The 10 best baseball announcers who bring the game to life

The 10 best baseball announcers who bring the game to life

Claudia Kogi
updated at July 6, 2023 at 3:42 PM

Baseball is one of the best spectator sports, and sports broadcasters significantly impact the experience of watching particular teams and players. If anything fires up baseball fans more than the teams they follow, the announcers may be just that. However, the question is, who are the best baseball announcers of all time?

Best baseball announcers
Best baseball announcers of all time. Photo: @stanbalik, pixabay.com (modified by author).
Source: UGC

And while the usual news anchors on screens broadcast about general current matters and affairs, MLB announcers do quite the same, except they are limited to broadcasting about the sport only. Since baseball has been played for over a century, some of the best baseball radio announcers have since emerged and have immensely taken over the entertainment industry.

Top 10 best baseball announcers of all time

Ranking soccer, football, or basketball players is one thing, but when it comes to ranking broadcasters, commentators, and announcers, in this case, it becomes one demanding task. This is because most of these people are often good at their jobs.

According to an in-depth analysis, Sports Brief has compiled a list displaying some of the best baseball play-by-play announcers who have graced the Major League Baseball arena.

10. Ernie Harwell

Best baseball announcers
Former Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell looks on before the game against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park on 9 August 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Mark Cunningham
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 55 seasons (From 1948 to 2002)
  • Teams/network affiliates: Brooklyn Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, New York Giants, and California Angels

William Earnest Harwell was an American-based sports broadcaster renowned for his long career calling play-by-play of MLB games. For the 55 seasons he was active in his career, 42 of them he spent with the Detroit Tigers, calling the action on radio and television.

He was one sportscaster who loved his job and was good at it. In fact, in 2009, the American Sportscasters Association, ASA, ranked him 16th on a list of the top 50 sportscasters of all time. Additionally, Harwell was known for using his favourite catchphrase;

He stood there like the house by the side of the road. Sweet!

9. Dizzy Dean

Best baseball play-by-play announcers
Former baseball pitcher Dizzy Dean during his later career as a sportscaster on 1 January 1950. Photo: FPG
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 27 seasons (From 1941 to 1948 and 1950 to 1968)
  • Teams/network affiliates: St Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, St Louis Crown, Mutual, ABC, CBS

At the ninth position sits another masterpiece MLB has seen, Jay Hanna Dizzy Dean, also known as Jerome Herman Dean. He was an American-based professional baseball pitcher before becoming a sportscaster. During his MLB career days, he played for the St Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and St Louis Browns.

He is renowned for being the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in just one season. After his playing career, Dizzy now became a popular television sports broadcaster and was even elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

8. Bob Uecker

Famous baseball announcers
Broadcaster Bob Uecker of the Milwaukee Brewers watches batting practice before game three of the National League Division Series between the Brewers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on 4 October 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: Christian Petersen
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 51 seasons (From 1971 to present)
  • Teams/network affiliates: Milwaukee Brewers, ABC, NBC

Robert George Uecker is a former American-based professional baseball player and current sportscaster, comedian, and television personality. Upon signing with Milwaukee Braves in 1956, he spent several years in the minor leagues with various clubs before finally making his MLB debut in 1962.

He played for six seasons before retiring in 1967, only to start his long-anticipated broadcasting career in 1971. Bob Uecker has since been the play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts. He still ranks among the most famous baseball announcers the sport has ever seen.

7. Jack Buck

Best baseball announcers of all time
Jack Buck the St Louis Cardinals play-by-play announcer is seen on the field prior to the start of a MLB game on 1 January 1990 at Busch Stadium in St Louis, Missouri. Photo: Focus on Sport
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 48 seasons (From 1954 to 2001)
  • Teams/network affiliates: St Louis Cardinals, ABC, NBC, CBS

The 16 seasons that Jack Buck spent with his colleague Harry Caray were some of the best in sports broadcast history. He was an American-based sports broadcaster famously known for announcing Major League Baseball, MLB, games of the St Louis Cardinals.

Consequently, his play-by-play works earned him immense recognition from numerous channels of the sport. Additionally, he was inducted as a member of the St Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum. May his soul rest in peace.

6. Joe Garagiola

Best baseball play-by-play announcers
NBC sport personality Joe Garagiola looks on prior to the start of a MLB game on 1 January 1983 at Shea Stadium in the Queens borough of New York City. Photo: Focus on Sport
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 50 seasons (From 1955 to 1988, 1990, and 1998 to 2012)
  • Teams/network affiliates: St Louis Cardinals, NBC, California Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks

For decades, Joe Garagiola was the most recognisable voice in baseball, a master storyteller whose passion for the game was somewhat evident. Aside from being an incredibly skilled baseball catcher, Joe was renowned for his colourful and cheerful personality.

He was one of those announcers who would make any audience and the players lively no matter the mood at that particular moment. Even though he is late, he is still one of the best baseball announcers today.

5. Red Barber

Best baseball announcers of all time
Announcer Red Barber of the New York Yankees poses for a portrait in the press box prior to a game on 10 September 1959 against the Kansas City A's at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York. Photo by: Olen Collection
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 33 seasons (From 1934 to 1966)
  • Teams: Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees

Baseball was made for radio because of its unique pace that often left fans and players puzzled and to their imagination. However, Red Barber was the first to turn it into an art that later on made the sport even more intriguing as fans now anticipated the numerous matches.

Although he had a few issues with his bosses, they were confident he was essential to the several teams he worked for.

4. Bob Prince

Best baseball announcers of all time
A portrait of Bob Prince, the New Wells baseball coach on 11 March 1998. Photo: Larry Woodward
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 31seasons (From 1948 to 1976, 1982, 1985)
  • Teams/network affiliates: Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, ABC

At the fourth position sits Robert Ferris Prince, an American-based radio and television sports broadcaster and commentator renowned for his 28-year career spell as the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball club.

While in the club, he earned the nickname the Gunner, and since then become the most vital part of the club. He loved and adored his work, and his voice became the most distinct and famous in sports broadcast history.

3. Harry Caray

Best baseball announcers of all time
Chicago Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray looks on while standing on the field prior to the start of an MLB game on 1 January 1989. Photo: Focus on Sport
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 53 seasons (From 1945 to 197)
  • Teams/network affiliates: St Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, St Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs

Harry Christopher Caray was a famous America-based radio and television sports broadcaster. During his career, he called the play-by-play for five MLB teams, debuting with 25 years for St Louis Cardinals. After a year working for the Oakland Athletics and 11 years with the Chicago White Sox, Harry Caray spent the last 16 years of his career as the sports announcer for the Chicago Cubs.

2. Mel Allen

Best baseball announcers of all time
Mel Allen, play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees, speaks to the crowd prior to the start of a MLB game on 1 January 1983 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Photo: Focus on Sport
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 33 seasons (From 1939 to 1963a and 1977 to 1984)
  • Teams: Washington Senators, New York Yankees

After landing a job as a commentator for the 1938 World Series, the famous American national Melvin Allen Israel, found himself as a Yankees broadcaster shortly after the opportunity. He became the lead broadcaster after the famous Russ Hodges left for the Giants in 1950.

Melvin Allen Israel had numerous captivating phrases, such as;

Hello there, everybody! How about that!

and when he wanted to refer to home run during any match, he would say,

Going, going, gone

1. Vin Scully

Famous baseball announcers
Vin Scully speaks during a pre-game ceremony honouring language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin and inducting him into the Dodger Stadium Ring of Honour on 2 September 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Jayne Kamin Oncea
Source: Getty Images
  • Career: 67seasons (From 1950 to 2016)
  • Teams/network affiliates: Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, NBC, CBS Radio

And now to the best baseball announcer of all time, meet Vincent Edward Vin Scully, who was an American-based sportscaster renowned for his 67 seasons calling games for MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers.

The famous personality became the primary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer following the departure of Red Barber in 1953. Consequently, he became the youngest sports announcer to ever broadcast a World Series at age twenty-five.

Even though he passed on, Vincent Edward Vin Scully is among the best baseball announcers today.

Even though most of the best baseball announcers are long gone, their legacies and impact on the sport's broadcasting sector are still fresh in people's minds. Nevertheless, how some of them graced those broadcasts and studios still amazes baseball fans.

READ ALSO: What is RBI in baseball? Understanding baseball better!

Sports Brief recently explained the meaning of RBI in baseball. The Run Batted In (RBI) is frequently used in the sport to refer to the number of runs a player has won for making a play that allows a run to get scored.

An RBI can be achieved by striking a single, double, triple, or home run, or even being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded or by reaching base on an error or fielder's choice with runners on base. Follow the above link to learn more.

Authors
Claudia Kogi photo
Claudia Kogi
Claudia Kogi is a Kenyan content creator with over 3 years of experience. Claudia joined Sportsbrief.com as a writer in January 2022, covering sports and relatable content.
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