I came across a review of Curt Smith's Voices of Summer: ranking baseball's 101 all-time best announcers (Carroll & Graf, 2005).
Here're are his top 10:
1. Vin Scully
2. Mel Allen
3. Ernie Harwell
4. Jack Buck
5. Red Barber
6. Harry Caray
7. Bob Prince
8. Jack Brickhouse
9. Dizzy Dean
10. Lindsey Nelson
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I know I've heard 3 or 4 of them, but only 2 I've heard through, at least, several games. That would be Dizzy Dean and Vin Scully. The latter I've heard the most and have an imprint of his voice, having grown up on it.
Don't remember what Dizzy sounded like. (I listened to him when my family lived near Buffalo. Then we moved out west, and Scully thoroughly supplanted that memory.)
Heard Red Barber on NPR's Morning Edition and saw Harry Caray a little bit on tv, with his trademark, goggly glasses. Also heard him announce an inning or so.
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These days I don't listen to nor watch much sports. So I'd be hard pressed to identify most of the announcers.
Posted by raacluse at August 11, 2005 11:55 PMYou've actually probably heard Ernie Harwell. He was a one time announcer for the Orioles, but was famous for doing the Tigers for a long time til he retired (or was retired) a few years ago. I'm surprised that Jon Miller isn't on the list. I remember reading a story about Dizzy Dean. At some point he was giving grief to the Cardinals' pitchersuntil their wives insisted that he go out on the mound and show that he was better than their husbands. So he came out of retirement for one game - and pitched rather well for an old guy.
Posted by: David Gerstman at August 15, 2005 12:23 AMYeah, I shoulda mentioned that Jon Miller is rated, but not among the top ten.
As for Ernie harwell, I've probably heard him, but can't match the name with the voice. I admit to infrequent listening to the O's game broadcasts over the years.
Posted by: raacluse at August 17, 2005 02:44 AMHarry Kalas should certainly be top 10.
For those not familiar with Philly, he's also the voice of NFL Films and Campbell's Chunky Soup commercials. Looooong drive ... it's Outta Here!!!