Baseball Culture: Top 5 Announcer Calls
The moment matters. The only way you can have a great call is when the moment is great as well. And baseball has had it's share of decent calls. None of them rival Al Michael's "Do you believe in miracles?" call, but nonetheless, there are some good one.
There were two that I considered putting on but left off, both by Jack Buck. The first was "Go Crazy Folks! Go Crazy!" call for Ozzie Smith's unlikely 1985 NLCS home run by Jack Buck. Tho other was after Kirby Puckett's game winning home run to extend the World Series "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"
#5 Hank Aaron #715 - "Now here is Henry Aaron. This crowd is up all around. The pitch to him, bounced it up there, ball one. Henry Aaron in the second inning walked and scored. He's sitting on seven-hundred and fourteen. Here's the pitch by Downing, swinging, there's a drive into left centerfield, that ball is gonna be, OUTA HERE, ITS GONE, ITS SEVEN-HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN! There's a new home run champion of all time and its Henry Aaron. The fireworks are going. Henry Aaron is coming around third, his teammates are at home plate. Listen to this crowd!" - Milo Hamilton
#4 Roger Maris #61 - "Here comes Roger Maris. They're standing up, waiting to see if Roger is going to hit number sixty-one. Here's the windup, the pitch to Roger, way outside, ball one. The fans are starting to boo, low, ball two. That one was in the dirt and the boos get louder. Two balls, no strikes on Roger Maris. Here's the windup, fastball, hit deep to right, this could be it, WAY BACK THERE, HOLY COW, HE DID IT, SIXTY-ONE HOME RUNS! They're fighting for the ball out there. Holy cow." - Phil Rizzuto
#3 Joe Carter's World Series ending Home Run - "Touch 'em all Joe. You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life." - Tom Cheek
#2 Kirk Gibson Home Run - I actually like both calls with Vin Scully's "All year long they looked to him to light the fire and all year long he answered the demands. High fly ball into right field. She is gone! In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened." and Jack Buck's "I don't believe what I just saw!"
#1 Shot Heard 'Round the World - This call is actually a bit annoying I think, but you can't deny its legacy "One out, last of the ninth. Branca pitches.
Bobby Thomson takes a strike called on the inside corner. Bobby hitting at two-ninety-two. He's had a single and a double, and he drove in the Giants' first run with a long fly to center. Brooklyn leads it, four to two.
Hartung down the line at third, not taking any chances. Lockman without too big of a lead at second, but he'll be runnin' like the wind if Thomson hits one. Branca throws.
THERE'S A LONG DRIVE!
THAT'S GONNA BE IT, I BELIEVE!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!
BOBBY THOMSON HITS INTO THE LOWER DECK OF THE LEFT-FIELD STANDS! THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT, AND THEY'RE GOING CRAZY! THEY'RE GOING CRAZY!"
1 comment:
I may be wrong, but I could have sworn it was "The Giants WIN the pennant." But, like Ross, I consider this call to be incredibly annoying, so I've pretty much blocked it out.
On a semi-related note, I don't think I could do an unbiased top five in this category, because most if not all of my list would be from the 2004 playoffs. I could probably ramble them off word-for-word by memory, actually.
And for anyone who cares, neither Joe Buck's nor Joe Castiglione's call from the final out of the 2004 World Series would make it. Why not, you're probably not asking? Because neither of them had the foresight (and it was a sweep, for god's sake... they had plenty of time to work on it) to use the simple phrase "The Red Sox have won the World Series." That's the only thing that we all wanted to (and never thought we would) hear. It was very simple, and they both blew it. Buck's call was okay (and at least he made up for it with the White Sox call), but I was (and am) very disappointed in Castig.
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