What are your all time favorite announcers' calls?

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Jon Miller is great, especially on the radio. I like when his voice cracks on a big play

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"It's off the top of the wall! It's off the top of the c-*crack*-AR!"

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Hank Aaron's 715th HR by Milo Hamilton: "Here's the pitch by Downing... swinging... there's a drive into left-center field... that ball is gonna beeee... OUTTA HERE! IT'S GONE! IT'S 715! There's a new home run champion of all time... and it's HENRY AARON!"

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Scully's call of this home run is much better, plus Hamilton had written out what he wanted to say and then didn't even read it right. Milo sucks and always has.

Scully: "What a great moment for Aaron! What a great moment for the Braves! What a great moment for baseball, as thousands of fans give a standing ovation to a black man in the heart of the Deep South!"

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Scully's call where he neatly summarizes the struggles and racism Aaron faced on his way there is definitely a better call. Mentioning that it was indeed a black man getting a standing ovation for this achievement in the deep south nicely touches on the whole situation.


Before Gibson's HR, Scully was best known for his call of the 9th inning of the Sandy Koufax perfect game in 1965.
Pretty famous back in the day but I'm guessing many today aren't very familiar with it.

It's pretty long but I'm going to post it anyway.

It's been said that if Scully or anyone else had tried to script the whole thing ahead of time they would not have been able to do a better job of capturing the drama and the excitement. So the fact that he did all this under-pressure and 'off the cuff' is what makes the whole call so awesomely amazing to some.

The audio for this is available to if you want to search around for it. Not sure which link is best.

BTW - I used to be able to do a killer Vin Scully impersonation (not as good as Jon Miller's which is outrageously funny).
One of the things I would say would be the famous "2-and-2 to Harvey Kuenn...one strike away."


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Three times in his sensational career has Sandy Koufax walked out to the mound to pitch a fateful ninth where he turned in a no-hitter. But tonight, September the ninth, nineteen hundred and sixty-five, he made the toughest walk of his career, I'm sure, because through eight innings he has pitched a perfect game. He has struck out eleven, he has retired twenty-four consecutive batters, and the first man he will look at is catcher Chris Krug, big right-hand hitter, flied to second, grounded to short. Dick Tracewski is now at second base and Koufax ready and delivers: curveball for a strike.

"O" and one the count to Chris Krug. Out on deck to pinch-hit is one of the men we mentioned earlier as a possible, Joey Amalfitano. Here's the strike one pitch to Krug: fastball, swung on and missed, strike two. And you can almost taste the pressure now. Koufax lifted his cap, ran his fingers through his black hair, then pulled the cap back down, fussing at the bill. Krug must feel it too as he backs out, heaves a sigh, took off his helmet, put it back on and steps back up to the plate. Tracewski is over to his right to fill up the middle, (John) Kennedy is deep to guard the line. The strike two pitch on the way: fastball, outside, ball one. Krug started to go after it and held up and Torborg held the ball high in the air trying to convince Vargo (the umpire) but Eddie said no sir. One and two the count to Chris Krug. It is 9:41 p.m. on September the ninth. The one-two pitch on the way: curveball, tapped foul off to the left of the plate.

The Dodgers defensively in this spine-tingling moment: Sandy Koufax and Jeff Torborg. The boys who will try and stop anything hit their way: Wes Parker, Dick Tracewski, Maury Wills and John Kennedy; the outfield of Lou Johnson, Willie Davis and Ron Fairly. And there's twenty-nine thousand people in the ballpark and a million butterflies. Twenty nine thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine paid.

Koufax into his windup and the one-two pitch: fastball, fouled back out of play. In the Dodger dugout Al Ferrara gets up and walks down near the runway, and it begins to get tough to be a teammate and sit in the dugout and have to watch. Sandy back of the rubber, now toes it. All the boys in the bullpen straining to get a better look as they look through the wire fence in left field. One and two the count to Chris Krug. Koufax, feet together, now to his windup and the one-two pitch: fastball outside, ball two. (Crowd booing on the tape.)

A lot of people in the ballpark now are starting to see the pitches with their hearts. The pitch was outside, Torborg tried to pull it over the plate but Vargo, an experienced umpire, wouldn't go for it. Two and two the count to Chris Krug. Sandy reading signs, into his windup, two-two pitch: fastball, got him swinging.

Sandy Koufax has struck out twelve. He is two outs away from a perfect game.

Here is Joe Amalfitano to pinch-hit for Don Kessinger. Amalfitano is from Southern California, from San Pedro. He was an original bonus boy with the Giants. Joey's been around, and as we mentioned earlier, he has helped to beat the Dodgers twice, and on deck is Harvey Kuenn. Kennedy is tight to the bag at third, the fastball, a strike. "O" and one with one out in the ninth inning, one to nothing, Dodgers. Sandy reading, into his windup and the strike one pitch: curveball, tapped foul, "O" and two. And Amalfitano walks away and shakes himself a little bit, and swings the bat. And Koufax with a new ball, takes a hitch at his belt and walks behind the mound.

I would think that the mound at Dodger Stadium right now is the loneliest place in the world. Sandy fussing, looks in to get his sign, "O" and two to Amalfitano. The strike two pitch to Joe: fastball, swung on and missed, strike three. He is one out away from the promised land, and Harvey Kuenn is comin' up.

So Harvey Kuenn is batting for Bob Hendley. The time on the scoreboard is 9:44. The date, September the ninth, nineteen-sixty-five, and Koufax working on veteran Harvey Kuenn. Sandy into his windup and the pitch, a fastball for a strike. He has struck out, by the way, five consecutive batters, and that's gone unnoticed. Sandy ready and the strike one pitch: very high, and he lost his hat. He really forced that one. That's only the second time tonight where I have had the feeling that Sandy threw instead of pitched, trying to get that little extra, and that time he tried so hard his hat fell off — he took an extremely long stride to the plate — and Torborg had to go up to get it.

One and one to Harvey Kuenn. Now he's ready: fastball, high, ball two. You can't blame a man for pushing just a little bit now. Sandy backs off, mops his forehead, runs his left index finger along his forehead, dries it off on his left pants leg. All the while Kuenn just waiting. Now Sandy looks in. Into his windup and the two-one pitch to Kuenn: swung on and missed, strike two. It is 9:46 p.m.

Two and two to Harvey Kuenn, one strike away. Sandy into his windup, here's the pitch:

Swung on and missed, a perfect game.

(Thirty-eight seconds of cheering by the crowd.)

On the scoreboard in right field it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of the Angels, Los Angeles, California. And a crowd of twenty-nine thousand one-hundred thirty nine just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games. He has done it four straight years, and now he caps it: On his fourth no-hitter he made it a perfect game. And Sandy Koufax, whose name will always remind you of strikeouts, did it with a flurry. He struck out the last six consecutive batters. So when he wrote his name in capital letters in the record books, that "K" stands out even more than the O-U-F-A-X.

[KJS]

There is an MP3 of the 9th of the Koufax perfect game linked from this blog.

KJS

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Here's a link to a story of some guy who has a ton of tapes, wires, etc of all kinds of thousands of old sports-broadcasts from the 40's and 50's through today.
Story includes a few of his favorite calls (but not many).

Story ends with a 105 yard TD in the 1947 Rose Bowl by Bill Stern.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=9752592

[tereg]

No mention of the Fisk homer in '75 by Dick Stockton?

"There it goes, a long drive... If it stays fair ... Home run!"

I concur with any call with Dave Johnson "...DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME IN THE..."

FWIW, I think Tom Durkin does a pretty decent job with the calls.

"Aaaaaaand... there's a steal by Bird, underneath to DJ who lays it in"

Another NY Rangers from the '94 finals that sticks out to me is Gary Thorne's call

"THE CURSE.. IS OVER"

Gary should stick to Hockey commentary imo.

Thom Brennaman's call of the Boise St/OU game was bone chilling. Watching that play with the commentary still gives me chills.

I love both Vin Scully's and Jack Buck's call of Gibby's homer too

Jack: "UNBELIEVABLE!! I don't belieeeeeve what I just saw!"

There are others I'm missing, but those are the ones that stick out for now.

[kyleb]

I really liked when Hawk made a wrong HR call.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARD YES- WAIT, IT WAS A DOUBLE OFF THE WALL

stfu hawk you suck

[tereg]

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I really liked when Hawk made a wrong HR call.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARD YES- WAIT, IT WAS A DOUBLE OFF THE WALL

stfu hawk you suck

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LOL. Love it. NH.

Actually, this kinda reminds me of those Harry Caray calls in the later years when someone hits a homerun, ball is already in the stands and for about 5 seconds he's still going

"IT MIGHT BE... IT COULD BE........ IT IS... A HOME RUN"

Seriously though, I loved watching Cubs games growing up when Harry was on.

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No mention of the Fisk homer in '75 by Dick Stockton?

"There it goes, a long drive... If it stays fair ... Home run!"

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A great game and a great moment in baseball history. But I don't think Stockton's call did enough to capture the drama of that moment and of the culmination of perhaps the greatest game in history.

It was a better call than Castiglione sleeping through the final out of the 2004 World Series but I don't think it belongs on a list of 'greatest calls'. The call itself just didn't do enough for me.

[tereg]

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No mention of the Fisk homer in '75 by Dick Stockton?

"There it goes, a long drive... If it stays fair ... Home run!"

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A great game and a great moment in baseball history. But I don't think Stockton's call did enough to capture the drama of that moment and of the culmination of perhaps the greatest game in history.

It was a better call than Castiglione sleeping through the final out of the 2004 World Series but I don't think it belongs on a list of 'greatest calls'. The call itself just didn't do enough for me.

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Fair enough. I see where you're coming from.

Edit: I'm kinda biased because I've always liked Dick Stockton's calls in football and basketball games as a whole. Plus I think maybe the moment itself is maybe why the call sticks out to me more than the call.

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I espeically don't fault a Red Sox or Stockton fanboi or even just any baseball fan in general for including it. This one is just my own personal taste I think.
I go back and forth on how much I like Stockton.

For a stretch in there I didn't care for him so much but I really tend to dig him a lot more now (most recently doing the Braves/D-Backs on Fox this past Saturday)