ESPN announced today that Jon Miller and Joe Morgan would not be doing next season’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts together, after having spent the past 21 years as ESPN’s top baseball announcing tandem. Morgan’s contract will not be renewed, according to the release, whereas it is possible that Miller will remain as the play-by-play announcer.
Many people will be glad that Morgan is done announcing, as his analysis was derided by plenty in the sabermetric community since he focused on RBIS, Wins, and “heart”. While I admit that listening to him at the end of his career could sometimes be painful, I will always appreciate the insights and enthusiasm he brought to the game. I spent many a Sunday night growing up listening to Miller and Morgan, plus many playoff games on the radio when I was supposed to be sleeping, and it just seems weird to think the two won’t be announcing games together. In some respects they were like the Pat Summerall and John Madden for baseball--a dynamic duo in the sport who worked great together and gave you exactly what you were looking for. Hopefully Miller (and his amazing yellow shirt) will stay so we can keep listening to his Hall of Fame voice announce some of the most important games of the season, and we can remember that Morgan, while no longer announcing, can still have pride not only in his Hall of Fame playing career, where he became one of the five best second basemen of all time, but of his 21 years standing in the booth, always stating, “It’s great to be here Jon.” It was usually great to be with them, and they will be missed.
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