Dan Shulman will be the play-by-play man working alongside analysts Bobby Valentine and Orel Hershiser, according to a New York Times report. An official announcement is expected "soon," the paper said.
Shulman and Valentine will be new to Sunday nights, stepping in for the longtime pair of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan after ESPN declined to renew their contracts. Hershiser had shared the booth with Miller and Morgan in 2010, the duo's 21st season working "Sunday Night Baseball."
Shulman does play-by-play for a variety of sports on ESPN and is well-regarded for his straightforward style. Hershiser, the cerebral former pitcher, and Valentine, the former manager who seems to be up for every new opening that appears but hasn't yet closed the deal, bring decades of expertise on the field and in the dugout. And both also have honed their TV chops on various ESPN platforms.
It remains to be seen, of course, how viewers will respond -- if at all -- to the change behind the microphones. Morgan in particular was a polarizing figure, especially in recent seasons.
But for those who just want to watch baseball on Sunday nights, when ESPN's exclusive 8 p.m. ET broadcast is the only game in town, the announcers aren't likely to matter as much as the matchup on a given week when determining whether people will tune in.
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Miller and morgan will be missed. what a shame for us who listened to the fine broadcasts those two put on.
Now it they would just stop those in game manager interviews
ESPN,,in it's odd-ball wisdom, just dumped 2 fine announcers. They also blew off one of the best analysts in the game a while back when they fired Harold Reynolds. Harold got a better job with a better network in the end,,MLB Network. Valentine will add a lot to the broadcast, but Oral will end up the New Brunt Mushberger (non-stop chatter)
Fine announcers?? Really? I don't much care about Miller, either way, but for Morgan, He sucked!! He has lived on a rep for being a WS Champ and a HoFer, but that's where it ends. Morgan is boring, talks about more things, other than the game at hand. Don't get me wrong, I think Morgan knows a ton about the game, but that doesn't always translate into a great game caller. He doesn't even have a great voice. At least Miller sounds good. Maybe I am being a little biased here, I hated the Reds when I was growing up.
They need to dump some of the sports center announcers,some of them are way too corny
Will be listing to Jon Miller on radio if they have him on
I used to fall asleep on summer nights listening to Jon Miller broadcasting Baltimore Orioles games on the radio. I missed him when he was fired by Peter Angelos, the Orioles nefarious owner, and headed to San Francisco. I remember I was actually excited when ESPN hired him for the MLB games and I became a Miller fan all over again. he is without doubt, the best in the business, and ESPN will regret firing him, just like Peter Angelos later regretted firing him. Heck. maybe he'll consider coming back to Baltimore!!
It would be great if Fox hired them and dumped Buck and McCarver.
Agreed! McCarver was good long ago but that was then. Buck broadcasts like he has an arrogant chip on his shoulder.....no where near the broadcaster his dad was!
I can understand not using Joe Morgan, who seemed to try and create controversy when none existed, but I am absolutely flabbergasted that they are dumping Jon Miller. Not only is he an outstanding play by play announcer - he is a gentleman. I have nothing against the new triumverate, but this makes no sense.
I'm done watching. Nothing against the new team of announcers, but I'm tired of ESPN screwing the good ones. Hopefully they go to MLB network, and join up with Harold Reynolds. If all goes well, ESPN loses all baseball coverage to MLB network.
Jon Miller Great! Joe Morgan not so!
Joe Morgan never did anything but call the game he saw. If an infielder especially screwed up a play, you knew about it. How stupid can ESPN be. The only reason I tuned in was to listen to Morgan/Miller. Now I'll turn the sound down and put on XM.
One more reason not to watch ESPN!
ESPN IS GOING BACKWARDS AND ITS BEEN GOING ON FOR AWHILE. TO NOT BRING BACK MORGAN AMD MILLER IS JUST WRONG. BOTH BRING IT ALL TO THE BOOTH EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT.
I won't be watching!
SHRUGGING--OH WELL---THREE HOURS OF NONSTOP BLATHER---SHULMAN OBVIOUSLY THINKS HE IS ON RADIO WHILE ACTUALLY ON TV---HE DOESNT REALIZE THAT TELEVISION IS A VISUAL MEDIUM--WHAT WITH THE MODERN TECHNOLOGY --RELEVANT ITEMS ONSCREEN ETC SHULMAN DRONES ON ANYWAY---YO DAN!! COME UP FOR AIR SOMETIME WILL YOU PLEASE---TO THIS OBSERVER OF 60 YEARS OF BASEBALL THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH SHUTTING UP FOR 5 SECONDS AND LET THE PICTURES TELL THE STORY-- I AM AWARE THEIR ARE VISUALLY IMPAIRED VIEWERS AND CONSIDERATION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THEM BUT CONSTANT EVERY SECOND MUST BE FILLED WITH BLAND CHATTER IS DRIVING ME TO THE MUTE BUTTON--OREL, WHILE SOME TECHNOLOGY OF THE ART OF PITCHING IS USEFUL YOU OVERWHELM ME WITH STATS SUCH AS (PARAPHRASING HERE) 67% OF SLIDERS YADA YADA YADA
Your analysis is wrong, at least in the cases of several friends and myself. We often watched Sunday Night Baseball (SNB) because it was Jon and Joe and we knew we would learn something new about the game, catch up on MLB developments, get an unbiased (not paid by the owners) analysis of the
teams who were playing and those who weren't.
So long ESPN, it's been good to know ya---until now.
John Miller is the best of the bunch. Why did he have to go just because Morgan was so bad??
No sense of buying Hershiser's book,thats all he talks about when broadcasting a game,HIMSELF!!!!!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ