Excluding Cawood Ledford, who's your favorite play by play announcer in different sports, past or present?
- Thread starter TopCatCal
- Start date
This is for the older guys here but I enjoyed Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese when they did the Yankee games every weekend for I think two years back in the early 60’s. They were fun to listen to.
As a broadcast tandem, Pat Summerall and John Madden. And perhaps singularly, Summerall as play-by-play and Madden w color.
Al Michaels calling the 9th inning of the Reds come from behind win over Pittsburg in the 5th and deciding game of the 1972 playoffs that sent the Reds to the World Series.
Being a Detroit Tiger's fan it would have to be Ernie Harwell. I could listen to him on WJR Detroit after it got dark here in Tennessee. He was all class.
I was fortunate enough to have listened to Sullivan and then Cawood. I would give a slight nod to Cawood over Sullivan but it truly is by a slim margin. Both of them were the best of the best. I dont mean for KY sports, but nationally.
My ranking:
Cawood
Claude Sullivan
Gus Johnson
My ranking:
Cawood
Claude Sullivan
Gus Johnson
Yes, and I thought Sullivan and Cawood sounded somewhat alike
Iconic....And he was more than baseball. His ability to "story tell' was unrivaled. Who else could use Shakespere analogies, describing a sporting event?
Dude was in a league of his own.
Gary Bender- First play-by-play for CBS, NCAAT. Was their lead broadcaster in 82/83. Him, Musburger and Packer bacnk in the 80's was a great trio..
I actually like Romo calling football.
Local, Marty is the man for the Reds. IMO, his voice is up there(somewhat) with Scully. Just a voice that was made for baseball.
Wont be a popular choice, but Don Fischer for IU....He and Cawood, IMO, best there was on the radio. My brother and I would listen to separate radio's, and tbh, you couldn't always tell who was announcing for who. Both were usually evenly biased.
I actually like Romo calling football.
Local, Marty is the man for the Reds. IMO, his voice is up there(somewhat) with Scully. Just a voice that was made for baseball.
Wont be a popular choice, but Don Fischer for IU....He and Cawood, IMO, best there was on the radio. My brother and I would listen to separate radio's, and tbh, you couldn't always tell who was announcing for who. Both were usually evenly biased.
Frank Gifford, Dandy Don Meredith and Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football. They played off one another so well.
Well crap. I actually took the time to read the original question: "play by play." Dickie V wasn't play by play. But damned if he wasn't fun back in the day...
I remember watching the Yankees and the Dodgers in the 77 and 78 World Series against the Dodgers. Listening to Vin Scully made the Series even that much better. And with Bob Shepherd doing PA at Yankee stadium, it was fabulous.
Even folks who hated the Dodgers loved listening to Scully do games. You know a guy is good when even the arch-rival fans acknowledge he's the best.
That's also how Cawood was. Even IU fans seemed to love Cawood ...it was the one thing we could all agree upon.
Gary Bender was one of my favorites. Wonder why he didn’t stay around long. Had a great voice.
