Jon Miller

Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball.

Miller has received numerous honors for his play-by-play work, including a Cable ACE Award and several Emmy Award nominations. Among his assignments to date, he has called ten World Series on ESPN Radio. On Tuesday, August 7, 2007, at 8:51 PM PDT on KNBR radio, Miller made the historic call on Barry Bonds' 756th career home run which broke the record held by Hank Aaron for 33 years.

Early career

Born in San Francisco, California, Jon Miller grew up in the Bay Area. After graduating from Hayward High School and the College of San Mateo, Miller worked as sports director for KFTY television in Santa Rosa. In by|1974, he landed his first baseball play-by play job, calling that year's World Series champion Oakland Athletics.

For a brief period in the 1970s, Miller broadcast for the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League. He also spent the early part of his career announcing University of San Francisco as well as University of the Pacific basketball (1976–1980), the Golden State Warriors of the NBA (part-time, 1979–1982), and the original San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League.

Jon Miller's first network exposure came in 1976, when he was selected by CBS-TV to broadcast the NASL Championship Game. From 1974–1976, Miller did play-by-play for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL. He also announced the "Soccer Game of the Week" for nationally-syndicated TVS from 1977-1978.

Baseball career

After one year announcing for the Oakland Athletics and brief stints with the Texas Rangers, and the Boston Red Sox, he was hired in by|1983 by Baltimore's WFBR Radio, which at the time served as the flagship station for the Baltimore Orioles.

Baltimore Orioles

After the 1982 season, the legendary Chuck Thompson moved from the radio booth to do TV broadcasts full time, and WFBR's president Harry Shriver brought in Miller to handle radio play-by-play duties with fellow broadcaster Tom Marr. In his first year in Baltimore, Miller called the Orioles' championship run:

He eventually signed a contract directly with the Orioles and, while the broadcast rights eventually moved to another station, Miller remained their primary announcer through by|1996. At the end of that season, new Orioles owner Peter Angelos, displeased with Jon's often candid commentary of the Orioles play, declined to renew his contract, citing a desire for a broadcaster who would "bleed more orange and black".cite web |url=http://curtsmith.mlblogs.com/voices_of_the_game/2006/09/jon_miller_wows.html |title=Jon Miller Wows Hall of Fame Audience ] As one of the most accomplished radio and TV announcers in baseball, Jon had plenty of options available to him, and thus was able to return to the Bay Area and join his beloved hometown Giants.

an Francisco Giants

Since by|1997, Miller has been the primary play-by-play voice of the San Francisco Giants (replacing Hank Greenwald). He signed a six-year extension to remain the voice of the Giants through at least the 2012 season in February 2007.cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/10/SPGU2O26CE1.DTL |title=6-year extension for Giants' Miller| last=Schulman| first=Henry| work=San Francisco Chronicle| date=2007-02-10]

In by|2003, during a game between the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, Miller called a play involving two defensive errors by the Diamondbacks and at least three separate baserunning mistakes by Giants outfielder Ruben Rivera. When Rivera was finally thrown out at home plate trying to score what would have been the winning run, Miller declared, cquote|"That was the worst base running in the history of the game!" The phrase was repeated numerous times on sports radio and highlight shows such as "SportsCenter", and quickly became one of the most famous calls of Miller's long career. He did a similar call on the radio during Game 3 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, when Jeff Suppan made a baserunning mistake.

His call of home run #756

On August 7, 2007, Miller made the call of Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run on KNBR radio. His call of the historic home run will likely go down in history as the voice of the moment: cquote|"Three and two to Bonds. Everybody standing here at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. An armada of nautical craft gathered in McCovey Cove beyond the right field wall. Bonds one home run away from history. (crack of the bat) AND HE SWINGS, AND THERE'S A LONG ONE DEEP INTO RIGHT CENTER FIELD, WAY BACK THERE, IT'S GONE!!! A HOME RUN! Into the center field bleachers to the left of the 421 foot marker. An extraordinary shot to the deepest part of the yard! And Barry Bonds with 756 home runs, he has hit more home runs than anyone who has ever played the game!"

National baseball work

From by|1986-by|1989, Miller did backup play-by-play for NBC's Saturday "Game of the Week" telecasts, paired with either Tony Kubek or Joe Garagiola.

Since by|1990 he has done national television and radio broadcasts of regular-season and postseason games for ESPN, most prominently alongside Hall of Famer Joe Morgan on the network's "Sunday Night Baseball" telecasts.

In 1998, Miller wrote a book with Mark S Hyman entitled, "Confessions of a Baseball Purist: What's Right—and Wrong—with Baseball, as Seen from the Best Seat in the House" (ISBN 0-8018-6316-3) where he expounds on the current state of the sport.

Commentating style

Miller's delivery is notable for his easygoing manner and measured use of hyperbole compared to other sportscasters. He livens up some of his broadcasts with a few Hawaiian and Japanese phrases spoken with impeccable pronunciation.Fact|date=April 2008 It is notable that Miller pronounces non-Anglo-American names with the correct pronunciation.Fact|date=April 2008 Many American broadcasters "Americanize" foreign players' names.Unclear|date=April 2008 Miller will occasionally quote lines from Shakespeare plays during radio broadcasts. He is perhaps most well known for his call: "That ball is fooooul," and his emphatic cries of "safe!" on close plays.

Miller is noted in baseball circles for his impersonation of legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Miller is also known to do imitations of Harry Caray, Chuck Thompson, Jack Buck, Al Michaels, Babe Ruth, Bob Sheppard, and Harry Kalas among others.

Other appearances

Miller is the play-by-play broadcaster for the "2K Sports Major League Baseball series" video baseball game series.

Miller's voice can be heard on an episode of "Cheers", during a scene where the gang at the bar is listening to a Red Sox game on the radio. He is also briefly heard in the films "61*" and "Summer Catch".

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNvw2GzDF_w KFTY newscast from 1972 featuring a young Jon Miller]
* [http://gidget.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c2252027bef21900d4143f84c3685e.html audio clip of Jon Miller's call of Ruben Rivera's infamous baserunning gaffe]
* [http://curtsmith.mlblogs.com/voices_of_the_game/2006/09/jon_miller_wows.html Jon Miller Wows Hall of Fame Audience]