Kurkjian can’t even watch.

I love Terry Francona. I think he’s a great manager and an even better guy.  I agree that it was time for him to part ways with the Red Sox, but his managerial career at Fenway will be argued as the best of all-time for years to come. As a broadcaster, however…

To put it delicately: the guy needs work. Alright forget delicate – I’d rather watch an NIT play-in game than listen to Tito interact with the rest of the Baseball Tonight crew.

Tito displayed his “gee, gosh” fumbling way of speaking and his funny voice over the countless interviews of his career, and the baseball world ate it up. What a down to earth guy… A real player’s manager!… I’d love to play for a guy like that! … And yes, that’s all great and true, but not once did I hear a Tito presser and think: “Professional broadcasting, here he comes!”

Again, I like Francona, I really do, but it’s downright painful to listen to him sometimes. He just feels so out of place, the second-hand embarrassment can get unbearable. He’s that uncomfortable even-my-colleagues-know-I-stink level of bad. Every time he speaks, Karl Ravech’s face reads, “Is this guy frickin kidding me? Do we pay him?” And the best part is, he doesn’t even try to hide it.

Now maybe I’m being a little rough on Tito. I realize he’s new to this gig, and the regular season has not yet even begun, but at this point I honestly expect more. This is his job now, after all. This is his profession – shouldn’t he have had to display some qualifications before getting hired? (Aside from achieving success as a manager and being a good guy, of course.) But then again, what are Shannon Sharpe’s broadcasting credentials – a Windsor tie knot the size of a New York pizza slice?

I’m a firm believer that if you have any type of successful athletic career and have half a brain, you have a life-long career in broadcasting awaiting you, should you choose to pursue it. Some do a phenomenal job; some are named Charles Barkley. I understand the value of their insider’s perspective, and I know that providing a household name to the cast may initially boost ratings, but there’s only so much sacrificing of substance and analysis I can take. Give me the unathletic Tim Kurkjian over any former player all day long.

Francona’s just tough to watch, and a big reason I think his performance on BBTN will continue to be underwhelming, even if he does manage to fine-tune his technique and delivery, is the fact that his managing career is likely far from over. I expect his analysis of teams and players to be boringly politically correct all season long as he does his best not to to burn any bridges while a member of the media. If he learned one thing from his predecessor (and successor) Bobby Valentine, it’s that he definitely does not want to face that awkward situation of having to revisit any of his past criticisms of a new employer or player, as Bobby V did with Josh Beckett. The solution? Be indecisive. Remain on the fence on controversial matters. Stress how hard the grind of baseball season is whenever a guy screws up. Should be entertaining…

I hate bashing Tito, but I think this was nothing more than an impulse hire on ESPN’s part. Francona was a hot name when all the Red Sox fried chicken stories were coming out, and they were simply caught riding the wave. Except now they’re stuck with him for the entire season – and so are we. I do think he’ll get better over time – but then again, how could he not?

Even though I watch him through the cracks of my fingers at times,  I actually am interested to see how he handles any Red Sox or Bobby Valentine news. For the sheer awkwardness alone it should be great TV.

Cover via Amazon

Bob Costas is probably best known for his Olympic commentary over the years, but he has really been a renaissance man and announced everything from baseball to football in this country. Costas put out Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball in an attempt to tell baseball how it could fix its problems and become the premier sport in America once again. Costas makes some good points in the book, but he also makes it clear that he should not quit his day job as a broadcaster to become a writer. This is not to say that there is not some merit to what Costas has to say in his book, but some of the points he attempts to convey don’t seem to be presented in the best way possible.

When one is reading this book, it is important to remember that it was written in 2000, and was thus published before any of the major steroid allegations hit the fan. This is important to note since Costas is still, at this time, enamored with what happened in the 1998 season when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chased Roger Maris’ single season homerun record. If one does not take this into account, Costas comes of as completely incompetent, but if one can remember how they felt during 1998 and the few years after, they will probably be able to relate to Costas’ feelings at this point.

Costas starts the book by going over what happened in 1993 to lead to the strike shortened season in 1994. He lays out his own plan for what should have happened, but also reminds fans about what did happen in order to illustrate how this might be able to be avoided in the future. He does not place the blame for the strike squarely on the shoulders of the players or the owners, but he makes it very clear that the situation should never have gotten to the point where players decided to strike. If there seems to be one entity that Costas does end up blaming in this situation, it’s the players union who he claims is rarely looking for what’s best for the game and is instead just looking out for what’s best for them at that moment.

Perhaps the best example Costas provides to prove this point is when he is discussing what should be done with the designated hitter much later in the book. He claims that baseball made an offer to the players association where the DH would he phased out of line-ups in exchange for an extra roster spot on every single team in MLB, even those in the National League that didn’t have a DH to begin with. One would think the player’s union would be for this plan since it would guarantee 30 more major league jobs per year, but they were not able to get past the individual money that these designated hitters might be able to make and were not willing to go along with the plan.

Costas spends an amazing amount of time in the book talking about the current post season system and how there is so much wrong with it. Many have agreed with his points about the playoffs carrying too late into the year and the games starting too late in the day so that children on the East coast have to miss the games because of their bed times, but Costas goes much farther than that. The broadcaster shows how much of a baseball traditionalist he truly is when he adamantly opposes the advent of the Wild Card throughout the book.

He spends more time on this subject than anything else, and probably hurts his own argument, on the subject by not letting his ideas stand in one section of the book, but instead rambling on and on about it in many chapters. While some parts of his argument are valid, if one takes a good look at what he is arguing, they will notice that not only would it really be financially bad for baseball and the television networks for baseball to follow his plan, but it will also be a bad thing for many fans across the country who have found joy with their team due to the wild card.

Another one of the major topics Costas spends a lot of time on in this book is revenue sharing. In this section, he provides a pretty good plan that would be able to, perhaps, level the financial playing field to some extent. His ideas of how to share the merchandising revenue as well as the ticket sales are solid and should be given a serious look by those heads in baseball. He hurts his argument, though, by suggesting a salary cap. This is not to say that there shouldn’t be one in baseball, but one should note how MLB heads like Bud Selig react when this question is asked and realize that bringing this up would just hurt any argument about anything.

The broadcaster does at least acknowledge that if there is a salary cap ceiling, there does have to also be a floor so that teams are not paying 25 players the league minimum and putting a bad product on the field for fans.

Overall, Fair Ball provides a unique look into what needs to be altered in baseball. It is important that people realize these ideas are truly Costas’ opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt. If he would not have spent an inordinate amount of time on the subject of the Wild Card, the book would have been much more enjoyable and his points would have been much easier to take seriously.

The Grade: 3.25/5

Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.

Here are some stories/memories people have submitted to me of Phillies announcer Harry Kalas after his death on Tuesday at the age of 73.

Please feel free to add to this list at any time this summer either by e-mail or in the comments of this post…I hope you enjoy this…

Daniel from

So I can only imagine how Phillies fans feel about the loss of Harry Kalas so suddenly this week.  As Jack was St. Louis, Vin Scully is LA, Harry Carey was Chicago, so Kalas was Philadelphia.  I honestly didn’t know he’d done work elsewhere, always just assuming he’d been with the Phillies forever.

That voice was such a unique and distinctive sound.  Everything sounded better when Kalas said it.  He brought gravitas to everything, even the yearly Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.  I’m not sure anyone else could have spoken the cheesy dog puns and gotten away with it quite like he did.

He will truly be missed and I think baseball fans everywhere are now glad that the Phillies took home the title last year.  Harry Kalas died with the Phillies still as World Champs and he probably wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Keith Glab from Baseball Evolution had this to say:

I have had the good fortune to work with Cubs Radio Play-by-Play Legend Pat Hughes for the past few years. Pat has made a series of audio tributes to great Hall-of Fame broadcasters who have influenced his own soon-to-be Hall of Fame career.  Three of those audio CDs were enhanced by the fact that the subject of the tribute was still alive and able to provide his own commentary on the CD along with audio clips and Pat’s analysis.

Harry Kalas (March 26, 1936 – April 13, 2009) – I moved to Philadelphia the night the Phillies traded Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle to the Yankees for a bunch of minor leaguers. In my short time here even I have my Harry Kalas memories.

Like the time the Phillies were playing the Braves and Harry’s broadcast mate decided he’d rather refer to Braves rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia as “Salty” like his Braves teammates instead of having to say “Saltalamacchia” over and over.

Harry responded by saying “You can’t call players from another team by their nickname. You think Skip and Don [Braves announcers Skip Caray and Don Sutton] are over there right now referring to Jimmy Rollins as ‘J-Roll’?”

The greatest Harry Kalas call since I’ve been in Philly came when the Phillies clinched the NL East last season on their way to the World Series title. With the bases loaded and one out, Ryan Zimmerman hit what looked like a two-run single up the middle to give Brad Lidge his first blown save of the season. But Jimmy Rollins somehow snagged the ball and started one of the most dramatic double plays in Phillies history. In just that one play Harry’s voice went from the agony of defeat to the joy of victory:

“Ground ball up the middle, J-Roll dives, to Utley one, relay, double play!, the Phillies are the National League Eastern Division champions on a spectacular double play by J-Roll to Utley to Howard! What a play by J-Roll!”

Harry died on Monday at the age of 73 while preparing for a game against the Washington Nationals in Washington. He will be missed by all Phillies fans.
– ABC

Your story/memory could go after this!

Back on 4/13/09, Curt Schilling wrote a post entitled Harry Kalas RIP. Click on that link to read what Curt has to say about the passing of the great Harry Kalas.

Most casual baseball fans outside of Cleveland probably never heard of Score, especially if they were born after the 1950s.

If Score would have been able to play the length of a normal career, he would have no doubt been the talk of the league for years to come. He was a hard throwing left hander who made his debut in 1955 with the Indians.

During that season, he ran away with the American League Rookie of the Year award and went 16-10.

During just his second season in the league, he won 20 games and was named to the All-Star team.

He was such a talent that during the 1957 season, the Indians turned down an offer of one million dollars for Score.

His career was derailed, however, by a moment that happened on the field. On May 7, 1957, Score was facing the New York Yankees when Gil McDougald hit a sharp line drive back to the pitchers mound. The ball hit Score directly in the middle of his face, leaving him with a broken nose and a number of other broken bones in his face.

Many at the stadium that day thought Score might have died as he lay motionless on the pitcher’s mound after the play.

Before the injury, Score was known for being the hardest throwing left hander in the game, but he could never get that form back after that fatal day.

Many experts have claimed that if Score would have stayed healthy for his entire career, he would be at the top of this list of the best left handed pitchers ever to play the game with Sandy Koufax.

Although he did go on to play a few seasons after the injury, he finished his career in 1962 with an overall record of 55-46.

He did receive other accolades later in life as he was named one of the 100 greatest Indians of all time and was inducted to the Indians’ Hall of Fame in 2006.

Score was not out of work for long though as he signed on as the television voice of the Indians just two years later. In 1968, he would move to the Tribe’s radio booth where he would stay until 1997.

Many recent Tribe fans can better relate to the voice of Herb Score than his great pitching. Score was the voice of the Tribe during a two and a half decade streak where they didn’t even make the playoffs.

While he sometimes stretched the truth to make the fans feel better about their pitiful team, he would always say whatever happened straight and to the point.

Score will no doubt be missed by those in the Indians community and all of those ears who will no longer be able to hear his subtle New York accent across the radio waves.

As a lifelong Northeast Ohioan, I have a strong connection with Mr. Score. Although I never met the man in person, I heard his voice over the radio many nights during the heyday of the Tribe during the 1990s.

My father also grew up in Cleveland, and was a resident of the city during the years Score pitched for the Indians. About five years ago, I gave my father an autographed Herb Score baseball for Christmas, which to this day, proudly sits on the family mantle place.

The last game Score ever called was the Indians 1997 World Series game seven loss to the Florida Marlins. If the Tribe would have won the game, there would have been no better way to go out, but Score didn’t focus on that during his last minutes in the booth.

He simply thanked the Indians’ fans for all of their support over the years and reassured the city that he had no regrets. Sweet, simple and to the point. Nothing could have been more telling of his career and relationship with the fans.