- List of World Series broadcasters
The following is a list of national American radio and television networks and announcers that have broadcast
World Series games over the years. It does not include any announcers who may have appeared on local radio broadcasts produced by the participating teams.Television
Television coverage of the World Series began in 1947. Since that time five different men have broadcast eight or more different World Series as a play-by-play or color commentator. They are
Tim McCarver (18 times),Mel Allen (11),Vin Scully (11),Curt Gowdy (11),Joe Buck (10), Joe Garagiola (9), andAl Michaels (8).2000s
Notes
*Although
Bryant Gumbel anchored NBC's pregame coverage for Game 5 of the1980 World Series , he was not present at Kansas City's Royals Stadium. Game 5 landed on a Sunday, which created conflict with Gumbel's "NFL '80" hosting duties. As a result, Gumbel had to anchor the World Series coverage from NBC's studios in New York. Gumbel however, would be present in Philadelphia'sVeterans Stadium for Game 6, which turned out to be the clincher for the Phillies.*
Earl Weaver was the #1 ABC analyst in 1983, but was also employed by the Baltimore Orioles as a consultant. At the time, ABC had a policy preventing an announcer who was employed by a team from working games involving that team. So whenever the Orioles were on the primary ABC game, Weaver worked the backup game. This policy forced Weaver to resign from the Orioles consulting position in October in order to be able to work the World Series for ABC.*
Tom Seaver provided periodic commentary during the1982 World Series , but was not in the booth.Dick Enberg and Joe Garagiola traded off play-by-play duties (just like whatTony Kubek had done with Garagiola in NBC's previous World Series broadcasts) for NBC's coverage in 1982. Garagiola called the first three and last three innings. Enberg meanwhile, hosted the pregame show and then, called the middle innings.*The
1984 World Series was scheduled to start in theNational League park. But Major League Baseball actually had a contingency plan to instead start the World Series in theAmerican League park in the event that the Chicago Cubs won the National League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres. This would have allowed theWrigley Field -hosted (i.e. daytime) games to be held over the weekend. In return, only one prime time game (Game 3 on Friday) would have been lost. Wrigley Field wouldn't have lights installed until four years later.*1985 marked the first time that all World Series games were aired in
prime time . Because, 1985 marked the first year of the League Championship Series having a best-of-seven format, Game 1 started on a Saturday.Tim McCarver was practically a last minute replacement forHoward Cosell on ABC's coverage. Cosell was removed from the telecasts on the eve of the World Series (October 18 ), by order of Jim Spence andRoone Arledge (the then-Vice President and President of ABC Sports respectively) after the excerpts from Cosell's book ("I Never Played the Game "), which criticized colleagues at ABC, first appeared in "TV Guide ".*Game 6 of the
1987 World Series (played on Saturday,October 24 ) is the last World Series game to date not to be played inprime time . The game started at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Another weekend afternoon sixth game was planned for 1988, but since the World Series ended in five games, it was unnecessary.*Game 3 of the
1989 World Series (initially scheduled forOctober 17 ) was delayed by ten days due to theLoma Prieta earthquake . The earthquake struck at approximately 5:04 p.m.Pacific Time . After about a 15 minute delay (ABC aired a rerun of "Roseanne" in the meantime), ABC was able to regain power via a backup generator. ABC's play-by-play man,Al Michaels (who was familiar with theSan Francisco Bay Area dating back to his days working for theSan Francisco Giants in the early 1970s) then proceeded to relay reports toTed Koppel atABC News ' headquarters inWashington, D.C. Al Michaels would ultimately be nominated for an Emmy for his on-site reporting at the World Series.1970s
Notes
*By 1950, World Series games could be seen in most of the country, but not all. 1950 also marked the first time that there was an exclusive network television broadcaster (
NBC ).*1951 marked the first time that the World Series was televised coast to coast.
*1955 marked the first time that the World Series was televised in color.
1940s
1980s
1950s
1920s
Notes
*Note on 1921: KDKA coverage's was live, direct, and exclusive from the
Polo Grounds . The1921 World Series was broadcasted over radio stations inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania ,Newark, New Jersey , andEast Springfield, Massachusetts . WBZ and WJZ's coverage was relayed toNewark, New Jersey and re-created by Tommy Cowan.Grantland Rice sent play-by-play reports/summaries to Cowan via the telephone.
*Note on 1922 through 1926 coverage: The World Series is available to any commercially operated radio station.
*The1923 World Series featured the first true, stadium originated radio broadcast of World Series games.Bill McGeehan did the play-by-play honors at first. However, when McGeehan reportedly tired of the chore, he quit in the middle of Game 3. Shortly thereafter,Graham McNamee took over play-by-play duties.ources
* [http://www.sportsbroadcasthistory.com/forums/index.php?topic=153.0 1969-1975 MLB postseason TV schedule/announcers]
* [http://www.sportsbroadcasthistory.com/forums/index.php?topic=154.0 1976-1984 MLB postseason TV schedule/announcers]
* [http://www.sportsbroadcasthistory.com/forums/index.php?topic=155.0 1985-1993 MLB postseason TV schedule/announcers]
* [http://www.sportsbroadcasthistory.com/forums/index.php?topic=156.0 1995-2000 MLB postseason TV schedule/announcers]
* [http://www.sportsbroadcasthistory.com/forums/index.php?topic=157.0 2001-2006 MLB postseason TV schedule/announcers]
* [http://www.sportsbroadcasthistory.com/forums/index.php?topic=44.0 2007 MLB Playoff Announcer Lists (TV and Radio)]External links
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/ws/wsmenu.shtml A Comprehensive History of the World Series]
** [http://baseball-almanac.com/ws/wstv.shtml World Series TV Analysis & Ratings]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/ Baseball-Reference.com > Postseason]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/ps/index.jsp WorldSeries.com]
** [http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws.jsp?feature=video World Series Video]
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