Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Congratulations to Al Michaels

It was just announced that Al Michaels will be inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame this year.   Well deserved.  Al was the voice of the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants before becoming the lead baseball voice of ABC for the many years when they carried baseball.  He's called numerous World Series and All-Star games.  As great as he is calling football, I always thought he's an even better baseball announcer.  

Al was a guest on my podcast last year.  It's a terrific two-part interview.  If you haven't heard it, I invite you to check out both parts.

Part One

Part Two

And again, congratulations to Al Michaels. 

11 comments :

Joe Kaiser said...

One of my favorite guests you've had. Congrats to Al!

slgc said...

Do You Believe In Miracles?!?!?!

(I know - that's hockey. But it's iconic!)

Congratulations to Al Michaels on a well deserved honor!

VincentS said...

Great news. He's one of my favorite broadcasters.

Mike Bloodworth said...

I agree completely. A very well deserved congratulations. I've always liked Al. And who can forget his "Miracle on Ice" call?. He's one of the best.

M.B

Markus said...

And those of us outside the US who never had him on TV but played certain computer sports games particularly during the '90s probably know his voice too.

sanford said...

I wonder how many games he announced in his baseball announcing career. He was a regular season announcer or just six years. I always thought he was a great baseball announcer. So I am not putting him down. Costas did not announce that many games in his career either. But he is so associated with baseball that it was understandable that he was voted into the HOF.

Tim Ehrhardt said...

I am glad to see Al get in and it is well deserved, but I also have a little bit of mixed feelings since he hasn't done baseball in quite some time. As a Cubs fan I am really itching to see Pat Hughes get in and I think that the Baseball Voices CDs that he's put together is icing on the cake.

I'd love to see MLB Network convince to do a handful of game each year ala Bob Costas.

Matt in Westwood, CA said...

Of any Friday questions I’ve ever asked that I wanted to see turn into an entire post, this is it. With several classic sitcoms, it’s frustrating enough when no streaming services offers it (presumably perceived lack of interest or demand?), what constantly puzzles me is shows that are not available to purchase on iTunes or Amazon, even though they were fully released on DVD. Is the issue with the content owners ignoring a revenue stream or iTunes or Amazon actually turning them away?

The biggest offender is CBS. They seem to keep certain classics of content they own just for CBS All Access and when they offer them to stream on their platform, they constantly offer just part of the series, skipping some episodes or seasons. Inevitably, if I go to watch a particular episode it’s not included. It’s like going up to your parents and saying, “can I watch this” and being told “NO!!!”

Examples by show:
TAXI – cannot buy digital, can stream on CBS or HULU select episodes/seasons only (note they have examples where you can stream part 1 but not part 2 of an episode)

LAVERNE & SHIRLEY – cannot buy digital, no current streaming even on content owner CBS

I LOVE LUCY – can only buy 5 “volumes” that ultimately excludes about 70 episodes of the series

THE LUCY SHOW – cannot buy digital, can stream on CBS or HULU select episodes only

ALL IN THE FAMILY – can buy digital seasons 1-4 only, why not the others

THE BOB NEWHART SHOW – can buy digital seasons 1-3 only, why not the others

RHODA – cannot buy digital

NEWHART – cannot buy digital

Michael said...

Unknown, I have almost all of the CD's, and I think Hughes has a really good shot next time the local announcers category comes up--next year is pioneers, then local announcers again, then back to network people.

Sanford, I incline to agree, but it's worth remembering that he was the main voice of baseball on ABC for a decade, and it wasn't his fault that they didn't do a weekly game as NBC did. You and Unknown both referred to Costas, and that is the thing about Michaels that bothers me. Costas gave up HBO to go to the MLB Network, and when NBC shoved him out he stepped up his involvement there. Dick Enberg was still #3 on CBS NFL coverage and doing tennis and golf when he got the chance to go home and do the Padres, and he was thrilled to do it. Michaels couldn't have found a way to do more baseball if he wanted to? I'm sure he would have been turned away, he said sarcastically.

Saburo said...

Sad that ABC lost MLB so long ago and that Michaels became an exclusive football voice. I still think of him as a baseball guy -- his call of Game Five of the 1986 ALCS is as dramatic and stirring as anything in that memorable postseason.

Like so many broadcasters, one of his first stops was in my home in Honolulu where he worked for the local ABC affiliate, anchoring the sports desk and calling prep football games on radio. And he pronounced ALL the names correctly. When he came back for the Pro Bowl, I'd watch just to hear him reminisce about the old days.

Believe me: locals appreciate it when broadcast legends pronounce "Kalanianaole" without a hitch or a skip.

Milton the Momzer said...

If you don't know the Al Michaels/Oswald the Lucky Rabbit story, let me know and I'll post it