During Wednesday morning’s Boston-Oakland tilt in Tokyo, ESPN thoughtfully took the time to promote another of its televised events: Saturday’s Civil Rights Game against the White Sox and Mets. Steve Phillips made a compelling argument after the Civil Rights Game promo for the progress of minorities in baseball in the last half-century or so:
Phillips noted the Detroit Tigers could reasonably field a starting nine that did not have a single white person. As he rattled off the starters for such a squad (including Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordoñez, Curtis Granderson, and Jacque Jones), he built a strong case for the widening influence of baseball internationally and shrinking domestic (i.e., African-American) influence.
Gary Thorne’s wizened response? “Pretty good international team.”
Uhm. Gary? Gary babe? You do know that Jacque Jones is from San Diego, right? That French name’s just a put-on. Also, Curtis Granderson is from Chicago, Gary Sheffield is from Tampa, and Dontrelle Willis is from Oakland. Many of those cities are in the United States now.
Or is it possible that Gary Thorne hasn’t heard of the recent passing of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? Then glorious day, Gary! Every male gets to vote now, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. (Don’t worry about the ladies; that will probably come soon, too.)
Hopefully, Gary will be able to make it to Memphis in time to call the Civil Rights Game Saturday and learn all about these recent events. We certainly hope he will have enough time on the plane to practice such foreign-sounding names as “Thome“, “Buehrle“, and “Wright“.
4:53 pm on March 26th, 2008
I’d be interested in hearing Brooks’ take on Gary Thorne as a broadcaster and person. I’m assuming he has much more insight into the guy than the rest of us.
I already know what I think of him, and it isn’t very nice.
5:42 pm on March 26th, 2008
I’m holding out for his Wonderlic results. I understand you can rank anyone with those things.
5:54 pm on March 26th, 2008
I smell a feature story. ESPN “talent” takes Wonderlic. Network labeled “officially retarded.” Next on Sportscenter.
5:59 pm on March 26th, 2008
Rick Sutcliffe would have solved that thing over there by lunchtime. Get well soon, Big Red.
6:20 pm on March 26th, 2008
Rick Sutcliffe taught me how to pitch. I saw him give a great demonstration on “Johnny Bench and the Baseball Bunch” as a kid. It was really good info. I ended up throwing a shutout in adult slowpitch, and I attribute it all to the mighty bearded one.
7:09 pm on March 26th, 2008
Thorne had a reputation of being clueless LONG before his major league days. But he’s a good looking guy who screams a lot, so it was just a matter of time before he made it to the Bigs.
And since fans actually listen to major league games, it was a matter of time before people started to notice his less-than-deft handling of the broadcast.
Another example:
http://sportsbybrooks.com/gary-thorne-has-painted-blood-on-sock-comments-about-curt-schilling-cut-out-of-rebroadcast-12662
8:04 pm on March 26th, 2008
Awesome insight as usual Brooks. It cracks me up because it is so so true. Guys who scream a lot and have “the look” or just a supreme sense of overconfidence and self-worship do tend to make it to the bigs.
In my travels I have heard many incredible minor league play-by-play guys who never got a shot for some stupid reason or another. Usually it is because they actually call the game and don’t make the show about them.
Steve Klauke is a guy that calls Salt Lake Bees (AAA) games and has always done a splendid job. The game calls are right on and informative. The problem is that he is no self-promoting jackass, plus he looks a little bit like a troll.
I swear Brooks…. I would pay top dollar for a book on “How to succeed in sports broadcasting and journalism” if you were to write it. I am sure it would be hilarious and you’d take a no-holds barred approach to it. There are some possibilities there…. Ol’ Deadspin got himself a book deal. You can’t be far behind.