, and the stories of his on- and off-air drinking are legendary.

I think that the current Cardinals ownership group would prefer the image put forth by Shannon’s substitute when he decides to stay home rather than go on a long road trip (and part-time TV announcer), the milquetoast Ricky Horton. Inoffensive and bland, most of his in-game analysis is as pedestrian and nondescript as his playing career was. Plus, Horton appears as conservative as the Republican party-supporting owners; he’s a longtime member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and decidedly pro-ownership (just last night he decried the influence of agents on the game). If hiring religious conservative Mike Matheny as manager is any indication, Horton is what the Cardinals want their image to be. Give me a lunatic like Shannon any day. He may not offer stats-oriented analysis, but he’s interesting and funny.