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Good morning! We have not, at time of writing, been suspended by the Baltimore Orioles. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
Ken’s Notebook: O’s owners shut down broadcasters’ criticism
The Baltimore Orioles’ outrageous treatment of play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown, as detailed by The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli, is nothing new for the Angelos ownership.
In 1996, the Orioles did not offer a contract to beloved play-by-play announcer Jon Miller, who fell out of favor with owner Peter Angelos because, ahem, he was not enough of a homer.
“They should be an advocate for the team,” Angelos said of his broadcasters. “They should bleed a little bit for the Orioles.”
Miller, then 45, made out OK. He immediately joined the San Francisco Giants, for whom he has been a play-by-play announcer for the past 27 seasons. He also called games for ESPN from 1990 to 2010 and received a baseball broadcaster’s highest honor, the Ford C. Frick Award, from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
At the time of Miller’s departure, I was a columnist for The Baltimore Sun. Shortly before Angelos ran him off, I wrote a column warning the Orioles would be making an “all-time blunder” by declining to bring him back.
“Baseball is a talking sport, a sport of endless debate and second-guessing,” I wrote. “If the Orioles lose Miller, the quality of that debate on their broadcasts will diminish. And ultimately, it’s the fans who will suffer.”
Miller, then and now, was not overly critical. But to this day, he calls the game as he sees it. If he needs to point out a mistake, he will. As I wrote, “his knowledge is so vast, he detects shortcomings other announcers never even notice. His credibility is part of what makes his broadcasts unique.”
The crazy part about Brown’s absence — the Orioles claim it is not a suspension, even though he has not done a TV broadcast since July 23 — is that he reportedly is in trouble for praising the team, not criticizing it. His “offense” was a remark noting the Orioles have won more games at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays this season than in the last two years combined.
That statement qualifies not only as a fact but also as a testament to the Orioles’ turnaround. But John Angelos, Peter’s son and the team’s managing partner, evidently interpreted it as a knock on the team’s previous performance, even though his media relations department’s game notes described similar progress.
Amazing how history repeats. More than a quarter-century after Miller’s departure, the Angelos ownership is again trying to interfere with the Orioles’ broadcasts. The team’s on-field performance might fluctuate. But some things never change.
So, this is what you look like
The line between tragedy and comedy has always been perforated at best. The Yankees lost 5-1 to the shambolic White Sox last night, falling to 5 1/2 games back in the wild-card race. For those who bleed pinstripes, this was but the latest in a recent string of misfortunes that appear to be contributing to a tragic end to the season.
Nevertheless, the ineffable spirit of comedy made an appearance in Chicago last night. In the top of the eighth inning, home plate umpire Laz Diaz called Anthony Volpe out on strikes. Yankees manager Aaron Boone, apparently fed up with what he felt was a poor zone all night, went out and got himself tossed from the game for arguing balls and strikes. So far, nothing too out of the ordinary.
But at some point, Boone blew a gasket. When the standard expletive-laden tirade didn’t satisfy his temper, he decided to escalate. Something a bit bolder, more theatrical. Should he throw a cooler or kick dirt? No, too old-school, too done. Climb a foul pole? Nah, too dangerous.
Mock the umpire’s strikeout call by dabbing harder than any 2015 teen ever dabbed?
Bingo.
Making this all the more hilarious, here’s the pitch Diaz called strike three (it’s pitch No. 4).
After the game, Boone was at a loss for words for a few seconds before acknowledging, “I actually heard Anthony’s was a strike, maybe.”
It’s wrong, but it feels right
A little under a month ago, in the top of the second inning of the All-Star game, two-thirds of the players on the field were wearing the Texas Rangers logo on their caps. Nathan Eovaldi was pitching, Marcus Semien at second base, Corey Seager at shortstop, Josh Jung at third base, Jonah Heim catching and Adolis García in right field. It was the first time one team had fielded six players in an All-Star game at the same time since the Brooklyn Dodgers did it back in 1951.
It was a testament to a Rangers team that had roared out of the gates after six losing seasons, inhabiting first place in the AL West for all but one day this season (April 8).
They’re still there (they’re three games up on the Astros after a win in Oakland last night), but five of those six all-stars have been dinged up at some point since that July night. Eovaldi is still reportedly weeks away from returning from a forearm issue, Seager just came off the IL after jamming his thumb on the second base bag, García missed a few games after being hit in the hand with a pitch, and Heim hasn’t played since July 26 with a wrist injury.
Then came word yesterday that Jung’s thumb — fractured when it bore the brunt of a 109.4 mph Jorge Soler line drive on Sunday — would require surgery, costing him the next six weeks or so.
Throw in the injury to Jacob deGrom (Tommy John, out for the season) and that’s a pretty banged-up squad. And yet, they’re on a seven-game winning streak dating back to the first of the month.
Please take a moment; ‘cause I need your signature before you leave
When I was about nine years old, I learned about autographs. I don’t remember exactly how I learned about them, though I suspect the 1989 Bowman baseball cards had something to do with it — each card featured the player’s autograph pre-printed on the front. While most kids would become autograph hounds, I must confess that I took a less-virtuous path: I learned how to forge them.
Fortunately, I didn’t attempt to monetize my newfound skill. I just thought it was such a cool art form, each one unique, like a fingerprint. I still remember that Pascual Perez wrote his name in all caps except the last letter in his first name.
So today’s story from Cody Stavenhagen about the art of the autograph was particularly fascinating to me. Mike Trout learned to take the time to give a good autograph by Torii Hunter. Hunter says he learned it from Harmon Killebrew. Killebrew? Who knows (he passed away in 2011) but his rookie year was 1954. Not often you can trace a lesson that far back in so few degrees of separation.
The world of autographs is different now than it was in the 1950s. Card companies often ask players (especially early in their career) to sign thousands of autographs before the players even get to the back fields in spring training and start signing them in person.
These days, the art of the autograph can lean more toward efficiency than flair. But the story is a cool look into an aspect of the game that most people don’t think much about unless they’re holding out a card or a ball in hopes of getting a keepsake.
Me? Eh, I can still do a pretty convincing knockoff of a Nolan Ryan autograph, as a party trick.
Baseball Card of the Week
What, like I’m going to reference a specific card and not make it the card of the week?
Handshakes and High Fives
Eury Pérez returned for the Marlins, but in the battle of “NL teams putting a lanky southpaw rookie on the mound amid losing streaks whilst trying to nab the final wild-card position,” the Reds emerged victorious.
Not that Tim Anderson getting the worst end of it is anything new this week, but the suspensions are in, and he got a six-game timeout from MLB, while José Ramírez got three.
It’s Power Rankings time, and the Mariners are up eight spots since last week (the Cubs are up five).
The Astros finally made it to the White House after winning last year’s World Series, and they met a Phillies fan.
The post-deadline collapse by the Angels continues apace. They took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning against the Giants last night. They lost 8-3. They have lost seven straight. Meanwhile, the team they’re trying to catch in the wild-card standings (Toronto) has won four straight. Hyun Jin Ryu — in just his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery — took a no-hitter into the fourth against Cleveland, but left the game when he took a comebacker off the knee. X-rays were negative.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski joined Starkville this week. The podcast was so good that Jayson Stark wrote an accompanying article to go with it.
(Top photo of Félix Bautista after an Orioles win at Tropicana Field: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)
Orioles’ ‘outrageous’ treatment of broadcaster nothing new + Aaron Boone’s antics - The Athletic
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