Orioles lead television play-by-play man Kevin Brown’s extended absence from the MASN broadcast booth continued Tuesday night when Baltimore opened a three-game series against the Houston Astros at Camden Yards.
Brown, who has been paired with Ben McDonald and Jim Palmer in the MASN booth since 2021, hasn’t addressed his absence, but his peers in the sports broadcasting community expressed their support for him while lambasting the Orioles’ apparent willingness to let the recitation of facts get in the way of a good on-field story after Monday’s news broke.
Here's the clip of Kevin Brown's pregame comments on the Orioles' recent record against the Rays ahead of a series finale on July 23. Sources tell AA these comments led to Brown's current indefinite suspension from Orioles' broadcasts. pic.twitter.com/csURU04fJU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 7, 2023
“That’s a fiasco that that’s allowed to happen,” NESN’s Dave O’Brien said during Monday’s Red Sox-Royals broadcast. “And I think every announcer in the league feels the same way. Every broadcaster in your position and in mine, [Red Sox analyst Kevin Youkilis], thought that was an absolute joke. … That’s a joke, and I hope he’s reinstated immediately when someone comes to their senses in the front office for the Orioles.”
“We don’t comment on personnel matters,” an Orioles spokesperson told Awful Announcing. “We look forward to hearing Kevin’s voice soon.”
The Orioles, who own a majority share of MASN, were off Monday. Brown’s absence and the outcry it sparked were not mentioned during Tuesday’s pregame show or at the top of the broadcast by MASN play-by-play man Geoff Arnold or analysts Palmer and Mike Devereaux. According to multiple reports, Brown is expected to return to the broadcast booth Friday.
On the Yankees’ TV broadcast Monday, play-by-play man John Sterling said the Orioles’ decision to punish Brown was “right up there with the nuttiest” things he has seen in 63 years in the business.
“It’s amazing to me,” said Sterling’s broadcast partner, analyst Suzyn Waldman. “How can you do your job if you can’t tell the truth? But he didn’t even say anything negative. He was extolling how good they are because look what they’ve done this year, and in the past they didn’t do it. I don’t understand it. When I saw the clip, I was waiting for him to say something horrible.”
“I’ve never heard of that in my life,” Sterling said. “If [Angelos] was our boss, we’d get fired every day. We comment that the Yankees have terrible batting averages and they have terrible on-base percentages.”
Chicago White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti, who called Brown “one of the best play-by-play announcers in the country,” took a shot at the Orioles during Monday’s White Sox-Yankees game while reciting the Yankees’ record against Baltimore.
“They were 6-7 against the Orioles this year, so they lost seven times, but they did beat Baltimore six times, which I hope I don’t get suspended by the Orioles for saying that,” Benetti quipped.
New York Mets play-by-play man Gary Cohen also took Angelos and the Orioles to task.
“Let me just say one thing to the Baltimore Orioles management,” Cohen said. “You draped yourself in humiliation when you fired Jon Miller, and you’re doing it again. And if you don’t want Kevin Brown, there are 29 teams who do.”
Miller, the Orioles’ beloved radio voice for 14 seasons, left for the San Francisco Giants following the 1996 season after contract talks with Baltimore broke down. Miller wasn’t enough of a homer for owner Peter Angelos, John’s father, who disliked his willingness to criticize the team on the air.
The Baltimore Orioles should be ashamed of themselves. One of the best stories of the year on the field and they suspend one of the best young announcers in the game for this? The producer had to approve the graphic anyway. Kevin will be a star, probably in another team’s booth. https://t.co/OXY1lJmYNR
— Howie Rose (@HowieRose) August 8, 2023
On his radio show, Yes Network’s Michael Kay echoed Mets radio voice Howie Rose and many others in saying the Orioles should be ashamed of themselves.
“If John Angelos, the owner of the Orioles, didn’t like that, then he’s thin-skinned, he’s unreasonable, and he should actually get a call from Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, because it’s unconscionable that you would actually suspend a really good broadcaster for no reason whatsoever,” Kay said. “He didn’t do anything wrong. … This makes the Orioles look so small and insignificant and minor league.”
The Orioles entered Tuesday with a 70-42 record and a three-game lead over the Rays in the American League East. During a visit to the White House on Monday to celebrate Houston’s 2022 World Series title, Astros Manager Dusty Baker said his team’s upcoming showdown with the Orioles was “probably the biggest series that Baltimore has had in a while.” The attention Tuesday should have been on the players who carried the Orioles to the best record in the AL after the franchise lost at least 100 games in three of its past four full seasons, but instead it was on an embarrassing, self-inflicted off-field controversy.
A “Free Kevin Brown” chant grows voice in the seventh inning at Camden Yards pic.twitter.com/1ghipT1k4O
— Andy Kostka (@afkostka) August 9, 2023
“Horrendous decision by the Orioles,” Cohen said. “I don’t know what they were thinking, but they got exactly the reaction they deserve. And it’s just a shame because the Orioles are playing so well and now they’ve diverted attention from that and made themselves a laughingstock.”
