Neal: Twins Radio Broadcast Team Will Not Travel

[Nine of twelve]

 

 

From what I can see, they've not named a replacement for Ed Farmer yet. I was not aware that he passed away in April because of kidney disease. 

Nor was I. That's a shame.

[notoriousgod71]

 

ESPN has been doing Korean baseball from their homes.  Easy to do this day in age.  Why send broadcasts guys on the road?  They normally are just watching monitors anyways and not the game as it is played, like back in the day before TV.  It is interesting, if you have never done it, to listen to radio broadcast while watching tv, to see how the radio guys tell you what is going on.  To be clear, radio also uses monitors, but they have a different job to tell someone that cannot see what is happening. 

 

I remember listing to radio back in the day, John Gordan getting super excited about a deep fly ball that was way back way back, he would get you on the edge of your seat thinking this might be a HR, or a double off the wall, maybe an amazing catch.  Then I would see the play on TV, only to see a fly ball caught just in front of the track with fielder camped under it. 

Gladden may not be the best for this...

 

I rarely listen to the radio broadcast unless I'm driving but in this instance that I repeat often, Gladden's call went like this in a one run ball game in the top of the ninth: "Beckham with a long fly ball and it's twisting toward the foul line and it's in the seats."

 

Then nothing.

 

Then me screaming at a stoplight: "Was it ****ing fair or foul?!?!!"

 

Moments later: "Here's the pitch by Nathan. Ball one in the dirt."

 

Me: "Thank ****ing Christ!"

 

That sequence took probably 30-45 seconds without me having any idea what happened.

[IndianaTwin]

 

Gladden may not be the best for this...

 

I rarely listen to the radio broadcast unless I'm driving but in this instance that I repeat often, Gladden's call went like this in a one run ball game in the top of the ninth: "Beckham with a long fly ball and it's twisting toward the foul line and it's in the seats."

 

Then nothing.

 

Then me screaming at a stoplight: "Was it ****ing fair or foul?!?!!"

 

Moments later: "Here's the pitch by Nathan. Ball one in the dirt."

 

Me: "Thank ****ing Christ!"

 

That sequence took probably 30-45 seconds without me having any idea what happened.

 

He probably still hasn’t given the score from that game. 

[yarnivek1972]

You clearly have not heard the Yankees or Red Sox TV broadcasters. They are awful and some of the biggest homers, have been for ever. You dont want to listen to that.

The Twins won’t be playing either team this year so Twins fans won’t have to listen to them.

[yarnivek1972]

Gladden may not be the best for this...

 

I rarely listen to the radio broadcast unless I'm driving but in this instance that I repeat often, Gladden's call went like this in a one run ball game in the top of the ninth: "Beckham with a long fly ball and it's twisting toward the foul line and it's in the seats."

 

Then nothing.

 

Then me screaming at a stoplight: "Was it ****ing fair or foul?!?!!"

 

Moments later: "Here's the pitch by Nathan. Ball one in the dirt."

 

Me: "Thank ****ing Christ!"

 

That sequence took probably 30-45 seconds without me having any idea what happened.

I still remember Gladden’s first year in the booth. He said the phrase “without a doubt” about every ten minutes. He must have had someone say something to him because he has rarely said it since.

[Platoon]

I am sure there are lots of other teams radio guys who lack this and that. But we have our own right her in MN. Disco Dan Gladden. If you want to listen to a game, and want to know the little things, like the score, the inning, who’s playing, and maybe the day of the week or what city they are in, you better have to go at least 100 miles minimum...  

[In My La Z boy]

 

https://www.startribune.com/twins-coaches-bob-mcclure-68-and-bill-evers-66-sidelined-for-season/571529672/

 

LaVelle Neal also wrote that the Twins radio broadcast crew (including Cory Provus and Dan Gladden) will not travel on the road during the 2020 season. They will, however, call all 60 games. They will view the road games on a monitor and call them from the Twin Cities. 

 

The decision is clearly due to the goal of keeping the traveling party as minimal as possible. 

Will he wear the glove for the road games is the question? 

[IndianaTwin]

 

I am sure there are lots of other teams radio guys who lack this and that. But we have our own right her in MN. Disco Dan Gladden. If you want to listen to a game, and want to know the little things, like the score, the inning, who’s playing, and maybe the day of the week or what city they are in, you better have to go at least 100 miles minimum...  

 

And that's what so rough about listening. As an analyst, Gladden is okay -- not my favorite, but okay. But in innings 4-6 when he does play-by-play, he just doesn't seem to get the basics such as that you can hardly say the score too often. 

[Trov]

 

Gladden may not be the best for this...

 

I rarely listen to the radio broadcast unless I'm driving but in this instance that I repeat often, Gladden's call went like this in a one run ball game in the top of the ninth: "Beckham with a long fly ball and it's twisting toward the foul line and it's in the seats."

 

Then nothing.

 

Then me screaming at a stoplight: "Was it ****ing fair or foul?!?!!"

 

Moments later: "Here's the pitch by Nathan. Ball one in the dirt."

 

Me: "Thank ****ing Christ!"

 

That sequence took probably 30-45 seconds without me having any idea what happened.

That was actually my point about listening to radio while watching game.  You learn who is really good or not.  I felt John Gordon was decent, but when I started to see how excited he would get over routine plays, and sometimes have no emotion for big plays it was crazy.  The worst, is Pirates radio.  They only have one broadcast team, and the radio just uses the TV broadcast.  You will hear you can see the player do something, but no I am on the radio I cannot see anything, you need to tell me what you are seeing.  The best of all time was Vin Scully.  He would do both TV and Radio but was so smooth and wonderful.  He would tell you every pitch, but not miss a beat in his story.  So many times with our current crew for Twins on radio I will hear pitch 1, then they tell some story and now the count is full.  Sure nothing too important happened, but still annoying. 

[Ebby Calvin Laloosh]

The ESPN crew doing KBO from home has been rough. The first 4 innings are reserved to discuss the fact that its early in the morning and how much coffee is being consumed. The rest of the game is full of interviews. No discussion of the game or what's going on on the field. I don't get why they feel the need to interview 5 people during a baseball game. I see that the KBO reporter, Daniel Kim is useful to speak with but if I wanted to listen to awful interviewers interview people poorly I'd watch the rest of ESPN programming.

 

I think the hard thing to do is to judge the play remotely. It's taken me three years to realize that a double to the gap is actually an out when Buxton's playing. You see the trajectory of the ball off the bat and for my entire life balls hit like that are doubles. What you don't see over the TV feed (which is following the ball) is that Buxton is moving at Mach 2 after two steps and is going to coast under it.

 

Gonna be an adjustment calling games while not at the park. Not sure Dick and Bert are going to be able to adapt well, but the announcers are the least of my concerns going forward this year.

[DocBauer]

Personally, I really like Gladden as the color guy. I think he understands what his role is and bounces off people very well. I find him interesting and fun. But I admit he is stretched when left alone in the booth.

 

He is a PERSONALITY and needs others to work with. Whether someone else does the play be play for those middle innings, or just joins him for additional commentary, I'd like to see a 2nd voice brought in by SOMEONE.

[h2oface]

 

You clearly have not heard the Yankees or Red Sox TV broadcasters. They are awful and some of the biggest homers, have been for ever. You dont want to listen to that. 

 

Even Jim Kaat?

[h2oface]

I think the less said the better. We are finally going to "hear" baseball again, I hope. The players conversation, the chatter, instead of the incessant blast of superfluous sound and tired promotions at the ballpark. Might need a slight time delay.... and someone on the mute switch.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

This sounds good, until you have to listen to Hawk Harrelson for an entire weekend

He gone !

[Platoon]

 

Even Jim Kaat?

Kaat is absolutely one of the best!